Google Slides

At I/O 2021, Google announced several “Smart canvas” features that will better integrate the company’s various productivity apps. The ability to present from Docs, Sheets, and Slides directly to Google Meet is now rolling out.

Last year, Adobe released a Gmail Add-on for Creative Cloud for quick access and saving. An update to the Creative Cloud Add-on for Google Workspace today extends that functionality to Google Docs and Slides.

If you’re having trouble with Google Drive services this morning, you’re not alone. Google Drive is experiencing a partial outage that’s bringing down Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides for many users.

The presenter bar in Google Slides is getting redesigned to offer a “less intrusive experience” for presenters and viewers alike. Overall, the new toolbar is more hidden and not as distracting.

Have you received an email about a new comment in a Google Docs or other Google Workspace file you don’t recognize? Do not click the included link, as it’s likely part of a new source of spam emails that are abusing comments in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

After coming to Gmail, Calendar, and Drive, the Google Workspace Add-ons side panel will soon be available in Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Google today also showed off a useful Translate integration.

Google tries to differentiate its G Suite apps by leveraging AI to boost user productivity. It’s now bringing several key features, including Smart Compose, that first debuted on the desktop web to Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides for Android and iOS.

For over a year now, Google has been bringing dark mode to its Android apps to go with Android 10’s dark theme toggle. Today, they’re launching a long-awaited and much needed dark mode to the Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides apps for Android, to make your work easier on the eyes.

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While Drive for Android gained a dark theme last April, Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides have been notable holdouts. Night-friendly modes for these apps are coming and will likely also apply to the document view.

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After tweaking the search bar, Google is rolling out a more substantial update to Docs, Sheets, and Slides for Android. The UI for commenting has been redesigned to be more mobile-friendly.

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G Suite’s productivity apps are seeing a pair of updates on Android and the web today. On the latter platform, there’s a Google Docs “document status” indicator, while the mobile apps pick up a new search field.

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Google Drive and the G Suite family of productive apps often get small, iterative refreshes. The latest update today is more notable and sees a big redesign of the sharing UI that focuses on ease of use.

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Google Drive on the web was one of the very first services to get the Material Theme treatment in 2018, with the Android and iOS clients following this April. The homepages for Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides were updated in February, with a similar Google Material Theme revamp now available for the Android apps.

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One longstanding complaint among Google users on the web is how being logged in with both personal and G Suite accounts results in a confusing file launch process. Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides will now display a prominent prompt about what account you’re signed in with.

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