.gdoc File Extension

What kind of file is a .gdoc?

A .gdoc file is a Google Docs shortcut created for a local Google Drive workflow. It points to a native document that remains in Google Drive; it is not an offline copy of the document's text, images, or page layout. Google Drive for desktop can show native Google Workspace files in a local folder even though their document content stays online.¹

The shortcut is commonly a small JSON object containing a Google Docs URL and related identifying information. Google does not publish .gdoc as a portable document format or assign it a dedicated IANA MIME type. The suffix is a desktop convention, not evidence that the bytes contain a self-contained document.²

How do I open a .gdoc on my computer?

• On Windows or macOS, open the shortcut from a Google Drive for desktop location while signed in to an account that can access the document. The associated Google Docs page opens in a browser.¹
• In a text editor, inspect the shortcut's JSON when you need to recover or verify its destination. Treat the URL as untrusted input and check its host before opening it.
• On Linux, use the Google Drive web interface or extract the document URL and open it in a browser. Google's first-party Drive for desktop documentation covers Windows and macOS.¹

A .gdoc is useful only while its target still exists and your account still has permission to read it. Moving or deleting the local shortcut does not export or delete the Google Docs content, and copying the shortcut without access to its target does not create a usable backup.¹

Poly support for .gdoc

Poly can store, sync, share, version, and find a .gdoc shortcut by its name and ordinary file properties. Poly does not treat the suffix as a connected Google Docs URL, so the shortcut does not receive the native document's page preview, thumbnail, content search, or agent reading.

For those features, create a Poly bookmark from the Google Docs URL. Poly recognizes that connected link as application/vnd.google-apps.document, can show its rendered pages, indexes supported text and page visuals, and makes the accessible content available to the Poly agent. Access remains governed by Google sharing permissions.

History and alternatives

The .gdoc convention grew out of Google Drive's desktop integration, where cloud-native Docs, Sheets, and Slides appear alongside ordinary local files. It should not be confused with .docx, which contains a portable Word document, or .pdf, which contains a fixed-layout document copy.

Renaming a .gdoc to .json, .txt, or .docx does not convert it. To make an offline copy, open the Google Doc and export it to the format that fits your editing, archival, or sharing needs.