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Google's search updates for Drive and Apps: Now you should find file handling easier

Google is making it simpler to move, manage and attach files across Drive, Apps and its smart version of Gmail, Inbox.
Written by Liam Tung, Contributing Writer
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Google is making it easier to find documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

Image: Google

Google is rolling out improvements to Google Drive and Google Apps that should make it faster to find and manage files.

When searching for files in Google Drive, users will now be able to drag and drop items from results to a folder of their choice.

Google has also introduced a new Move To icon that appears in the toolbar after clicking on a file that's already in My Drive. From there, a dropdown menu is designed to make it easier to move files from folder to folder within My Drive.

For files that are not already in My Drive, the existing Add to My Drive icon will still be available and from there files can be moved around various folders.

Similarly, Google's introduced a new icon when previewing files, which lets the user add the file to any folder in My Drive.

Separately, Google has added a new feature to Inbox by Gmail to make it faster to share photos from Google Photos or documents from Drive via email.

Clicking the Attach icon now instantly displays recent photos and attachments from a pop-out side panel, which might shave a few seconds off the same task in standard Gmail on the web.

Finally, Google is making it easier to find documents, spreadsheets and presentations, regardless which of its productivity apps is currently being used. So, as of this week, search from the home screens of Docs, Sheets and Slides on the desktop will return relevant files from all three apps.

Google has a one- to three-day estimated rollout schedule for the features. So, if they're not available currently, they should be in the next day or two.

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