The Local Cache
Google Docs is primarily a cloud-based application, but it offers a robust “Offline” mode. By default, if you enable offline access for Google Drive, Docs will intelligently try to anticipate your needs and automatically save copies of your most recently opened documents directly to your computer’s local hard drive cache. This allows you to continue editing them if your internet connection suddenly drops. However, if you are working on a shared computer, or if you simply have extremely limited hard drive space on a cheap Chromebook, this automatic local caching is an unnecessary and potentially insecure duplication of data.
Disabling Offline Sync
To ensure your documents remain strictly in the cloud and stop Google Docs from automatically saving offline copies to your local machine, you must disable the global offline setting in Google Drive.
You cannot disable this setting from within a single document; it is a global account preference. Open a new browser tab and navigate to drive.google.com. Click the Gear icon in the top-right corner of the screen and select Settings from the drop-down menu. A new dialogue box will appear. Ensure you are on the “General” tab on the left. Scroll down the main panel until you find the section explicitly labelled Offline. Look for the checkbox next to the text: “Create, open and edit your recent Google Docs, Sheets and Slides files on this device while offline.” Uncheck this box. Google will immediately begin purging the locally cached files from your browser’s storage, and it will no longer attempt to save future documents offline.