Category Archives: Google Drive Blog

News and notes from the Google Drive team

Organization in Drive should be super easy

Saving lots of files in Google Drive is a great way to keep them safe. But as you put more and more files there, keeping things organized can be a bit of a challenge. So, here are some recent improvements that will help you more easily put things where they belong:
  • When you're browsing files, the toolbar now shows a “Move” icon for files already in Drive and “Add to My Drive” for everything else.
  • When previewing files, a new icon lets you add the file to any folder in “My Drive” quickly and easily.
  • From search results, you can now drag and drop files into folders.

As always, thanks for trusting Google Drive with your important files (and the not-so-important ones, too). Happy 2016!

Posted by Lior Biran, Software Engineer, Google Drive

Organization in Drive should be super easy

Saving lots of files in Google Drive is a great way to keep them safe. But as you put more and more files there, keeping things organized can be a bit of a challenge. So, here are some recent improvements that will help you more easily put things where they belong:


  • When you're browsing files, the toolbar now shows a “Move” icon for files already in Drive and “Add to My Drive” for everything else.

drive_addmove.gif

  • When previewing files, a new icon lets you add the file to any folder in “My Drive” quickly and easily.

preview_addtodrive1.gif
  • From search results, you can now drag and drop files into folders.
drive_dragfromsearch3.gif

As always, thanks for trusting Google Drive with your important files (and the not-so-important ones, too). 

Happy 2016!

Source: Drive


Organization in Drive should be super easy

Saving lots of files in Google Drive is a great way to keep them safe. But as you put more and more files there, keeping things organized can be a bit of a challenge. So, here are some recent improvements that will help you more easily put things where they belong:


  • When you're browsing files, the toolbar now shows a “Move” icon for files already in Drive and “Add to My Drive” for everything else.

drive_addmove.gif

  • When previewing files, a new icon lets you add the file to any folder in “My Drive” quickly and easily.

preview_addtodrive1.gif
  • From search results, you can now drag and drop files into folders.
drive_dragfromsearch3.gif

As always, thanks for trusting Google Drive with your important files (and the not-so-important ones, too). 

Happy 2016!

Source: Drive


Because keeping things safe should be rewarded

Keeping files safe in Google Drive is super important. That's why Drive uses Google’s highly-secure, custom-built data centers to store your photos, videos, and other documents. But it’s not just fences, cameras, and lasers that keep things safe — it’s people. It's the software engineers and 500+ security experts at Google, along with a network of independent researchers, who live and breathe data security.

Our research grant program is one way independent security researchers contribute to Google’s data security. We're grateful for their efforts to keep Google Drive safe, so next year we’re dedicating $1,000,000 to fund even more grants for independent security research. Separately, we’ll continue to offer up to $20,000 to anyone who finds and reports a qualifying issue. The end result of these ongoing efforts is a product that — unlike your garden-variety hard drive — actually gets better over time.

This holiday season, many of you will be buying or gifting new computers, phones, and tablets — and possibly dealing with moving important files from old devices to new ones. Google Drive for Mac, PC, Android, and iOS devices can help you easily move your files and keep them all safe going forward.

So, enjoy some R&R this holiday season. While you're sipping eggnog, we'll be making sure your files stay safe.

 Posted by Kevin Nelson, Product Manager, Google Drive

Because it’s gotta be super easy to find your files

When you store important files in Google Drive they’re not only safe, they’re accessible from any device. And finding them again from any device should be super easy so we’re rolling out a new search experience to get you better results — even faster.


Drive lets you search across all your files, regardless of the device they came from. To make that easier, you can use these new ways to find your files:
  • Narrow your search to a file type from the search box on Android, iOS, and the web.
  • Open advanced search instantly from the search box.
  • Access recent files or search Drive from the home screen using 3D Touch on iOS.
  • Search Drive using the iOS search bar without opening the Drive app.
Several behind-the-scenes improvements give your search queries even better results than they did before. And to get more specific results, anyone can now do the following:
  • Search for shared files by file owner using their name or email address.
  • Use advanced search options like the date a file was modified, words it contains, or who it was shared with.


This is all part of an ongoing effort to make Drive the easiest place to find your files. Look for these features as they roll out in the coming weeks.

Posted by Steen Andersson, Group Product Manager, Google Drive

Because it’s gotta be super easy to share files

When you store your important files somewhere, you want to have peace of mind that they'll be safe and easy-to-access later. That's why everything in Drive is always encrypted. And why we encourage all of our users to complete a simple Security Checkup every now and then. Of course, this should include file sharing as well — it should be super easy to control who sees what. With this in mind, we're making a number of improvements to Drive today, so you can store your photos and documents safely and get them where they need to go. Get sharing notifications You may have noticed recently that it’s easier to select and share multiple files and folders on iOS and Android — but checking your email may not be the fastest way to find out when something’s been shared with you. So starting today, you’ll receive mobile notifications to alert you immediately when files or folders are shared with you and a single tap can take you right to them.
Request and grant file access Drive lets you quickly grab a link to files and folders so you can share them using other apps, but if you share a link before you’ve granted access, the person you’re sending it to won’t be able to open it. Now, the Drive for Android app lets recipients request access with a single tap. And on Android and iOS, file owners will be notified of the request instantly so they can quickly grant access.
Preview files without a Google Account on Android Until now, you needed a Google Account to view shared files on your Android device. Now, you can do this without a Google Account just like on the web.
Some of the features mentioned are already available. Look for the rest to roll out in the coming week or so. Posted by Alex Vogenthaler, Group Product Manager, Google Drive

Keep your memories safe with WhatsApp and Google Drive

Whether it’s recounting a story, watching a video, or enjoying photos with family and friends, our memories help us reconnect with what’s really important. And every month, nearly a billion people use WhatsApp to do just that.

Of course: you don’t want your memories stuck on your phone. (What if something happens?!) So starting today, WhatsApp for Android lets you create a private backup of your chat history, voice messages, photos, and videos in Google Drive. And once you do, you can restore everything on a new device with just a couple taps.
The new backup feature is rolling out over the next few months, so keep an eye on your WhatsApp settings to see if it’s available. In the meantime, please visit our Help Center if you have questions about today’s update. And check out our developer site if you’d like to integrate your app with Google Drive.

Posted by Scott Johnston, Director of Product Management

Introducing the Google Drive plug-in for Microsoft Office

With Google Drive, you can keep all your important files in one place, then open them with your choice of apps and devices. Building on this open approach, we recently made it possible to launch your favorite desktop applications directly from Google Drive. And today we’re taking it a step further by bringing Google Drive to Microsoft Office.

Using the new Google Drive plug-in, people using Office for Windows can now open their Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents stored in Drive, then save any changes back to Drive once they’re done.
blog_driveplugin2.png
If you’re working on a document, spreadsheet or presentation that’s on your computer, you can also save that file to Google Drive, directly from the Office apps. This is especially useful for sharing files with teams, or for accessing your files across devices.
blog_new_saveas.png
With this plug-in, you can use the apps you’re already comfortable with, while benefitting from the security and convenience of Google Drive.

Please view the original post at http://cloud.googleblog.com/2015/07/introducing-google-drive-plug-in-for.html

Source: Drive