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11 Things You Need to Know About the Redesigned Google Drive

3 minute read

Google Drive Blue

Google Drive, once again, has a brand-new look and there are a lot of changes to absorb. While many changes were design and user-experience improvements, Google also added some new functions. Check out the video below for our quick walkthrough, along with a list of some of our favorite changes!

1. New Google Drive Homepage

 

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The most noticeable change to Drive is on the homepage, where Google has incorporated their new material design along with speed improvements. The folder icons have also been minimized and take up a lot less space, which can definitely help to reduce the clutter.

2. The “New” Button

 

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The ‘Create Menu’ has been replaced with the much more streamlined ‘New’ button. You can take all of the same actions with the ‘New’ button that you did with the ‘Create Menu,’ like creating new files / folders, uploading files / folders and installing Drive apps.

3. New Method of Offline Sync

If you’re having trouble finding your offline Google Drive files, that is because offline sync is automatically set up. To enable offline access, click the gear icon in the right corner then Settings and select the Offline radio button. Your files will be available offline immediately, and new files and folders will automatically sync in the background as they are created.

4. ‘Shared with me’ replaced by ‘Incoming’

 

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The ‘Shared with me’ menu has been renamed ‘Incoming.’ From here you’ll find all files that you have access to, but are not the owner.

5. Starring Files

To mark an important file, you now have to right-click on it and select Add Star. In contrast, this new method is less direct compared with the old version of Drive where you were able to select the star icon next to the file name.

6. New Method to Add Files to your Drive

The option to add a file to your Drive has been moved from the top of the page to the actual file. To add a file to your Drive, move your cursor over the right side of the file in ‘Incoming’ and click on the Drive folder icon that appears.

7. New “Show Link” Icon

Now you can easily access the Link to Share by selecting the file and clicking on the ‘Show link’ icon located at the top right. From here you not only have the ability to copy the link to share to send to other users but you can access the file’s sharing settings to change its permissions.

8. Quickly view details and previews

While you’ve always been able to view details and previews in Drive, now you can lock in that view while switching between files. This really improves the appearance of Drive and it makes it really easy to surface important information.

9. Enter Office Compatibility Mode by Double-Clicking

The new Office Compatibility Mode to edit Office files in Drive has become more integrated. Now you can use OCM by double-clicking on the Office file in Drive and it will open in a compatible program for editing.

10. Redesigned search menu (Learn more in the video above)

11. Drag to select multiple files and perform an action (Learn more in the video above)

Google continues to mention that the major difference in this version of Drive is improved speed and experience across multiple devices. While that is definitely true, some of the subtle UX improvements really make using Google Drive a much more pleasant experience. There are plenty of other small changes in this new version, so let us know what you like the most in the comments section!

Click here to watch this video on YouTube.

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