Google Docs was inaccessible for a "significant subset” of users on Wednesday.
The company confirmed the issue on its status page but did not offer more information.
Docs is a core feature of Google’s cloud computing service.
A spokeswoman for Google would not confirm to the BBC how many users encountered the problem, but said she did not believe any customers who paid for extra storage were affected.
Problems were reported by users trying to access the programs across the world.
Downdetector.com, which tracks outages around the world, suggested US users were having the most significant issues - though there were some reports in Europe, where the outage occurred at a time that was outside of typical hours for most business.
The down time lasted for between 30 minutes and an hour, during which many people used Twitter to complain.
At 2209 GMT the Twitter account for Google Docs said: "Docs is back up for most users, and we expect a full resolution for all users shortly.
"Sorry for this disruption and thanks again for your patience with us.”
It is the second time in recent weeks that Google Docs users have been left frustrated by glitches in the system.
In October some users were locked out of a files after they were wrongly tagged as being “inappropriate” content. The company apologised for the disruption.
Cloud computing - where files are stored and edited on the internet rather than locally on your computer - is a major part of the technology sector.
Those services remaining stable and reliable is crucial for businesses that rely on the software for day-to-day work.
Senior scientist Dr Erik Ivins said: "As cities and countries attempt to build plans to mitigate flooding, they have to be thinking about 100 years in the future and they want to assess risk in the same way that insurance companies do."
It suggests that in London sea-level rise could be significantly affected by changes in the north-western part of the Greenland ice sheet.
While for New York, the area of concern is the ice sheet's entire northern and eastern portions.
Another of the scientists, Dr Eric Larour, said three key processes influenced "the sea-level fingerprint", the pattern of sea-level change around the world.
The first is gravity.
"These [ice sheets] are huge masses that exert an attraction on the ocean," said Dr Larour.
"When the ice shrinks, that attraction diminishes- and the sea will move away from that mass."
As well as this "push-pull influence" of ice, the ground under a melting ice sheet expands vertically, having previously been compressed by the sheer weight of ice.
Wobbling planet
The last factor involves the rotation of the planet itself.
"You can think of the Earth as a spinning top," said Dr Larour.
"As it spins it wobbles and as masses on its surface change, that wobble also changes.
"That, in turn, redistributes water around the Earth."
By computing each of these factors into their calculations, the researchers were able to build their city-specific forecasting tool.
"We can compute the exact sensitivity - for a specific town - of a sea level to every ice mass in the world," Dr Larour told BBC News.
"This gives you an idea, for your own city, of which glaciers, ice sheets and ice caps are of specific importance."
Another of the team, Dr Surendra Adhikar, said: "People can be desperate to understand how these huge, complicated global processes impact on them.
"With this tool, they can see the impact on their own city."
The Zimbabwean military's takeover of power and detention of President Robert Mugabe "seems like a coup", key regional bloc the African Union says.
Its head, Alpha Conde, said the AU demands an immediate return to constitutional order.
The military denies staging a coup, saying that Mr Mugabe is safe and that it was acting against "criminals" surrounding him.
Their move follows a power struggle over who might replace Mr Mugabe.
His vice-president, Emmerson Mnangagwa was fired last week, making Mr Mugabe's wife Grace the president's likely successor - but leaving top military officials feeling sidelined.
Mr Mugabe, 93, has dominated the country's political scene since it gained independence from the UK in 1980.
Responding to the developments, Mr Conde, who is also Guinea's president, said Zimbabwean soldiers "had obviously attempted to take power".
The AU had "serious concern" at the situation and "reiterates its full support to the country's legal institutions", the statement said.
The BBC's Anne Soy in Zimbabwe points out that Egypt was ejected from the AU after its 2013 coup, so it may be the Zimbabwean military is trying to avoid antagonising the bloc by not describing their actions as a coup.
How the drama unfolded
After days of tension and rumour, soldiers seized the state broadcaster ZBC late on Tuesday.
A Zimbabwean army officer, Major General Sibusiso Moyo, went on air to say the military was targeting "criminals" around President Mugabe.
"This is not a military takeover of government," he insisted.
Maj Gen Moyo also said Mr Mugabe and his family were "safe and sound and their security is guaranteed". It is not clear who is leading the military action.
Since then, military vehicles have been out on the streets of Harare, while gunfire has been heard from northern suburbs where Mr Mugabe and a number of government officials live.
In a statement, the office of South African President Jacob Zuma, said: "President Zuma spoke to President Robert Mugabe earlier today who indicated that he was confined to his home but said that he was fine."
There has been no direct comment from President Mugabe, nor his wife Grace, whose whereabouts are unclear.
How we got here
The rivalry between Mrs Mugabe and Mr Mnangagwa has split the governing Zanu-PF.
By Andrew Harding, BBC Southern Africa correspondent
A quick show of military force, a few arrests - and then what?
These are, of course, unpredictable times for Zimbabwe and yet there is a chance that the army's extraordinary overnight gamble will pay off, and that President Robert Mugabe, humiliated and powerless, will nonetheless be allowed to retire with at least the pretence of dignity.
It is important to remember that Mr Mugabe is not being challenged by the Western governments he has warned against for decades, or by Zimbabwe's political opposition, or by a mass uprising against economic hardship.
This is, fundamentally, an internal power struggle within Zanu-PF and whoever emerges victorious can expect a newly purged party to fall obediently into line.
Mr Mugabe's mistake, at 93, was to assume he was still powerful enough to build a dynasty to back his wife, Grace, to succeed him.
Instead, his once loyal deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa, may be poised to take control. If so, many foreign governments are likely to give him the benefit of the doubt and hope he can rescue Zimbabwe from years of misrule
Your affection for the Emerald Isle is on display when you wear this exquisite bracelet, handmade with Connemara marble and sterling silver shamrocks— treasured symbols of Ireland for as long as anyone can remember. Pairs of delicate shamrocks link five round marble cabochons, gently polished to reveal their unique natural beauty. From a 71-year-old Irish family company with its own Connemara marble quarry near Galway, and headquarters on the grounds of Dublin Castle. 7 "l; secure lobster claw clasp. Gift box.
Meet “Patch,” proud descendant of the 19th-century canine symbol of steely British spirit, by way of Royal Doulton’s popular 1941 figurine, created in patriotic support of the Allied forces. Patch takes his name from the shape of Great Britain, which looks like a random patchwork pattern on his shorthair coat. Add a collar in bold Union Jack red, and you’re in sovereign British territory. A decidedly appropriate gift for Anglophiles. Fine bone china, from the renowned English pottery dating back to 1815, London. Handpainted. 3 "h x 6"l. Gift box.
Rachel Verinder finds herself inheriting a large Indian diamond on her eighteenth birthday as a legacy from her uncle, a corrupt British army officer who served in India. The diamond, associated with the Hindu moon god, is of great religious significance as well as being extremely valuable, and there are whispers of a curse placed upon it. Sure enough, the stone is stolen from Rachel's bedroom later that night, and a period of turmoil, unhappiness, misunderstandings and ill-luck ensues. Told by a series of narratives from some of the main characters, the complex plot traces the subsequent efforts to explain the theft, reveal the thief, and eventually the whereabouts of the stone. Combining adventure and romance with twists and turns, this adaptation brings the spirit of the book to the screens.
Why would anyone donate their eggs to help a stranger have a child? Elaine Chong explains her reasons.
I first heard about egg donation when I was at university in the US. We studied the sociology, psychology and biology of sperm and egg donation, and I was really inspired by the gift-giving nature of it - I knew it was for me.
The professor told us that egg banks wanted young, healthy women who were well-educated, but that there was a real shortage of women of colour.
I thought about people like me - from a Chinese background - who might have fertility problems and want to have children really badly. I thought about my gay male friends who spoke at length about wanting to be good parents and how my gift could help them, too.
The professor talked about how each egg could be worth up to $3,000 (£2,280) which made the lecture hall go: "Ooooooh!"
I decided to give it a go and registered via a website decorated with pictures of cheerful, chubby babies.
Unfortunately, I failed the screening process almost immediately - anyone who lived in the UK for more than six months from 1980 to 1997 is ineligible because of the possible risk of transmitting the human form of BSE (vCJD). This also meant I couldn't donate blood, or be put on the organ donor list.
But the idea stayed with me, and when I came back to the UK for my postgraduate degree, I decided to try again here.
One big difference is that donors here receive a one-off compensation fee of £750 ($990) to cover costs - but I wasn't doing it for the money.
I registered through another website decorated with cute baby pictures and was invited to take part in a rigorous screening process.
They asked me lots of questions - the administrator, the nurse, the doctor - everyone wanted to know why I wanted to donate my eggs.
I boiled it down to: "I want to make families feel complete."
I found out that in the UK there is also a shortage of donors from ethnic minorities.
Find out more
The HFEA says the shortage of ethnically-matched donors is an issue that has been raised in consultations and surveys they have carried out in the past
Although there are donors from all ethnicities in proportion to the UK population, the number of available eggs from white donors is far greater
Nina Barnsley, Director of the Donor Conception Network, says that finding a matching donor can be challenging because would-be parents have to apply to individual clinics to see if they have a match - perhaps there could be a better way of sharing information
As far as I know, there's nothing in Chinese culture that prohibits egg or gamete donation, but it still took me ages to tell my mother that I wanted to do it.
My mum has always insisted that if she were to die, she wanted to donate any organ that could be useful to people. Eggs though! That's a bit different, because people would be walking around with our genes. Would my parents think of them as their grandchildren?
When I eventually told her, her immediate reaction was, "Let's not tell your dad."
When I was approved as a donor, they explained that it wasn't like in the movies and that after the donation I really wouldn't get any news about possible offspring until they were adults - and then only if they asked the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for information about their egg donor.
I thought that seemed reasonable.
I found myself thinking a lot about how I was presenting myself to the potential parents. On the forms I filled in my height, my weight, my eye colour and medical history, but that doesn't really capture me as a person.
How would parents know if their kid might turn out to be sporty, fond of Thai food, kind to animals or like wearing black?
The clinic did ask about my hobbies and whether I played a musical instrument, but it felt like I was writing a pretty dry CV, to be honest.
Over the next few weeks I had lots of medical tests. I really hate having blood drawn so I always treated myself to a samosa afterwards - as a consequence, samosas now taste like cheering myself up.
I had to inject myself with hormones twice a day, which was a bit like playing doctor. I kept the needles in our family fridge - nobody asked me what was in the strange-looking pack.
The syringe worried my mother though, so she had to leave the room while I did it.
Being on hormones was like having premenstrual syndrome, but 100 times worse - I was told that women "experience cramps" but I promise you, there was a lot more going on. I put on weight, I felt bloated. Jeans? Forget it - elasticated waists all the way.
I got tearful easily over anything - pop songs, animal videos. The visits took up a lot of time, the appointments themselves were short but there were a lot of them - luckily I was only working part-time, and mostly in the evenings. The overall process took over three months.
When I was close to donation - or "extraction", as it is sometimes known - I got a text from a nurse in the middle of the night.
A terrorist attack had happened that evening near the clinic, and the entire area was taped off as a crime scene. None of the staff could get to work and the more urgent patients had to be diverted to a Harley Street clinic. I only had a few days to go, so they needed to rearrange my appointment as soon as possibl
On the way to the clinic the next morning, I found myself thinking: "If I'm killed in a terrorist attack, can it please be after I donate, because I've got these precious eggs in my tummy that need to go to families who are relying on me."
The importance of what I was doing hadn't quite sunk in until that moment.
The Harley Street clinic was so plush that the waiting room had a mural. The magazines were proper fashion magazines and instead of having to crane my neck to look at the ultrasound, I could see it on a huge plasma screen on the wall.
The technician counted my egg sacs. I'd got pretty good at counting them myself over the weeks. They decided I was ready and told me about the donation procedure, which involved fasting the night before.
I had to come back early the next morning. I decided to dress up for the occasion because I didn't want to feel like a patient - plus, it was Harley Street!
I was put in a waiting room and through the curtains I could hear a steady stream of women who were also there to donate. I couldn't see them, but when I heard someone refer to me as "the Chinese lady" I assumed the others weren't.
I'd never been put under a general anaesthetic before, or even worn a hospital gown. The nurses were concerned for my modesty but I was taking selfies in the bathroom pretending it was a backless dress.
Going into the theatre I put my legs in the stirrups and tried to peer around the operating theatre - I wanted to remember everything, but they counted me out and the next thing I knew, I was in a chair in the recovery room. The surgery had taken 15 minutes.
I was quite drowsy, and slept on and off. A nurse came to ask if I wanted a biscuit - even in my half-conscious state I was a diva and asked her to bring me a selection.
I got a box of chocolates and a "Thank you for donating" card.
They told me they had taken 11 eggs in total - one short of a dozen. It would be cool if even one became a person.
I was told to write a goodwill letter to the parents and potential offspring. It would be the only thing they got from the donor until any children were old enough to decide whether or not they wanted to contact me.
I wrote a letter on my phone, as soon as I left the clinic. I suddenly got so emotional about all these hypothetical kids that I started to cry.
I told them that they were the result of much planning and love, and that my family, my partner, my friends all cared about them - even though they don't know them.
I also told them a bit more about me - about my passion for social justice and that I don't suffer fools gladly.
I hope that in about 18 years' time I'll find out how it went.
Would I do it again? Maybe. I do think I made the right decision and it wasn't as difficult as I had imagined.
