Google Docs Get a New Look, Try it Now

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The latest Google Product to receive the new Google+ look and feel is Google Docs, its third interface change. The new design is opt-in right now, if it is available to you, you can activate it by clicking on the new “Try the new look” link under the gear icon on the Google Navigation bar, or go to this page: https://docs.google.com/?ui=3. This new look will be rolled out to all users in the coming days.

New Google Docs Interface
New Google Docs Interface

As seen in all new design changes, there are lot of white spaces in the new Docs interface as well. This reduces the number of items in your documents list on the screen at one time. Thankfully, Google is offering a denser view as well, just like Gmail. For a more compact view, click on the gear icon in the upper right and go to Documents settings. Under Row height, you’ll be able to select the option to use a denser view.

Another novelty that goes with this interface is the introduction of several new shortcuts. Now you can use the arrow keys to navigate up and down in the document list, pressing “a” will open the actions menu, “Shift + T” will create a new text document, “Shift + S” will create a new spreadsheet and pressing “Shift + C” will create a new collection. You can view the full list of shortcuts by pressing “Shift + ?” keys together.

Switch Back to the Old Layout
If you do not like the new design, you can switch back to the old interface by clicking on the “Use the classic look” link seen below the gear icon.

Probably we can see a new design for Google Reader next, as most other important Google services have already been updated.