Google Drive for iOS now lets you filter searches using drop-down menus for file type, owner and last modified time, the company wrote in its Workspace Updates blog on Friday. Drop-down menus appear before and after searches, as well as relevant filter recommendations and user types.
Google says the update is available to Google Workspace customers and individual subscribers, as well as anyone with a personal Google account on iOS. The feature isn’t available for Android users yet, but Google says it’s coming soon.
Here’s a screen recording I made to show how it works:
New filter updates make searching and browsing files even more enjoyable when you don’t know their location. For example, if you know you want to find a video stored in Drive but don’t know its name, just click on the “Video” file type, then select “Custom range” under Last modified, then search for what you want time period. Touch it one last time. I’d love to see this updated so I could filter by other types of date or file size.
This is a significant improvement over Google’s previous approach, which involved filter suggestions and swipeable filters. It turns out that dropdown menus are still the best. Who would have thought?