Home
PC Software

Download Google Drive for Desktop - Ayaz Tech

5 minute read

Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service developed by Google. Launched on April 24, 2012, Google Drive allows users to store files in the cloud (on Google's servers), synchronize files across devices, and share files. In addition to a web interface, Google Drive offers apps with offline capabilities for Windows and macOS computers, and Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. Google Drive encompasses Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides, which are a part of the Google Docs Editors office suite that permits collaborative editing of documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, forms, and more. Files created and edited through the Google Docs suite are saved in Google Drive.

Google Drive offers users 15 GB of free storage through Google One. Google One also offers 100 GB, 200 GB, 2 TB, offered through optional paid plans. Files uploaded can be up to 750 GB in size. Users can change privacy settings for individual files and folders, including enabling sharing with other users or making content public. On the website, users can search for an image by describing its visuals, and use natural language to find specific files, such as "find my budget spreadsheet from last December".



Platforms:

  • Computer apps
  • Backup and Sync
  • Mobile apps
  • Website interface

Features:

Sharing

Google Drive incorporates a system of file sharing in which the creator of a file or folder is, by default, its owner. The owner can regulate the public visibility of the file or folder. 

Third-party apps

A number of external web applications that work with Google Drive are available from the Chrome Web Store. To add an app, users are required to sign in to the Chrome Web Store, but the apps are compatible with all supported web browsers.

File viewing

The Google Drive viewer on the web allows the following file formats to be viewed:

  • Native formats (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Drawings)
  • Image files (.JPEG, .PNG, .GIF, .TIFF, .BMP, .WEBP)
  • Video files (.WEBM, .MPEG4, .3GPP, .MOV, .AVI, .MPEG, .MPEGPS, .WMV, .FLV, .OGG)
  • Audio formats (.MP3, .M4A, .WAV, .OGG)
  • Text files (.TXT)
  • Executable program files (.EXE)
  • Markup/Code (.CSS, .HTML, .PHP, .C, .CPP, .H, .HPP, .JS)
  • Microsoft Word (.DOC and .DOCX)
  • Microsoft Excel (.XLS and .XLSX)
  • Microsoft PowerPoint (.PPT and .PPTX)
  • Adobe Portable Document Format (.PDF)
  • Apple Pages (.PAGES)
  • Adobe Illustrator (.AI)
  • Adobe Photoshop (.PSD)
  • Autodesk AutoCad (.DXF)
  • Scalable Vector Graphics (.SVG)
  • PostScript (.EPS, .PS)
  • Python (.PY)
  • Fonts (.TTF)
  • XML Paper Specification (.XPS)
  • Archive file types (.ZIP, .RAR, tar, gzip)
  • .MTS files
  • Raw Image formats

Files in other formats can also be handled through third-party apps that work with Google Drive, available from the Chrome Web Store.

File limits

Files that are uploaded, but not converted to Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides formats, may be up to 5 TB in size. There are also limits, specific to file type, listed below:

Documents (Google Docs)
Up to 1.02 million characters, regardless of the number of pages or font size. Document files converted to .gdoc Docs format cannot be larger than 50 MB (1 MB = 1 million bytes). Images inserted cannot be larger than 50 MB, and must be in either .jpg, .png, or non-animated .gif formats.
Spreadsheets (Google Sheets)
Up to 10 million cells, or 18,278 columns.
Presentations (Google Slides)
Presentation files converted to .gslides Slides format cannot be larger than 100 MB. Images inserted cannot be larger than 50 MB, and must be in either .jpg, .png, or non-animated .gif formats.

Quick Access

Introduced in the Android app in September 2016, Quick Access uses machine learning to "intelligently predict the files you need before you've even typed anything".] The feature was announced to be expanded to iOS and the web in March 2017, though the website interface received the feature in May.

Search results can be narrowed by file type, ownership, visibility, and the open-with app. Users can search for images by describing or naming what is in them. For example, a search for "mountain" returns all the photos of mountains, as well as any text documents about mountains.

Backups

In December 2016, Google updated the Android app and website with a "Backups" section, listing the Android device and app backups saved to Drive. The section lets users see what backups are stored, the backups' sizes and details, and delete backups.

In June 2017, Google announced that a new app, "Backup and Sync", would be able to synchronize any folder on the user's computer to Google. The app was released on July 12, 2017.

Metadata

A Description field is available for both files and folders that users can use to add relevant metadata. Content within the Description field is also indexed by Google Drive and searchable.

Accessibility to the visually impaired

In June 2014, Google announced a number of updates to Google Drive, which included making the service more accessible to visually impaired users. This included improved keyboard accessibility, support for zooming and high contrast mode, and better compatibility with screen readers.

Save to Google Drive browser extension

Google offers an extension for Google Chrome, Save to Google Drive, that allows users to save web content to Google Drive through a browser action or through the context menu. While documents and images can be saved directly, webpages can be saved in the form of a screenshot (as an image of the visible part of the page or the entire page), or as a raw HTML, MHTML, or Google Docs file. Users need to be signed into Chrome to use the extension.

Mobile app

The main Google Drive mobile app supported editing of documents and spreadsheets until April 2014, when the capability was moved to separate, standalone apps for Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides. The Google Drive app on Android allows users to take a photo of a document, sign, or other text and use optical character recognition to convert to text that can be edited.In October 2014, the Android app was updated with a Material Design user interface, improved search, the ability to add a custom message while sharing a file, and a new PDF viewer.

Encryption

Before 2013, Google did not encrypt data stored on its servers. Following information that the United States' National Security Agency had "direct access" to servers owned by multiple technology companies, including Google,



 the company began testing encrypting data in July and enabled encryption for data in transit between its data centers in November. However, as of 2015, Google Drive does not provide client-side encryption.


Post a Comment