The Google Drive application for PC (Windows, Mac) is being revamped with major improvements to its credit, starting with its very name, which from “Backup and sync” is now called as it should have been from the beginning: Google Drive for PC or Google Drive for desktop, as you prefer.
However, the name of the application is the least important thing. What is more important are the new features brought by this new version of Google Drive for PC, which also serves to unify the applications for home users and work teams… Or it will do so soon, as its download is not yet available for everyone, although it is starting to be distributed now.
The changes were announced at the beginning of the year and the first to notice it were business users, who saw how the application of the day left behind the name Drive File Stream to be called simply Google Drive for desktop, anticipating, in turn, the disappearance of Backup and Sync sometime in 2021.
New Google Drive for PC
In short, it will be only one Google Drive app for PC that survives, and it will do so with novel and long-demanded features, such as support for uploading images directly to Google Photos, either via a pre-designated folder, via USB-connected external storage drives, or from third-party applications such as the macOS image library.
Uploading images to Google Photos includes the option of whether images are stored in their original quality or space-saving high quality, as well as being able to choose what type of files are uploaded, such as screenshots or RAW files.
Other new features of the new Google Drive application for PC include free and multiple selections of local folder synchronization, as well as synchronization of individual files in “My Drive” for offline use, the ability to stream content directly from the cloud, and other minor details, such as a dark mode and integrations with third-party applications such as Microsoft Office and Outlook.
The Google Drive for PC application will continue to feature the option to make backups on demand (one-way file uploads), full backups with the entire contents of the drive, with changes reflected in storage and the cloud as they are made, and the ability to run and edit files offline.
Finally, Google Drive for PC will allow you to use multiple Google accounts at the same time, but with limitations, since you can only use the backup mode simultaneously, for the rest of the options -the customized synchronizations, mainly- you will have to switch accounts similarly as it is done in the Chrome browser.
In short, the new version of Google Drive for PC is promising, although it will take time to reach the common Google users: the first to receive it, as we have already said, are the professional users, and later it will be the turn of the rest. The transition is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Shame on Google for not having released a version of the application for Linux at this stage of the movie.
