Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Google Drive is getting a new look on iOS and Android

What’s changing  

Google Drive is getting a new look and feel on iOS and Android, making it easier to communicate and collaborate across files in Drive on mobile devices.



This Material redesign is part of a larger effort to bring the look and feel of our G Suite apps together as a whole, with ease-of-use in mind.

Some improvements you’ll see include:
  • New Home tab and bottom navigation 
    • Similar to Drive on the web, the Home tab will surface the files that are most important to you, based on things like: 
      • The last time you accessed or edited a file 
      • Who specific files are frequently shared with 
      • What files are used at specific times of day.
  • A more intuitive bottom navigation bar that features options to switch between Home, Starred, files shared with you (Shared), and all files (Files), allowing for quicker access to your most important items.

  • Expanded search bar 
    • The search bar is now more accessible across the application, including from the Team Drives page.
  •  My Drive, Team Drives and Computers in Files view 
    • Team Drives will be now be displayed as a tab next to My Drive in the Files view. Users will also see a Computers tab if they have backed up content from a local machine to their account. 

    •  New account switching experience 
      • The feature to switch accounts is moving from the left navigation menu to an icon in the top right.


      •  Revised actions menu 
        • A revised actions menu attached to every file and folder emphasizes the most frequently used actions at the top. Toggles for starred and offline are now changed to buttons.

        Who’s impacted 

        End users

        Why you’d use it 

        We know that mobile devices are critical to getting work done, whether it’s at our desk, in a meeting, sending an email, or collaborating. Drive is not just a way to backup files to the cloud, but a critical way to easily share work, make last minute changes to content, or review important content on the go. The Drive Mobile redesign aims to make these workflows easier.

        How to get started 

        • Admins: No action required. 
        • End users: You’ll see the new look coming your way soon. 

        Additional details

        iOS users will begin seeing the redesign starting on March 12, 2019. Android users will see the redesign starting on March 18, 2019.

        To help your users navigate this redesign, see this change management guide or download this PDF.

        Helpful links 

        View the change management guide for this update. Also available as a PDF.
        Using Google Drive on Android
        Using Google Drive on iOS 

        Availability 

        Rollout details 
        • iOS: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) rollout starting March 12, 2019.
        • Android: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) rollout starting March 18, 2019. 
        G Suite editions 
        Available to all G Suite Editions.

        On/off by default? 
        This feature will be ON by default.

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