When Google announced the shut-down of Google Gear project, which offered off-line access to Google's cloud based apps, a lot of users were unhappy. It often happens that either you are in the dark-spot with no Internet or you are traveling to a place where there will be no Internet yet you want to do your work off-line.

The lack of core offline Google apps was one of the reasons I did not touch my ChromeBook ever since I got it. The Samsung Galaxy Tab is used more than the ChromeBook. The reason was simple I could work off-line on the Tablet.

Google yesterday announced the return of offline apps. One of the world's largest open source company has released a Chrome app called Offline Google Mail which allows users to work offline. You can read downloaded mails, reply to those emails and compose new emails. The messages will be send and new messages will be downloaded whenever you get connected to the Internet.

"This HTML5-powered app is based on the Gmail web app for tablets, which was built to function with or without web access. After you install the Gmail Off-line app from the Chrome Web Store, you can continue using Gmail when you lose your connection by clicking the Gmail Off-line icon on Chrome's 'new tab' page," writes Benoît de Boursetty, Product Manager, Google.

Get Google Mail Offline

Google will be launching similar offline capabilities for Google Docs and Calendar soon. Google Docs has also received a new design which blends well with the Google+ design. The new UI can be activated by clicking on the option at the top right side inside the app.

The arrival of offline Docs capabilities will make Google Chromebook more practical and useful.