Google has rolled out a revamped interface for Google Docs. The new interface makes it easier to find, organize and share your documents and other files.
The update includes additional filtering options and Priority Sort – a feature similar to Gmail’s Priority Inbox. Priority Sort determines which files are important to you at the moment and places them at the top of the document list, the normal alphabetical and date sorting options are also available.
The visibility filters allow you to find private, public or draft documents. It also has ownership filters, which makes it easier to find the documents based on author, or documents others have shared.
Folders and tags have now been replaced by Collections, it’s like labels in Gmail. This feature allows you to have a single file in multiple collections. These collections, unlike labels in Gmail, can also be organised hierarchically.
Google also dropped checkboxes, so now you need to use Shift for contiguous file selections or Control (Cmd on Macs) for scattered files, exactly like you would in Explorer.
Google has added a preview pane to the right of the documents list. The preview pane shows a thumbnail image of the selected document, as well as it’s sharing settings, and which collection(s) it belongs to. If the file’s a multimedia document like a video or a photo, you also have the option to play or view the file as a full-screen slideshow.
Switch back to Old Interface
If you don’t like the new interface or find it a bit too complicated, there’s an option at the top of the page that lets you temporarily switch to the old layout. You can also bookmark this URL: https://docs.google.com/?ui=1 for quick access, since there’s no option to permanently switch back to the old Interface.