Files by Google could soon open your documents independently
Android devices are powerful tools because the Google Play Store usually has an app for every imaginable requirement. To handle documents on the go, we usually rely on thebest PDF editor apps, but Google has a few provisions pre-installed on Android to help you out in a pinch, including the Drive PDF Viewer. However, a new sighting suggests the Files by Google app may soon reduce its dependency on this app in favor of an integrated PDF editing suite.
Frustration-free edits from your phone
The Drive PDF Viewer is a great PDF reader/editor stripped down to the bare necessities to view all the pages and annotate using basic drawing tools like a highlighter or marker. Despite inadequacies, it remains the default PDF viewer app on Android and even documents downloaded via Chrome browser rely on it because, unlike the desktop version, Chrome for Android doesn’t have an inbuilt PDF viewer. Whilethat could change soon, app researcher and tipster AssembleDebug shared aTelegram postrevealing the Files by Google app could soon use an independent PDF reader as well.
The new solution could include more features
Screenshots of the upcoming PDF editor UI
In the screenshots the tipster shared, there are a few key differences in the UI for the Files app’s PDF reader. First off, we can see dedicated arrow buttons, presumably to scroll up and down in the document or in one-page increments without tiring your thumb.
Another key difference is the floating action button (FAB), which looks like a message button in the new UI, hopefully giving users much-needed text annotation features in addition to the doodling tools the Drive PDF viewer already has (accessible through the magic wand FAB).
We didn’t see the new UI on any of our devices to test out functionality firsthand, but user reports on AssembleDebug’s Telegram channel reveal this integrated PDF reader is rolling out already, ridding the Files by Google app of its dependency on the Drive PDF viewer. It should be available through the Play Store if Google plans to make the new features available at scale.
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