While the mobile Workspace apps were quickly updated alongside Android 12’s Pixel launch in fall of 2021, it took much longer for Material Design 3 to arrive on the web. Following the Gmail redesign last year, Material You is coming next to Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
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Google Drive
The Google Drive Material You redesign looks a lot like Gmail on the web. The lists/grids of files are displayed in a white container that features rounded corners.
Various line separators have been removed, while “My Drive” and other section headers are larger. Below that you’ll find new filters for file types, last modified, and people.
Drive’s various sections appear in a left sidebar that uses a pill-shaped indicator to note what you’re viewing. There’s an elevated “New” FAB just above, with everything — including the search pill and other app bar controls — using a light blue background.
In terms of new functionality, hovering over a file in list view will reveal shortcuts to quickly share, download, rename, and open the menu usually accessible by right-clicking. That is quite similar in behavior to Gmail. Google Drive is also adding a multi-select toolbar to take bulk actions (share, download, move, and remove) when multiple files are chosen.
Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides
A pill-shaped toolbar that’s light blue is the primary change to Docs, Slides, and Sheets. The usual buttons and dropdowns are found here. The top bar (with a blue sharing pill and buttons without containers at the right) and the rest of the page share a background that’s very sparse in Docs. The spartan effect is less apparent in Google Sheets and its cells.
The suggestions button in the bottom-right corner is housed in a rounded square, while comments feature a light blue background.
General availability for the Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides Material You redesigns will take place in the “coming weeks.”
This visual refresh is meant to offer a “simpler, more streamlined UI that emphasizes the most loved tools within our products, helping you work more efficiently in the tools you know and love.”
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