With Google Drive on the web, you can view things like videos, PDFs, Microsoft Office files, audio files, and photos.
Important: If you try to open a suspicious file, you may get a warning message. Use caution if you open the file.
View a file
- Go to drive.google.com.
- Log into your Google account with your username and password.
- Double-click a file.
- If you open a Google Doc, Sheet, Slides presentation, Form, or Drawing, it will open using that application.
- If you open a video, Microsoft Office file, audio file, or photo, it will open in Google Drive.
- If you open a shared Gemini chat, canvas, or generated media file, it will redirect and open the file within the Gemini web app. This applies to Workspace accounts using Drive on the web.
Tip: You can choose how PDF files open by default in Drive. You can:
- Open PDFs in a new tab: This opens the PDF file in a separate browser tab.
- Open PDFs in preview mode in the same tab: This displays the PDF directly in the Drive interface.
Open a file using a different app
You can open a file using web apps or apps installed on your computer. To open files with apps installed on your computer, you need the most recent version of Google drive for desktop and the Application Launcher by Google.
- Go to drive.google.com.
- Log into your Google account with your username and password.
- Right-click a file.
- Place your cursor over Open with.
- Choose an app.
Learn how to set a default app for opening certain file types.
Open Microsoft Office files in web editors
Important: Admins for Business & Enterprise accounts must enable 'Microsoft Office for the Web' integration in the Admin Console.
You can open Microsoft Office documents directly in Microsoft's web-based editor applications. You can open files in the following ways:
- Drive:
- Use the Open with context menu.
- Select Open with from the file preview.
- Double-click the file if it is your default app.
- Editors:
- Select the file extension chip next to the name of the doc.
- Gmail:
- Open from the attachment preview.
