The Google Drive apps are getting some much-needed big-screen enhancements
Android tablets have made a comeback of sorts, thanks to the pandemic. Following the reignited consumer interest, Google has also been showering big-screen devices with a lot of attention. With the release ofAndroid 12Lin March 2022, the company introduced several changes to enhance Android’s usability on tablets. Google is also in the process ofrevamping 20+ of its appsso that they can better utilize a tablet’s bigger screen. Now, the big G is updating its Workspace apps for Android—Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Keep—for larger screen devices to further boost your productivity.
Firstly, all Google Workspace apps on Android are gaining full multi-window drag and drop support, a feature initially introduced all the way back in Android 7. You can drag images and text from apps like Chrome or Sheet and drop them into a new Docs or Keep note. Similarly, you can drag files directly into theGoogle Driveapp to upload them (which you’ve been able to do for a while). And then, you can drag that file from the Drive app into Keep to automatically paste a shared link. You can also drag images saved in a Keep note into another app.
In the Drive app, you can now open multiple windows side-by-side for enhanced multitasking. This will make comparing two documents easier, and it will also help when you need to have one document open and still need access to other files in some Drive folder. It’s also handy when you want to move a few files from one Drive folder to another using drag and drop. You can use it like a dual-pane file explorer.
Lastly, if you use a dedicated keyboard with your Android tablet, Google is adding support for common shortcuts like cut, copy, paste, undo/redo to the Drive, Docs, and Slides apps. You will no longer have to take your hands off the keyboard to carry out these common actions. Meanwhile, Sheets has had supportfor numerous keyboard shortcutsfor a long time already.
These enhancements to Keep, Drive, and the entire suite of apps are rolling out to Google Workspace and personal Google Accounts tablet users over the next few weeks. It is good to see Google updating its apps for large-screen devices, showing its continued commitment to the platform. Hopefully, this will also encourage third-party developers to optimize their apps for tablets, which in turn should make allthe best Android tabletsout there much more pleasant to use.
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