Google Apps Gets a New and Streamlined Look to Encourage Collaboration

Google is overhauling many of your favorite web apps, including Google Documents, Drive, Sheets, and Slides. 

The company says the changes are being implemented to encourage collaboration across the product line, so average users should expect increased connectivity between the various apps. With that in mind, each app will feature a new and simplified user interface and plenty of updated features. 

Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides have been redesigned to help users complete frequently used actions faster, including the commenting system. There have been no changes in actual functionality within each app, but features have been relocated to reduce clutter within the new and simplified interface. 

For instance, you can easily suss out document information, such as last edit and version history, via a clock icon in the top right corner instead of having to menu dive. 

Google Drive is getting its own suite of improvements, such as the ability to select multiple items at once and complete batch operations. Search within Drive has also been drastically improved, with new query options like type, owner, and modification date. 

These changes are rolling out now, but Google says the release won’t reach every user for another 15 days or so. The updates are available to all Google Workspace customers, legacy G Suite Basic customers, Business customers, and anyone with an active Google account—so pretty much everyone.