Old Google documents can now be upgraded to the latest version

If you are an active user of Google Docs, you probably remember a major update a year ago with great new features such as real-time collaboration, advanced formatting tools (ruler, margins indentation, tab stops) and improved revision history. Later, another update brought ability to edit documents in the browser of mobile devices, such as Android, iPhone and iPad.

However, the major problem with those new features was that they were available only in the newly created documents and there was no way to upgrade old documents to the new format, except by exporting and re-importing files. Finally, conversion to the new version is now available.

If you open your old Google document, you should see the following message right above the menu bar:

The two formats of the Google Docs are quite different: old Google Docs format allows direct editing of HTML and CSS, which is useful for web publishing. New version looks more like a standard word processor with more advanced formatting tools, but without ability to edit HMTL or CSS of the document. Some conversions may be imperfect and that’s why Google Docs first prompts you to preview the document in the new version and only then to upgrade it if you are happy with the results.

Few things to bear in mind before performing the upgrade:

• New version does not support editing of HTML and CSS.
• The revision history of your document will not be carried over when you upgrade.
• Once you upgrade a document, you can’t open it again in the older version of Google documents.
• You need to upgrade each individual document that you want to use in the new version of Google documents (you need to be the owner of the document). You cannot upgrade all old documents in one operation.

The good news about the upgrade process:

• Old URLs will still redirect to the document after upgrade.
• The sharing settings of the original document won’t change after upgrade.

Source: Getting to know Google Docs: Upgrade a document to the new version of Google documents