Google Drive is finally making it easier to find your lost files

Google wants to make it easier to find specific files in its Drive cloud storage platform as it adds new search parameters to help users narrow down their results.

Several months after Gmail got a redesign, Google Drive is now fully operational under its new Material You redesign, however that hasn’t stopped the company from tinkering with a few switches here and there to make it easier to surface those long-lost files.

Search chips in Google Drive are now rolling out across the entire platform, offering up filters for file types, people, and last modification date.

Google Drive upgrade

The Material You refresh fundamentally changed the aesthetics of Google’s free office software for users everywhere, however it was oftenmore cosmetic than functional with only a handful of useful tweaks.

The addition of search chips supports the company’s promise to make its Google Drive better at knowing how to “complete your most frequent tasks more quickly.”

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Rapid release domains have already been dished out their update, while scheduled release domains will have to wait until an unconfirmed date in Q2 2023. As ever, it may take a full 15 days for the update to apply to some accounts, so don’t be too concerned if it hasn’t arrived but you’re expecting it.

The change is designed to make it easier for workers to find files in a sea of others, hence the availability across all Google Workspace accounts including legacy G Suite accounts. Personal accounts are also in for a treat, too, as they’re included in the update.

Changes to Google Drive occur on a regular basis automatically, with no need to install updates like software, however even with such a solid track record of bug fixes and new features, Google is beginning to lag behind Microsoft which has been busy rolling out OpenAI’s tools and other artificial intelligence features into virtually all of its products, leaving many wondering whether Google will soon follow suit.

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