what you need to know
- Code within the Google Drive app for Android shows that the company is working on bringing a new “category” system to users.
- Users will be able to customize and display their important categories on the Drive Home tab for easier discovery.
- The code also shows users that they can choose which categories stored Drive files or documents should have in their three-dot menu.
Google appears to be working on introducing a new category system to Drive that should make it easier for users to find what they’re looking for.
The feature was discovered by AssembleDeBug (TheSpAndroid), who states that “Categories” will appear on the Drive app’s home tab (via Android Police). Users may soon discover that their categories are a row of circular icons at the top of the app’s welcome page. Additionally, a three-dot menu is said to let users “manage categories” for customization.
In the app’s code, clicking this option will let the user decide which categories should quickly appear at the top.
Another finding suggests that users can decide which “category” their documents and files should fall into. The app’s code shows that clicking on the three-dot menu on a document will soon include a second “Manage Categories” option. From there, users should be able to select all categories that apply to their files.
Twelve categories were discovered in the Android code of the Drive app:
- car
- banking
- spend
- Home
- intrusion detection system
- Insurance
- medical
- pet
- School
- tax
- travel
- Work
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While the discovery was made in the code of an Android app, AssembleDeBug says the feature will be coming to the web and iOS devices. Additionally, they speculate that personal and workspace accounts should have select categories as soon as Google completes them.
While we wait for this new categorization method, Google recently rolled out a Drive update that improves the playback experience for uploaded videos. The company’s solution, called “DASH,” adjusts the quality of stored content based on network speed. Google also detailed a refined search experience that’s only available on iOS devices so far.
New filters such as file type, owner, and last modified should be available on Android, but Google hasn’t revealed when.