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The internet expressed outrage today when Google Docs went down temporarily. According to people on Twitter and DownDetector.com, the popular document software wasn’t working as intended, but Google’s G Suite dashboard only recently indicated there was a problem and suggested an update was forthcoming.
Complaints ranged from not being able to access files online to the app not loading to being unable to sync files. It seems the downtime lasted more than an hour.
Hope @googledocs isn't down for too long… Assignment is due tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/Iwkd50kbHN
— Lewis Lebentz (@LewisLebentz) November 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/Bklyn_Rock/status/930902756965212166
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This is just a sample of the tweets from folks upset about not being able to access files. The outage underscores how critical the software is to not only students, who are increasingly completing assignments in the cloud, but to those in the workplace who rely on Google’s G Suite. It also got some reporters upset:
So much for Google and Cisco being partners. Google Docs seems to be down just as Cisco earnings are about to go out. This is madness! pic.twitter.com/HfTgXIVJEe
— Sal Rodriguez ? (@sal19) November 15, 2017
Google has finally addressed the downtime, saying it’s looking into the matter:
We're actively investigating an issue with Docs not loading. Thanks for your patience as we look into it.
— Google Docs (@googledocs) November 15, 2017
On its G Suite dashboard, the company also shared: “We’re aware of a problem with Google Docs affecting a significant subset of users. The affected users are unable to access Google Docs. We will provide an update by 11/15/17, 2:30 PM detailing when we expect to resolve the problem. Please note that this resolution time is an estimate and may change.”
This outage comes about two weeks after Google acknowledged a bug in Google Docs’ code that resulted in a “small percentage” of files being flagged as “abusive” and inadvertently blocked from being viewed. In that incident, some users received error messages indicating their files violated Google’s terms of service.
We’ve reached out to Google for comment and will update if we hear back. In the meantime, try to remain calm…things will hopefully return to normal soon.
Update 1:42 p.m. Pacific: A Google spokesperson referred VentureBeat to the company’s G Suite dashboard for more information. This post has been updated to include the available details along with a tweet from the @GoogleDocs Twitter account. We’ve confirmed that this outage is limited to Google Docs.
Update 2:08 p.m. Pacific: Google has posted an update to its status dashboard saying that service has been restored for some users and that a “resolution for all users” should be completed in “the near future.”
Update 2:19 p.m. Pacific: Google says everything is now back to normal: “The problem with Google Docs should be resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support. Please rest assured that system reliability is a top priority at Google, and we are making continuous improvements to make our systems better.”
