If you are a user of Google Docs, you may have noticed that the tab for Google docs no longer exists and has been replaced by Google Drive. Interestingly, there hasn’t been a lot of buzz from Google to the public on the replacement of Google Docs to Googe Drive, although Google Drive has been talked about for months and it has been available to use, just not as officially as it is now.

What exactly is Google Drive? Basically, it is a better version of Google docs, and the new name enables its other sharing features (outside of documents) to be better recognized. Surprisingly, there really hasn’t been a lot written about Google Drive, so we thought we would give a summary of its features.

Google Drive can be installed on your various computers and mobile devices (similar to Dropbox) and gives you the ability to sync your files. When installed on your PC, a folder is created on your computer. Files in the Google Drive Folder are then available on all devices. Files from Google Drive on the web, including Google docs files, will sync to your Google Drive folder. If you have a document on your computer that you want to move to another device you simply drag and drop it into this new Google Drive folder. When you now share a document or other file from Google Drive, you can share with someone outside of gmail.

The iPad Google Drive app is visually appealing, and in our opinion, a little sleeker than the iDocs HD Free app that is applicable to Google Drive. The Google Drive app is not completely self-explanatory, but once you spend a little time with it, it is relatively easy to use, to edit and to share. When you star a document in “My Drive,” it will take you to “Details,” which enables you to work offline with that document or to share and edit with others.

Here is a list of other features that Google promotes for Google Drive:

  1. Ability to keep and share everything.
  2. Ability to use the Google Drive Android or iPhone/iPad app to access your photos, documents, videos and other files stored on your Google Drive.
  3. Ability to upload files to Google Drive directly from your android, smartphone or tablet device.
  4. Share any files with your contacts.
  5. Access files others have shared with you on Google Drive.
  6. Make any file available offline so you can access them even when you don’t have an Internet connection.
  7. Manage files on the go.
  8. Create and edit Google documents with support for tables, comments and rich text formatting.
  9. Edits to your Google documents appear to collaborators in seconds.
  10. View Google presentations with full animations and speaker notes.
  11. Make quick changes to spreadsheets.
  12. View your PDFs, Office documents and more.
  13. Upload and convert files to the Google Docs format.
  14. Take a photo of printed text and convert it to a Google document.
  15. Print files stored in Google Drive on the go using Google Cloud Print.
  16. Open files stored in Google Drive through Drive enabled apps in the browser.
  17. Optimized experience to take advantage of larger screens for tablet users.

Google Docs is definitely worth trying. Its easy accessibility and sharing features make it a winner for business and home use. Let us know how it works for you!