Google-drive – Editing Microsoft Word Documents in Google Drive

Almost three years later, Google Docs now natively supports the editing of DOCX files stored in Google Drive, though changes made to a Word document are not automatically saved. (That said, saving changes is a matter of clicking a button.)

If two people are working on the document at the same time, Docs will notify the other person if the document has been saved while they are working, but if the second person saves their changes later, the version saved last will overwrite the previous one.

Since Google Docs lets you know who is currently viewing the document besides you, if you notice another person working on the document, it would be of mutual benefit to communicate with your colleague—perhaps using the built-in chat system—to make sure that neither of you overwrites the other's hard work.

To convert a document, right click on it inside Google Drive. Choose Open with → Google Docs. A new window will be opened with the document in Google Docs format and it is saved inside the same folder in your Google Drive.