The mobile app has a similar but scaled-down design, which makes it easy to switch between devices and not lose track of your documents.Īfter a brief setup process, the synchronization between devices is automatic and quick. It’s easy to organize, copy, and create favorite files, and to access tools such as sharing controls. You can add files by dragging and dropping, or by going through the simple menu options. The web browser interface is very well designed, with a clear and easily navigable folder structure and distinctive icons that enable you to find the tools you need without much trouble. There are three ways to access your Google Drive files-through a web browser, a mobile app, or a desktop tool called Backup and Sync, which allows you to integrate your Drive folder structure into Windows File Explorer or Finder on a Mac. It’s easy to navigate Google Drive’s folder structure (Image credit: Google) This even includes text within PDFs and images, using Optical Character Recognition (OCR). You can search by file name, file type, keywords, and words contained within a file. It’s easy to access the version history from within the Drive interface, and to download or restore any previous iterations of files.Ī search bar at the top of the Drive interface allows you to instantly pinpoint the particular file you’re looking for. Google Drive keeps track of each version of the files you upload, including PDFs and images. They’re all slick, polished apps, able to compete with Microsoft’s industry-leading equivalents.Īlternatively, you can upload files created in Microsoft software, and either convert them easily into Google documents, or edit them using Google’s apps while retaining the file type. You can easily create and open files from the Drive interface. Google’s word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation apps-Docs, Sheets, and Slides-are well integrated into Google Drive.

Each file’s info tab has a useful summary of users who currently have access to it, and you can see who last edited it. You can also decide whether users can edit a file or just view it.

You can share files with other users or groups, or you can get shareable links. Google Drive has a number of file-sharing options, all of which are very simple to use.

Google Docs is well integrated into Drive (Image credit: Google)

Review google drive for mac