Google Drive gets Docs, Sheets, Slides web apps

In an official post on the Google Drive blog, Google has announced that Documents, Spreadsheets, and Presentations – now called Docs, Sheets, and Slides are available as apps in the Chrome Web Store. On installing these apps, the shortcuts to these apps will appear when you open a new tab in Chrome.

In fact, those of you who use a Chromebook will be able to spot Docs, Sheets, and Slides in their apps list by default once the next update to Chrome OS arrives in a few weeks.

Building upon last year’s update to its News feature, Google recently introduced a host of updates that will be rolled out over the days to come. Among the first updates to come to Google News this time is the ability to view each news results cluster collapse down to one result, except for the first cluster. Users can click on 'Show more' to view articles from more sources. Google claims that the update has made it simpler to browse through the search results, and find the news coverage users are looking for. 

One click access

Over the next few days, users will be able to view a bar with videos and photos pertaining to the news content in some expanded result clusters. Clicking on any of these, users can view a more detailed coverage of the news. Once the changes begin to show, users will be able to spot that the cluster image has been moved to the left, while the source information has been shifted to below the article links to make it easier for users to read the content.

Google’s update to its News feature last year allowed users to scan for stories they find interesting.

On typing search queries in the Gmail search box, users can now view results from Google Drive, Google Calendar, and more, in addition to the relevant emails. This is a part of a field trial currently underway for users with gmail.com accounts, or those on https://www.google.com in English. Also, the search strings of the participants on Google.com return relevant emails, files, content on Gmail and Google Drive, in addition to regular search results.

Those who are a part of the experiment will be able to view relevant Gmail messages and other shared links in their search results. Users will also be able to get information and statuses pertaining to their upcoming flights. Likewise, they will also be able to search documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and other files stored on Google Drive.