Chapter 9: Google Drive on Mobile Devices

Note that supported file formats depend on other apps installed on your Android device. If your Android device is able to open TXT files, for example, Drive will be able to let you view them too.

Edit Google documents
Use other apps to open unsupported file types stored in Drive
Rename your files
Share something from your Google Drive with other people
Star something for easy access
Make files available to view offline
Print files using Google Cloud Print

Every time you open something with the Drive app, it’ll update to the latest version of the file. If a collaborator is actively working on something, you won’t see updates being made in real time unless you’re working on a Google document.

Navigating the app

When you open the Drive app on your Android device, you'll see a list of different ways to view what's on your Drive.

My Drive

Everything in your Google Drive that you’ve created, synced and uploaded. You can automatically sync My Drive to the Google Drive folder on your computer.

Shared with me

All of the files and folders that have been shared with you. To sync files in this

view, move them to My Drive.

The Shared with me filter doesn't include files shared to a mailing list or files set to

'Anyone with the link' or 'Public' (unless the file has been shared directly to your email address).

Starred

Shows you only items that you’ve marked with a star.

Recent

All of your private and shared files that you've opened in reverse chronological order.

Offline

Shows items you’ve made available to view offline on your Android device. Read more about pinning items offline in your Android Drive app for Android.

Limitations of the Drive App

While Google continues to develop the Google Drive app for Android, it still has some limitations:

There is currently no Trash section in the app. Anything you remove to the Trash on the app or the web will be available to find, view, and restore on the web only.

Install the Google Drive Android app

Getting started

The Google Drive mobile app is the best way to access both Google Docs and Google Drive on your Android phone or tablet. With the Drive app, you can access and edit your Google Docs without having to use your browser. You can also view other file types stored in Drive and edit them by opening them in other apps installed on your device.

The previous version of the app, Google Docs, will be updated to Drive with your next update in Google Play.

The Drive app also seamlessly integrates with other features on your Android device. Here are some things you can do with the Drive app on your Android:

Take a photo with your camera and store it in Google Drive for access on other devices
Easily share docs and files with your contacts
Access the Drive app directly from a shortcut on your home screen

Install the Google Drive app for Android

If you want to access Google Docs and Google Drive from your Android device, download the Drive app in Google Play. If you haven’t yet tried Drive on your desktop computer, you can get access through the Drive app on your Android device.

Tap the Google Play icon on your screen.
Find and install the application called Google Drive.
On your phone or tablet home screen, click the Drive app icon.

NOTE: Updating the Google Docs app to Google Drive will remove existing Docs shortcuts from your home screen. After your update is complete, you can create shortcuts again.

Supported versions

To download and install the Google Drive app for Android, make sure your Android device version is supported:

For phones, you need Android version 2.1 or higher.
For tablets, you need Android version 3.0 or higher.
To check your version, go to Settings and select About phone or About tablet. Your version number is listed under “Android version.”

Adding a Drive widget to your home screen

You can add a widget to your device's home screen to access the Drive app more quickly on the go. The widget also allows you to go directly to your Starred files, Create a document with one click, or take pictures with your camera and store them in Drive immediately.

For Android 4.0 and above: Tap the All Apps icon and select Widgets at the top of your screen. Swipe left or right to move between screens and find the Drive widget. Long-press to pick it up and drag it to the desired spot on your device Home screen.
For earlier Android versions: Long-press an empty spot on your Home screen, and tap Widgets in the pop-up menu. Swipe left or right to find the Drive widget, tap it with your finger, and click Select.

Find and organize Google Docs and files in your Drive app for Android

The Google Drive app lets you organize items stored in Drive directly from your Android device.

Create folders

Follow these steps to create a folder in the Drive app:

If you’re on your phone, tap the Menu button in the top-right corner of your screen and select New. If you’re on your tablet, click the New button directly in the top-right corner.
Select Folder from the menu.
Enter a name for the folder when prompted.
Tap OK.

New folders created in the Drive app will also become available in Google Drive on the web and anywhere else you sign into your Drive account. New folders created while inside another folder will be nested under that folder automatically.

Pro tip: Folders can be created in any section of the app, like the Offline or Starred sections. However, new folders will always appear in My Drive.

Folders created while in the Offline section will not be automatically available offline. Similarly, folders created while in the Starred section will not be starred automatically.

Modify folders

Tap the arrow to the right of a folder’s name to open its preview panel and Share it, Rename it, Remove it, Send a link to it, or Move it to be nested under another folder from your Drive. Some of these options are located under the Menu button in the top-right corner of your screen when you are in the preview panel

Note: Moving a folder to the trash will also remove all files it contains from your Drive. Because the Drive app doesn’t have a Trash section, anything you remove on the app can only be recovered from the trash when you access Google Drive on the web.

Folders cannot be made available offline. However, you can mark individual items stored within a given folder to be available offline.

Move items between folders

Follow these steps to move an item into a folder in the Drive app:

Tap the arrow next to the item’s name to open its preview panel.
Tap the Folder button in the top-right corner of your screen.
Choose from your list of existing Drive folders. Tap each folder’s name to open it and any nested folders it contains until you reach your item’s destination folder.
Tap Move in the bottom-left corner of your screen, or when prompted.

Documents created while inside a folder will automatically belong to that folder.

Find docs and files in your Drive App

The Drive app lets you sort your list of files:

Tap the Menu button in the top-right corner of your screen.
Select Sort by to arrange your list of items by Title, time Last modified, time Last opened by me, or time Last edited by me.
Sorting can be applied in addition to another search criterion. For example, you can perform a search and then sort the results of that search. You can also click into one of the app’s sections, like Starred, and sort only your starred files.
You can sort files within a specific folder in your Drive.

The Drive app also lets you filter your files:

Tap the Menu button in the top-right corner of your screen.
Select Filter by to view your Drive items by file type. For instance, you can choose to see a list of only Folders, Google presentations, text documents, images, videos, or PDF files.
To go back to the app’s home page and undo filtering, touch the Google Drive app logo in the top-left corner of your screen.
Note that filtering will display results from your entire Drive. Even if you were in the Starred section when you filtered, for example, the list of displayed search results will include unstarred items.

Note: Sorting and filtering Google Drive within the Android app won't affect how items are sorted on your desktop computer, and vice versa.

The search box is located at the top of your device screen.

The Drive app will match your search terms to both the names of your files and their contents. Search for text within a file, or search for the names of things featured in pictures on your Drive, like “Eiffel Tower.”
Drive uses OCR technology to search the content of non-Google Docs files.
Note that searching by keyword will display results from your entire Drive. Even if you were in the Starred section when you searched, for instance, your search results will include unstarred items.
As you type search terms into the Search box, the app will show a running list of suggested results. To get the full list of results, finish typing and tap Search on your device’s keyboard.

Google documents on your Android phone or tablet

Viewing and real-time collaboration

With the Drive app on your Android device, you can view Google documents that you’ve created and that have been shared with you. Every time you open a document, it’ll update to the latest version.

A gray indicator at the top-right corner of your screen will show other users who are looking at or editing the document. You will also see changes being made in real time.

A few things to remember when viewing Google documents in the Drive app:

Tables, images, and drawings in your document can all be viewed through the app.
To follow links, tap on hyperlinked text and choose Follow link.
You can pinch-to-zoom into your document.

The Drive app also allows you to create, reply to, and resolve comments in Google documents.

To view and reply to comments, tap the Comment button in the top right corner of your screen.

Loop people into the conversation the way you would on the web, by typing “+” and choosing a saved contact from the pop-up menu (or typing in a new email address).
Tap each comment individually to see the text it is attached to.
Tap the Edit icon to make changes or delete a comment.
Use the Menu button in the top right corner of your screen to resolve a comment.
Swipe right and left to move between comments.
Tap the X in the top right of the comments list to close this view and return to the rest of your document.

To add a new comment for specific text, highlight the text and tap the Comment button in the gray hover menu.
To add a new comment pertaining to the entire document, tap the Comment button in the top right corner of your screen.

Editing with the Drive app

You can edit your Google documents within the Android app whenever your mobile device has an Internet connection. Editing is available in all supported languages for the Google Drive Android app, including those with right-to-left text.

To begin editing a Google document, touch its name in your Drive and touch the place in your document where you’d like to edit text.

As you type, your mobile device may suggest words and make corrections to help you avoid typos on your mobile keyboard.

Formatting

When you’re in edit mode, the toolbar at the top of your document lets you make formatting changes like bolding and underlining text, changing your font style and color, and creating bulleted lists.

On phones and tablets with a small screens, scroll the formatting toolbar to show more formatting options.

Undo and Redo reverse and reapply the latest changes you made to your text.
Fonts selects font style and size.
Bold , Italicize , Underline , and Strikethrough change the text formatting.
Color changes the font color or the background color of your text. Move between Font and Background to select different colors for each.
Bullets and Numbering add lists to your document.
Indent or Unindent your paragraphs.

Text selection and copy/paste

To select a word, double tap or touch and hold it for 2-3 seconds. Use the blue markers to expand your text selection.
Options to Cut, Copy, or Select all text within your document will show in a gray menu.
Touch the Done or Checkmark buttons in the top left of your screen. You’ll return to view mode.

You can cut and paste or copy and paste text within or across documents in the Android app. Selections copied from one document and pasted into another, though, will be pasted without formatting.

Images and tables

The Drive app lets you view and edit tables in your Google documents. To do this, simply click into the cell you want to modify and make your text edits. At the moment, it isn't possible to create new tables from within the app.

The app doesn’t currently support changes to images.

Google spreadsheets on your Android phone or tablet

Viewing and real-time collaboration

You can view Google spreadsheets that you’ve created and that have been shared with you through the Drive app on your Android phone or tablet.

With the Drive app on Android, you can view and edit your spreadsheets right in the app, not in a web browser.

When you’re viewing a spreadsheet, you can see others who are looking at or editing the spreadsheet by tapping the Current Viewers button in the top-right corner of the screen. If a collaborator is actively working on it, you will see their changes being made in real time.

A few things to remember when working with Google spreadsheets in the Drive app:

Pinch to zoom in and out of your spreadsheet.
Single-tap to select a cell. Double-tap to begin entering text.
Tap the header of a row or column to select and format it.
Drag the blue lines around it to select adjacent rows and columns.
Tap and drag the resize handle on a given row or column to resize.
Tap the arrow next to a given sheet’s name to Delete, Duplicate, Rename, or Move rows and columns.

Note: Spreadsheet charts and images can’t currently be viewed with the app.

Editing with the Drive app

You can edit your Google spreadsheet within the Drive app whenever your phone or tablet has an Internet connection. Editing is available in all supported languages with left-to-right text. The Drive app also supports editing from a hardware keyboard attached to your mobile device.

To begin editing, double-tap to select a cell, row or column to format, and begin entering text.

Data entry

Type text or numbers into your cells. Use the arrows next to your data entry window to move right and left within your row of cells, or tap Return on your keyboard to move down to the next cell in your column. Your changes will be saved regardless of when you click out of the cell you’re editing.
Tap Done in the top left of your device screen when you’re done.
The toolbar at the top of your screen provides formatting options (see “Cell formatting” below). You may need to scroll through this depending on the size of your device screen.
Most functions available in Google spreadsheets on the web are supported in the app, with the exception of functions that depend on images (like =Sparkline() and =Image(), for example).

For the time being, there is no way to select cells while typing a function. When working in the app, you’ll need to type in the names of the cells your function references.
The =Sparkline() function can’t be displayed in the app because it relies on images, which the app doesn’t currently support. However, you can still enter the function into a cell, and it will show for your collaborators on the web.

Tap Done in the top left corner of your screen when you are done editing and want to return your spreadsheet to viewing mode.

Cell formatting

Tap a cell once to select it and begin adding text.
Tap it again to bring up the menu of Cut, Copy, Paste, and Clear options.
The formatting toolbar shows Bold, Italicize, Underline, and Strikethrough options for your text. (You may need to scroll through to see all of it depending on the size of your device screen.)

Rows and columns

Tap the header of a row or column to select and format the entire thing.
Tap again to bring up the menu of Cut, Copy, Paste, Clear, Insert, and Delete options.
Tap and drag the resize handle on a given row or column to resize.
Drag the blue lines around it to select adjacent rows and columns.
Sort your data by single-tapping a column header and selecting Sort on the far right of the resulting menu. The sort will apply to the entire sheet, as the app doesn’t support range sorting at the time.

Note: The app doesn’t support column filtering at this time.

Freezing and unfreezing rows and columns is not supported in the app at the moment. However, rows and columns frozen on the web will be displayed when viewing in the app. To accommodate the size of your device screen, we limit the portion of your screen allotted to showing frozen rows and columns. As a result, you may need to scroll within the frozen section to see all frozen columns and rows.

Note: It’s not currently possible to hide or unhide rows and columns within the app. Rows and columns hidden on the web will remain invisible on your mobile device.

Sheets

Tap the arrow next to a given sheet’s name to Delete, Duplicate, Rename, or Move the sheet to the right or left.
Tap the + in the bottom right of your spreadsheet to add a new sheet.
If you’ve accidentally deleted a sheet and want to restore it, you can do so by clicking Undo in the toolbar at the top of your screen.

Note: It’s not currently possible to hide or unhide Sheets within the app. Sheets hidden on the web will remain invisible on your mobile device.

Charts and images

Charts and images aren’t supported in the app at this time. However, you can modify the data displayed in a chart, and the changes in the chart will be displayed on the web for your collaborators.

The app will alert you if you are opening a sheet that contains charts and images that can’t be displayed within the app. However, if a collaborator adds a new chart or image while you are viewing the spreadsheet, you will not be notified of this until you close and reopen this spreadsheet in your app.

Google presentations on your Android phone or tablet

With the Drive app on your Android phone or tablet, you can view Google presentation that you’ve created and that have been shared with you. Every time you open a presentation, it’ll update to the latest version. If a collaborator is actively working on it, though, you won’t see updates being made in real time.

The Drive app uses a native viewer for your Google documents, which means you can view and edit them right in the app, not in a web browser.

To view and present a Google presentation with your Android device, tap its name in your Drive.

Note: There is currently no way to edit Google presentations on your Android phone or tablet.

See animations

All animations added while editing the presentation on the web will be visible in the Drive app.
Note that you need to be in full screen mode to see your animations.

Move easily between slides

Tap each slide once to move to the next one.
You can also swipe left or right to move through the slides in either direction.

View speaker notes

A Notes icon will appear next to each slide with speaker notes.
Tap this icon to open the speaker notes for all slides in your presentation, and tap X to close.

Close a presentation

Pinch your device screen as if zooming out.
You can also tap the Google presentations logo in the top-left corner of your screen.

Reload the current presentation to view the latest version

Close the presentation and reopen it from your Drive.

Present your slides to an audience

Tap the Expand icon in the top-right corner of your screen.
Pinch your device screen as if zooming out to exit full screen mode.
Note that full screen mode will only show your slides in landscape layout.

View and upload other files on your Android phone or tablet

Viewing different file types

You can view any file stored in Google Drive through the Drive app on your Android device, provided that your Android device itself is capable of opening these file types. For file types not supported by the Drive app itself, you can select a third-party app already installed on your device.

When you tap to open an unsupported file type in your Android Drive, the Drive app will automatically ask you to choose a third-party app to complete the action.

Note: Updates you make in other apps will not sync back to Drive.

Uploading photos and videos

The app lets you upload files from your Android device to store them in Google Drive. You can then access these files on other devices, like your desktop computer. Tap the New button for a list of options.

Upload individual images and music tracks

If you select Document from photo, you'll be able to take a picture using your camera. If you select Upload, you can choose a music track or existing image from your Gallery.

Once selected, give the image or music track a title and tap OK to save it in Drive. For images, choose whether you'd like to create a Google document or upload the image directly to your Drive list:

Checking the box next to Convert file to Google Docs document will add a document to your Drive list. Your selected image will be embedded into the document itself. You can edit the document by adding text around the image, or share the document with others for real-time collaboration.
Unchecking the box will add an image to your Drive list. You can share the image with others or edit it with another app installed on your Android device.

Bulk upload images from your Gallery

You can select several images or albums in your device's Gallery and upload them to Drive at the same time.

To upload an album:

Open the Gallery app on your device.
Tap the Menu button in the top-right corner of your screen.
Tap "Select album."
Touch each album you want to upload to your Drive app. Note that the Gallery will count the number of albums you've selected.
Tap the Send button at the top of your screen and select Drive.
Tap "OK" to upload the selected albums to Google Drive.

To select multiple images to upload:

Open the Gallery app on your device.
Sort or click into specific albums to see the images you want to upload.
Long-touch to select multiple images from your screen.
Tap the Send button at the top of your screen and select Drive.
Tap OK to upload the selected albums to Google Drive.

Upload other file types

You can also upload any file to Google Drive by navigating to the app containing the file you want to upload, tapping on Share, and selecting Drive.

Share and collaborate in the Google Drive Android app

You can share any file or Google document with others right from the Google Drive app on your Android phone or tablet. You can even collaborate on a Google document in real time and create, reply to, or resolve comments that other collaborators have left in the Google document.

Share an item

Here's how to share an item from your Android phone or tablet:

In your Drive list, touch the gray arrow next to an item's name to open its preview pane.
Touch Add a collaborator in the preview pane itself, or tap the button at the top of your device screen.
Add a new collaborator from your contacts or by typing his or her email address. Then, tap Add and select permissions for your new collaborator from the next menu.
You can also tap an existing collaborator's name to adjust his or her permissions for files that you own or have the rights to share.
Touch OK, and your settings will be saved.

Real-time collaboration

The Drive app’s Google documents editor lets you collaborate with other people in real time, even if some people are using the desktop version and some are using the mobile app. If your collaborators are editing a document, you’ll see a note that they’re working on the document, as well as an indicator for their cursor.

Your document will automatically refresh as your collaborator makes changes, but you can also press the Refresh button in the menu bar. Bandwidth usage is different over 3G and WiFi, so changes made by your collaborators will be delayed by a few seconds on 3G in order to conserve usage.

Pro tip: Editing documents in the Google Drive Android app requires ongoing syncs to update your documents, which can increase your bandwidth usage. Keep this in mind if you have a limited data plan with your mobile provider.

Working with comments in Google Docs

The Drive app lets you read and respond to comments in Google documents.

To view and reply to comments, tap the Comment button in the top-right corner of your screen.

Tap each comment individually to see the text it is attached to.
Long-touch a comment to edit or delete it.
Use the Menu button in the top-right corner of your screen to resolve a comment.
Swipe right and left to move between comments.
Tap the X in the top right of the comments list to close this view and return to the rest of your document.

To add a new comment for specific text, highlight the text and tap the Comment button in the gray hover menu.
To add a new comment pertaining to the entire document, tap the Comment button in the top right corner of your screen.

Note: The Drive app doesn’t currently support viewing and editing comments in Google spreadsheets or Google presentations.

Send a link

You can send a link to a specific item from the Drive app. Users who have viewing or editing rights will be able to open the item by clicking the link, much like if you copy and paste the item's URL from your desktop browser.

Sending a link does not change the item's collaboration settings. As a result, anyone who doesn't have permission to view or edit the item will need to request access before they can open the Google Doc or file from the link you send.

Note: The option to send a link isn't currently available for Google Drive folders.

View files offline in the Google Drive Android app

Individual items in the Google Drive app for Android can be viewed offline when your mobile device has no Internet connectivity. Offline editing isn’t currently supported.

Make an item available offline

You can make many file types available offline. This includes Google documents, Google presentations, Google spreadsheets, uploaded images, and files in formats such as .pdf, .doc, .xls and .ppt. Google Sites, Google drawings, Google forms, Fusion Tables and folders can’t be made available offline.

Note: You can make an item available offline while you have an Internet connection. You can also request to make an item available offline when your device is disconnected from the Internet. The item will update the next time your device regains Internet connectivity.

Here are several options for how to make an item available offline on your Android phone or tablet:

Open an item’s preview pane by clicking the gray arrow next to its name in your Drive list. Then, select the checkbox next to Available offline.
Or, open an item’s preview pane, click the Menu button in the top right of your screen, and touch Make available offline in the drop-down menu.
Touch and hold the name of an item for 2-3 seconds. Then, touch Make available offline in the menu that appears.

If you no longer need offline access for a given item, uncheck the box in the item's preview pane or select Remove offline from the same menus.

A notification that indicates if an item is available for offline viewing will appear in the top (phone) or the bottom right (tablet) of your screen. A failure notification may appear if you have intermittent connectivity, or if there isn’t enough space to store the item on your Android device.

Access and manage offline items

When your Android device loses Internet connectivity, you can access your offline items by touching Offline on the landing page of the Google Drive app (phone), or in the left-hand navigation panel (tablet).

The files available for offline viewing will appear in this section of the app, with one of the following designations:

Up to date: Items that are in sync with their online state. If you’re offline, the latest edits reflected will be those from the last time your device had Internet connectivity.
Out of date: Items for which online edits have been made since the offline version was updated.
Not yet available: Some items show state if your device hasn’t downloaded the item yet. For example, this may happen when you have an intermittent Internet connection.

When your device is disconnected, you can still take some actions on your offline files, such as starring or renaming items.

Updating offline items

The Drive app lets you choose how often to update your offline files.

Follow these steps to choose how your offline files are synced depending on your Internet connection:

Tap the Menu button in the top-right corner of the first screen you see when you launch the Drive app.
Select Settings.
Scroll down to Offline Files and tap When to auto-update.
Select Never if you only want to store your offline files in the state they were in when you first made them available offline.
If you want your offline files to update automatically when you are using a 3G/4G connection, select Over Wi-Fi or mobile network. Otherwise, select Over Wi-Fi only to avoid syncing offline files via your mobile data plan.

You can always manually prompt the app to update your offline files by following these steps:

When you have an active connection, press the Update button for specific items in the Offline folder.
Open the items from Google Drive.
Click Refresh and respond to the prompt about updating your offline items.

Pro tip: Continuously syncing offline files to be updated on 3G/4G could overload your mobile data plan.

Drive app accessibility for Android phones and tablets

How to use Android’s accessibility features with the Google Drive app.

Google Drive works with Android’s accessibility features so that the blind and those with low vision can use the mobile app, eyes-free.

To use accessibility features with the Drive app, you’ll need to enable the accessibility settings on your device. Android devices running version 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) have more accessibility features than older versions like 3.0 (Honeycomb). Here’s how to check your version:

Go to Settings.
Select About phone or About tablet.
Find your version number listed under "Android version."

For detailed instructions, please visit Drive app accessibility for Android phones and tablets.

Minimum Android device requirements

To download the Google Drive app for Android, make sure your Android device version is supported:

For phones, you need Android version 2.1 or higher.
For tablets, you need Android version 3.0 or higher.
To check your version, go to Settings and select About phone or About tablet. Your version number is listed under “Android version.”

The Google Drive app for Android is supported in all languages supported by Google Drive. To change language settings for the app, change them on your Android device by following these steps:

Go to Settings and select Language & input
Touch Language at the top of your screen
Touch the name of the language you’d like to use on your device. Your settings will then change and you’ll be returned to the Language & input screen

Changing the language settings on your web Google Drive account doesn’t affect your Android app, and vice versa.

Supported languages

Google supports mobile editing for Google Docs in the following languages:

Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, English (UK), Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Latvian, Lituanian, Malayalam, Marathi, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal), Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukranian, and Vietnamese.

Google Drive on iPhone and iPad (and iPod touch)

About the Google Drive app for iPhone and iPad

This article describes the latest version of the Drive app for iOS. To get the latest version, download an update from the App Store.

The Google Drive app lets you open, view, rename, and share your Google Docs and files.

Here’s what you can do in the Drive app on your iPhone or iPad:

Open and view your files and Google Docs in the following formats:

Google documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and drawings
All Microsoft Office formats
TXT and PDF files
Images (JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIF)
Movies (MOV, AVI, MP4)

Edit Google documents
Use other apps to open unsupported file types stored in Drive
Rename your files
Share something from your Google Drive with other people
Star something for easy access
Make files available to view offline

Navigating the app

When you open the Drive app on your iPhone or iPad, you'll see a list of different ways to view what's on your Drive.

My Drive

Everything in your Google Drive that you’ve created, synced and uploaded. You can automatically sync My Drive to the Google Drive folder on your computer.

Shared with me

All of the files and folders that have been shared with you. To sync files in this

view, move them to My Drive.

The Shared with me filter doesn't include files shared to a mailing list or files set to

'Anyone with the link' or 'Public' (unless the file has been shared directly to your email address).

Starred

Shows you only items that you’ve marked with a star.

Recent

All of your private and shared files that you've opened in reverse chronological order.

Offline

Shows items you’ve made available to view offline on your iPhone or iPad. Read more about pinning items offline in the Drive app for iOS.

Uploads

Shows the most recent files you uploaded to your Drive app. This section will also show files from other apps that you’ve opened in Drive.

Tips for using the app

Tap the arrow to the right of an item's name to open the details panel and Share it, Rename it, Remove it, Move it to a different folder, or Make it available offline. Most of these options are located under the Actions button in the top-right corner of your screen when you are in the details panel.
Tap the item's name to immediately open and view it.
Google Docs, files, and folders refresh every few minutes when you have the app open. Every time you open, close, and reopen an individual item, it’ll be updated.
If you run into a serious, persistent error, restart the app. To do this, go to your Home screen, double-tap your iPhone's or iPad's Home button, press and hold the Drive app icon until the red "stop" button appears in its top-left corner, and tap the red "stop" button. Then press your Home button to return to your device home screen and re-open Drive.

Limitations of the Drive App

While Google continues to develop the Google Drive app for iOS it still has some limitations:

There is currently no Trash section in the app. Anything you remove to the Trash on the app or the web will be available to find, view, and restore on the web only.

Install the Google Drive App

Step-by-step instructions for how to download and install the Google Drive app on your iPhone or iPad.

Before you start using Google Drive on your iPhone or iPad, download the app and request access to Google Drive:

Go to the App Store on your iPhone or iPad.
Search the App Store for "Google Drive."
Find the search result with the Drive icon .
Select and install the app.
Open the app and sign into Google Drive.

Find and organize files in your Drive app

The Google Drive app lets you organize items stored in Drive directly from your iPhone or iPad.

Create folders

Follow these steps to create a folder in the Drive app:

Tap into the My Drive section of the app.
Touch the Create icon in the top-right corner of your screen.
Select New Folder from the menu.
Enter a name for the folder when prompted.
Tap Create.

Note: Folders can be created in any section of the app, like the Offline or Starred sections. However, new folders will always appear in My Drive.

Folders created while in the Offline section will not be automatically available offline. Similarly, folders created while in the Starred section will not be starred automatically.

Modify folders

Tap the arrow to the right of a folder’s name to open its details panel and Share it, Rename it, Remove it, or Move it to be nested under another folder from your Drive. Most of these options are located under the Actions button in the top-right corner of your screen when you are in the details panel.

Folders cannot be made available offline. However, you can mark individual items stored within a given folder to be available offline. Learn more about viewing Google Drive items when your iPhone or iPad is not connected to the Internet.

Move items between folders

Follow these steps to move an item into a folder in the Drive app:

Tap the arrow next to the item’s name to open the details panel.
Tap the Actions button in the top-right corner of your screen.
Select Move to...
Choose from your list of existing Drive folders. Tap each folder’s name to open it and any nested folders it contains until you reach your item’s destination folder.
Tap Move here in the bottom-left of your screen.

Documents created while inside a folder will automatically belong to that folder.

Find Google Docs and files in your Drive

The Search box is located at the top of your screen.

The Drive app will match your search terms to both the names of your files and their contents. Search for text within a file, or search for the names of things featured in pictures on your Drive, like “Eiffel Tower.”
Drive uses OCR technology to search the content of non-Google Docs files.
As you type search terms into the Search box, the app will show a running list of suggested results. To get the full list of results, finish typing and tap Search on your device’s keyboard.

Google documents on your iPhone and iPad

Viewing and real-time collaboration

You can view Google documents that you’ve created and that have been shared with you through the Drive app on your iPhone or iPad. Every time you open a document, it’ll update to the latest version.

The Drive app uses a native viewer for your Google documents, which means you can view and edit them right in the app, not in a web browser.

When you’re viewing a document, you can see others who are looking at or editing the document by tapping the Current Viewers button in the top-right corner of the screen. If a collaborator is actively working on it, you will see their changes being made in real time.

A few things to remember when viewing Google documents in the Drive app:

Tables, images, and drawings in your document can all be viewed through the app.
Links within your text will work in viewing mode, but not in editing mode.
To zoom into your document, you can pinch-to-zoom (both viewing and editing mode) or double-tap (viewing mode only).

Editing with the Drive app

You can edit your Google documents within the Drive app whenever your iPhone or iPad has an Internet connection. Editing is available in all supported languages, including those with right-to-left text.

To begin editing a Google document, touch its name in your Drive and tap the green Edit button in the top-right corner of your screen. Then, touch the place in your document where you’d like to edit text.

Formatting

Fonts allows you to change font style and size, as well as text color and background color.
Bold, Italicize, and Underline change the text formatting.
Align lets you align your text to the left, right, and center, or to justify it on either side.
Bullets and Numbering add lists to your document.
Decrease Indent and Increase Indent let you modify the indentation of your paragraphs.

Text selection and copy/paste

To select a word, double tap it or touch, hold, and tap Select in the resulting menu. Use the blue markers to expand your text selection.
Options to Select, Select All, and Paste will be shown when you touch and hold any place within your document.
Options to Cut, Copy, and Paste text within your document will be shown when you select a section of your text. Pasted text will lose original formatting and switch to the formatting of the surrounding text.

Note: You can cut and paste or copy and paste text within or across documents in the Drive app. If you copy text from one document and paste it into another, though, it’ll be pasted without formatting.

Undo

On your iPhone, shake your phone to bring up the Undo option.
On your iPad, use the Undo button in the top-left corner of your screen.

Images and tables

The Drive app currently doesn’t support editing images and tables.

Google spreadsheets on the iPhone and iPad

Viewing and real-time collaboration

You can view Google spreadsheets that you’ve created and that have been shared with you through the Drive app on your iPhone or iPad.

With the Drive app on iOS, you can view and edit your spreadsheets right in the app, not in a web browser.

A few things to remember when working with Google spreadsheets in the Drive app:

Pinch to zoom in and out of your spreadsheet.
Single-tap to select a cell. Double-tap to edit a cell.
Tap the header of a row or column to select and format it. Long-press and drag to select several rows or columns at a time.
Tap and drag the resize handle on a given row or column to resize.
Long-press and drag a sheet to move it within your spreadsheet.
Tap the arrow next to a given sheet’s name to Delete, Duplicate, Rename, or Freeze rows and columns.

Editing with the Drive app

You can edit your Google spreadsheet within the Drive app whenever your iPhone or iPad has an Internet connection. Editing is available in all supported languages with left-to-right text.

To begin editing, just tap to select a cell, row or column, and double-tap to enter text.

Data entry

Type text or numbers into your cells and tap Return on your keyboard to move down to the next cell in your column.
Tap the checkmark to the right of your data entry window when you're done editing a cell.
The toolbar at the top of your screen provides formatting options (see “Cell formatting” below). You may need to scroll through this to see all the options on your phone.
Most functions available in Google spreadsheets on the web are supported in the app, with the exception of functions that depend on images (like =Sparkline() and =Image(), for example).

For the time being, there is no way to select cells while typing a function. When working in the app, you’ll need to type in the names of the cells your function references.
Although the =Sparkline() function can’t be displayed in the app because it relies on images, you can still enter the function into a cell, and it will appear for your collaborators on the web.

Shake your iPhone to undo your latest edit, or select the Undo button on your iPad. When you're done editing, tap Done in the top-left corner of your screen to return your spreadsheet to viewing mode.

Cell formatting

Tap a cell once to select it.
Tap it again to bring up the menu of Cut, Copy, Paste, and Clear options.
Tap the Font button in the formatting toolbar at the top of your screen to change your font style, size, or color.
Tap the Cells button to add borders, wrap text inside your cell, or merge selected cells.
The formatting toolbar shows Bold, Italicize, Underline, and Strikethrough options for your text. (You’ll need to scroll through to see all of it on your iPhone.)
Tap the Align buttons to select your text’s vertical and horizontal alignment within the cell.

Rows and columns

Tap the header of a row or column to bring up the menu of Cut, Copy, Paste, Clear,Insert, and Delete options.
Long-press and drag to select several rows or columns at a time.
Tap and drag the resize handle on a given row or column to resize.
Drag the blue lines around it to select adjacent rows and columns.
Freeze or unfreeze rows and columns by tapping the arrow next to the name of the relevant sheet and tapping + or - to add or reduce the number of rows and columns you want frozen.

Note: To accommodate the size of your iPhone or iPad, the Drive app limits the portion of your screen allotted to showing frozen rows and columns. As a result, you may need to scroll within the frozen section to see all frozen columns and rows.

Sort your data by single-tapping a column header and selecting Sort at the far right of the resulting menu.

Note: The Drive app doesn’t support column filtering at this time.

Note: It’s not currently possible to hide or unhide rows and columns within the app. Rows and columns hidden on the web will remain invisible on your mobile device.

Sheets

Tap the arrow next to a given sheet’s name to Delete, Duplicate, or Rename the sheet. Also use this menu to freeze or unfreeze rows and columns within the sheet selected.
Long-press and drag a sheet to move it within your spreadsheet.
Tap the + in the bottom right of your spreadsheet to add a new sheet.

Note: It’s not currently possible to hide or unhide sheets within the app. Sheets hidden on the web will remain invisible on your mobile device.

Charts and images

Charts and images aren’t supported in the app at this time. However, you can modify the data displayed in a chart, and the changes in the chart will be displayed on the web for your collaborators.

Google presentations on your iPhone and iPad

With the Drive app on your iPhone or iPad, you can view Google presentations that you’ve created or that have been shared with you. Every time you open a presentation, it’ll update to the latest version. If a collaborator is actively working on it, though, you won’t see updates being made in real time.

The Drive app uses a native viewer for your Google presentations, which means you can view them right in the app, not in a web browser.

To view and present a Google presentation with your iPhone or iPad, tap its name in your Drive.

There is currently no way to edit Google presentations on your iPhone and iPad.

See animations

All animations added while editing the presentation on the web will be visible in the Drive app.

Move easily between slides

Tap each slide once to move to the next one.
You can also swipe left or right to move through the slides in either direction.

View speaker notes for each slide

Tap the Actions button in the top-right corner of your screen and select Show or Hide speaker notes as you move between your slides.
On your iPad, you can also open or close speaker notes by swiping at the indentation on the right side of your screen.

Reload your presentation to view the latest version

Tap the Actions button in the top-right corner of your screen.
Touch Reload.

Present your slides to an audience

On your iPhone:

Turn your iPhone sideways to view your presentation in landscape.
Note that speaker notes will not be visible in landscape.

On your iPad:

Tap the Expand icon in the top-right corner of your screen.
Double-tap any slide to bring up the toolbar, and touch the Minimize button in the top-right corner to exit full screen mode.
Note that full screen mode will only show your slides in landscape.

View and upload other files on your iPhone and iPad

Viewing different file types

With the Drive app on your iPhone or iPad, you can view any file you've uploaded to your Drive, as long as it's in a supported format. Every time you open something, it’ll update to the latest version of the file. If a collaborator is actively working on something, though, you won’t see updates being made in real time.

The Drive app supports the following formats:

Google documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and drawings
All Microsoft Office formats
TXT and PDF files
Images (JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIF)
Movies (MOV, AVI, MP4)

To view a file type that Drive doesn't support, you'll need to open it in another app outside of Drive.

Tap the file's name in your Drive.
Tap the button in the top-right corner of the next screen.
Select Open In...
Choose from a list of relevant apps already installed on your device.
To return to the Drive app, press your device's Home button and reopen the app. Updates you made in other apps will not sync back to Drive.

Uploading photos and videos

The Drive app lets you upload photos and videos directly from your iPhone and iPad.

To upload photos or videos that are already stored on your device:

Tap the Create button in the top-right corner of your screen.
Select Upload Photo or Video.
Tap a single photo or video in your camera roll to upload it to Drive.

To instantly upload a photo or video after taking it with your device’s camera:

Tap the Create button in the top-right corner of your screen.
Select Use Camera.
Take a photo or video. (Don't worry, you can retake it if you don't get it quite right the first time).
When finished, tap Use.
The photo or video will then be uploaded to your Drive. Find it in the Uploads section, which will show the latest files you've uploaded to Drive.

Share and collaborate

You can share any file or Google Doc with others right from the Google Drive app on your iPhone or iPad. You can also collaborate on a Google document in real time.

Share an item

Here's how to share an item from your iPhone or iPad:

In your Drive, touch the gray arrow next to an item's name to open its details pane.
Touch the Actions button in the top-right corner of your screen.
Tap Share.
Add a new collaborator by typing his or her email address and then selecting what permissions the new collaborator will have.
You can also tap an existing collaborator's name to adjust his or her permissions for files that you own or have the rights to share.
Touch Save in the top-right corner of your screen.

Real-time collaboration

The Drive app’s Google document editor lets you collaborate with other people in real time, even if some contributors are on their computers and others are on their phones. If your collaborators are editing a document, you’ll see a note that they’re working on the document, as well as an indicator for their cursor.

Your document will automatically refresh as your collaborator makes changes, but you can also press the Refresh button in the menu bar. Bandwidth usage is different over 3G/4G and WiFi, so changes made by your collaborators will be delayed by a few seconds on 3G/4G in order to conserve usage.

Pro tip: Editing documents in the Google Drive iOS app requires ongoing syncs to update your documents, which can increase your bandwidth usage. Keep this in mind if you have a limited data plan with your mobile provider.

Send a link

The option to send a link isn't currently available for the iPhone and iPad.

View files offline in the Google Drive iOS app

The Google Drive app for iPhone and iPad lets you view items you've stored in Google Drive with your device even when it isn't connected to the Internet or a mobile network. Offline editing isn’t currently supported.

Make an item available offline

Before you can view files offline, you'll first need to make them available offline. Any of the files you've stored in Google Drive can be made available offline; files that aren't supported by the Drive app can still be viewed offline through other apps installed on your iPhone or iPad.

To make an item available offline:

Make sure that you're connected to the Internet or a mobile network. (You can also request to make an item available offline when your device is disconnected from the Internet. It'll update the next time your device does connect.)
Tap the arrow next to an item’s name to open the details pane.
Tap or slide the switch to "on" next to Available Offline. A loading spinner will appear next to the switch until the file loads into the Offline section of your Drive app.

If you no longer need offline access for the item, follow the same steps but set Available Offline to "off."

Access and manage offline items

Access your offline items from the Offline section on the landing page of the Google Drive app for the iPhone or in the left-hand navigation panel for the iPad. Items available for offline viewing will appear here as either one of the following:

Up to date
Offline items have synced, reflecting what's online. If you’re offline, the latest edits will be those from the last time your device connected to the Internet.
Updates available
Changes made to online items haven't yet synced with offline items.

When your device is disconnected, you can still star, rename, and take other actions on your offline Google Docs and files. This is available even for files that you haven’t made available offline. Just open the details panel by tapping the gray arrow next to each item the way you would if you were connected to the Internet. Sharing isn't available while offline.

Updating offline items

The Drive app for iPhone and iPad doesn't automatically sync your offline files with the online versions. To sync all changes made online to the offline version of each file:

Make sure that you're connected to the Internet or a mobile network.
Go to the Offline section when you're online.
Find items listed under Updates available.
Tap the blue arrow next to the items that you want to sync.

You can also tap “Update all” to quickly sync all items that have updates available. The timestamp next to each item’s name shows when it was last synced with its online state. Some items may also show a "Never downloaded" indicator if they aren't ready yet for offline viewing. This may happen, for example, when you have an intermittent Internet connection.

Drive app accessibility for iPhone and iPad

Google Drive works with the VoiceOver accessibility feature on iPhone and iPad so that the blind and those with low vision can use the mobile app, eyes-free.

Here’s how to activate VoiceOver on your device:

Go to Settings
Select General
Tap Accessibility
Press VoiceOver and change its status to "On"

Minimum Apple device requirements

To download the Google Drive app for iPhone or iPad, first make sure your iOS device version is supported:

For both iPhone and iPad, you need iOS 5.0 or higher.
To check your version, go to Settings, select General, then click About. Your version number is listed under "Version."

Supported languages

Google supports the Drive app in the following languages:

Google Drive on other devices and mobile browsers

Print a Google Doc from your mobile browser

You can print your Google documents and spreadsheets from your mobile browser using Google Cloud Print.

Set up Cloud Print

Before you begin, be sure you have set up your printer to work with Google Cloud Print.

When you use Google Cloud print from your mobile browser, your document or spreadsheet will be printed with your printer's default settings.

Printing a document or spreadsheet

Be sure you're using a supported browser, and navigate to docs.google.com from your device. To print a spreadsheet, press the Print... link at the top of your spreadsheet. To print a document, press the drop-down menu to the left of the Edit button, and mark the Print option.

Next, follow the instructions on the screen to select the printer you'd like to send your document or spreadsheet to.

Minimum requirements for Google Docs on a mobile browser

Depending on the mobile device and operating system you're using, you might be able to access, view, or edit your Google Docs through your mobile browser. You’ll also be able to access, view, and share files that you’ve uploaded to Google Docs.

Viewing

Users can view Google documents, spreadsheets, presentations and drawings on the mobile browser of most phones that support HTML. Google also supports viewing other file types through the Documents List on a mobile browser.

Editing

Users can edit Google documents and spreadsheets on a mobile browser if they are using one of these devices and operating systems:

Android devices version 2.1 and above
iPhone and iPad devices with iOS 3.0 and up
Mobile browsers on earlier Android platforms such as Eclair may work, but these aren't fully supported for Google Docs

Supported languages

Google supports mobile editing for the following Google Docs languages. The mobile browser will reflect the language settings the user has set in their Google Docs settings on a desktop computer (not from a mobile device).

Edit a Google document on a mobile browser

Editing text

To edit a document on a mobile browser, open it from the Documents List. Then, press the Edit button in the toolbar at the top of the document. Then, touch the part of the document you want to change, and the mobile device’s keyboard appears.

Google relies on your mobile phone to input text, so depending on the phone you have, you might be able to enter text by speaking.

Copying, pasting, and selecting

You can use the editing tools available on your mobile device for selecting, copying and pasting text when editing your Google documents. For example, you can copy and paste text from Google documents into another phone application and vice versa.

About text formatting

When you edit the text of a document on your mobile browser, you’ll notice that even complex formatting is preserved.

These formatting options won't change when you edit a document on a mobile browser:

Ordered and unordered lists
Bold, italics, underline
Text size
Text color
Heading styles

Currently, Google doesn’t support web fonts in the mobile browser version of Google documents. Web fonts will be preserved when you open the document on your computer.

Access Google Docs on a mobile browser

You can access your Google Docs on specific mobile devices. To get started, point your mobile browser to https://docs.google.com.

Here's what you can do from the Documents List in a mobile browser:

Search for files and Google Docs
Sort your docs by Name, Last Modified, and Last Opened
Narrow your docs by Owned by me, Starred, Document type, or Collections
Star docs
Select multiple docs

Open and view a file

When you open a document from your mobile browser, you'll access the Mobile view by default. However, you can switch to the Desktop view at any time by clicking Desktop at the bottom of the screen. Desktop view isn't available for Google spreadsheets.

After selecting the file you want to open, you'll see a preview. Then, you can browse through the multiple pages of your file by clicking the arrow keys in the toolbar above the document. You can also zoom in and out of the preview, using the magnifying glass buttons, also in the toolbar.

Learn more about editing a Google document on your mobile device.

Supported file types

If you're using Google Docs from the mobile browser on an Android or Apple device, you can view the following file types: .pdf, .ppt, .doc and .docx. You don't need to download the file, and you can easily scroll through the doc and zoom in and out in the viewer.

Edit a spreadsheet on a mobile browser

To edit a spreadsheet in a mobile browser, open it from your Documents List. When you access a spreadsheet from a mobile browser, we'll show it to you in mobile view. From here you can edit particular cells by selecting the Edit link for the relevant row.

Create a Google Doc in a mobile browser

You can create and edit your Google document on specific mobile devices.

You can only create and edit a Google presentation on your mobile browser by going to desktop view. Not all mobile browsers support desktop view, and your editing experience may be slower as a result.

To create a document or spreadsheet, follow these steps:

Touch the icon on the far right of the toolbar above your Documents List.
From the drop-down menu, select the type of doc you want to create.
Type a title.
Touch the Create button.

To edit a document, open it from your mobile Documents List. Then, press the Edit button in the toolbar at the top of the document.

Collaborate on documents in a mobile browser

In a mobile browser, you can share your docs and collaborate with others -- whether they’re using a computer or another mobile device.

How to share

To share, select one or more docs from your mobile Documents List, press the Share button, and select the Share... option. You can also Get the link to share for public or unlisted docs, or e-mail a doc as an attachment.

All of the sharing and visibility settings on your mobile device are exactly the same as they are on your computer.

How to collaborate

In your mobile browser

Google automatically takes care of keeping your document up-to-date. You can keep an eye on the status of changes from the menu above the editing space.

Here you’ll be able to tell you if and when a collaborator last made changes.

Your document will automatically refresh as your collaborator makes changes, but you can also press the Refresh button on the menu bar.

Similarly, when you’ve made changes, Google Drive automatically saves the changes to your document as you add them.

But you can also save by pressing the Save button.

On your computer

When you're working in the desktop version of Google documents, you can also continue to collaborate with people who may be using a mobile device to access a document.

However, unlike other desktop collaborators, you will not see mobile collaborators in the chat window. Also, when mobile collaborators add text, you will not see the presence of their cursor, though their text will be added in real-time.

The other collaborative components of Google documents, such as revision history, will function as usual.

Google Drive in the classroom

Mobile Google documents are a great way for students to collaborate on the go. With a smartphone with a cellular or wifi connection, students can collaborate on documents and spreadsheets with other students and the teacher. Some ways students can use mobile Google Drive:

Collect notes while out on field trips.
Contribute to spreadsheets for data collection, science labs, and so forth.
With the Drive, students can take pictures of whiteboard notes and have them converted into a Google Doc using OCR.
Participate in formative assessments using Forms
Shoot and upload video and images directly from the iOS or Android apps.