Google Drive Gives Google Docs a Lift

As an avid DropBox and Box user, I was a little hesitant to add to Google Drive to my list of document sharing. But after downloading Google Drive for Mac this morning, I was pleasantly surprised to see how easy managing Google Docs is now. Don’t get me wrong -- it’s not like opening Google Docs from my desktop was that hard -- but the fact that I was able to manage Dropbox files from within my Macbook’s Finder window made it a little more laborious than I felt it needed to be. Now, I can gain access to, save and manage Google Docs from within Finder.

Take Your Docs for a Drive

Google has decided to replace Google Docs with Drive later this year. While Drive is still opt-in at this time, it’s inevitable it will be a forced transition. Google has already started to alert users that their Google Docs account will soon be “upgraded to Google Drive," which is why I decided to do so this morning.

New Features

According to Google Drive’s Transition Notes, it expects to finish the transition from the Google Documents List to Google Drive by the end of the summer. Once rolled out, users can see some slight changes, namely:

• In the administrator control panel, the name of the Docs service changes to Drive and Docs. 
• Google Drive and Docs users get 5 GB of free storage, compared to the 1 GB of storage that Docs users previously had, and can purchase more if needed.
• Collections are now called Folders.
• When a user first switches to Drive, a view called My Drive contains:
  • Documents the user owns or has uploaded
  • Folders the user owns and the items contained within (regardless of ownership)
  • Nothing else, until the user drags items into My Drive

While rollouts are never easy or seamless, Google Drive does aim to make it easier for users to create, gain access to and manage Google Docs. Simplifying the document creation management is always welcome and I look forward to taking my docs for a drive.