You suddenly remember you need to add "buy milk" to your grocery list, but don't have a pen or paper in sight. You’re on the subway with no reception and need to update your soccer club spreadsheet before you get to practice. You desperately need to make edits to your marketing strategy PowerPoint before you present, but you only brought your iPad to the meeting.

We've all been in binds like this before, but the good news is, now there's a way out.

With today’s launch of the Slides app for iPhone & iPad and updates to the Docs and Sheets apps, we’re delivering on our promise to make it possible for you to work with any file, on any device, any time. You can now create that grocery list, edit that spreadsheet, and update that slide deck with no problem.
Here's the lowdown on what you can now do with Docs, Sheets, and Slides:

1. You can truly get stuff done from any device—your iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Android tablet, laptop or desktop computer. Any change you make on any of these devices is saved automatically, so you can pick up right where you left off any time, anywhere that you can sign in. 
2. The Docs, Sheets and Slides apps come with offline editing built right in. Just make the files you want to edit available offline. Any changes you make offline get automatically synced when you reconnect, just like when you make offline edits from your computer. 
3. And while converting Office files to Docs, Sheets and Slides is a cinch, the new iPhone/iPad apps also let you edit Office files directly -- just like on the Android apps and the web. 

Simply put, no matter where you are, how spotty the WiFi is, or what file type you're working with, you can get stuff done your way.

Posted by Li-Wei Lee, Software Engineer

One of the features you’ve told us you want on Drive for iOS is the ability to effortlessly browse and preview files, just like you can on Android. Today’s update delivers that same card-style thumbnail layout, along with a number of other upgrades that make it even easier to use Drive on your iPhone or iPad.

You can toggle between the new thumbnail view and the traditional list view with just the press of a button. Plus, in this latest version of the app, files and folders are grouped more intuitively instead of being mixed together, and you can view and edit files in landscape mode.
It’s also now easier to copy the link for any Drive file (great for if you need to include it in an email, add it to a note, or text it to a friend). Just visit the details pane of the file you want and select ‘Get link’ to automatically copy the link to your clipboard. And while you're in the details pane, check out the other things you can do, like moving the file into one of your Drive folders or sharing it with a friend.
And last, we brought search to the forefront of the app so you can find the exact file you're looking for, whether you're on a small iPhone or a larger iPad. And remember, Drive search recognizes objects in your images and text in scanned documents. So the next time you’re looking for photos of that trip to the Statue of Liberty, just enter the phrase “Statue of Liberty” and your photos will appear – voilà!

Head over to the Apple App Store now to download the app and see it in action.


Posted by Kelvin Chan, Software Engineer