Google Drive gets profile pics, 1-click group chat

Published April 26, 2013 10:50am

Google is making Drive, its cloud-based storage service, friendlier to people working together on documents and files by adding new collaboration features.

In a blog post, software engineer Eric Zhang said the new features for Google Drive now include profile pictures and one-click group chat.

“Now when you open a file in Drive, you’ll see the profile pictures of other viewers at the top instead of just their names, making it easy for you to do a quick scan of who else is in the file,” Zhang said in a blog post.

He added users can also hover over a photo to see details about the viewer, then add them to their circles on Google+ - Google’s social network — “all without ever leaving Drive.”

Zhang also said users can start a group chat with one click by selecting the new chat button at the top right, prompting a chat box to appear.

“These new features will roll out over the next day or two, and we’ll be adding support for more file types (like Google Sheets) soon, so stay tuned,” Zhang said.

A separate article on tech site The Next Web noted the feature of doing much without leaving Google Drive shows how Google is “further integrating its social network into its file storage service.”

On the other hand, The Next Web noted even people without Google accounts who open a document are also affected by the latest change: “they get their own profile pictures and animal names. These appear randomly and so you’ll see a different one every time.”

“The profile pictures and one-time chat are useful additions, while the anonymous animals are really just for fun,” it added. — TJD, GMA News

Tags: google, googledrive