Google Drive’s file viewer overhaul brings much-needed PDF navigation tools

Hot on the heels of giving users the option to turn PDFs into easy-to-understand NotebookLM-like audio summaries, along with a powerful Gemini-powered feature that lets you know what’s inside a folder without having to open it, Google is now giving Drive a major visual upgrade.

As part of its latest update, Drive will now start displaying third-party file formats, including PDF, video, image, and audio files, in a more modern interface.

At its simplest, with what Google is now rolling out, the Drive file viewer will be enhanced with not only an improved appearance, but also functional tools to make document navigation easier.

Here’s everything new coming in the next two weeks:

• New left rail for PDFs that will include a table of contents (if applicable) and thumbnails for easier document navigation.
• New file menu.
• New toolbar and app bar.
• Option to search by transcript while viewing a video.

No, the new UI is not paid

As seen in the screenshot above, the new PDF viewer displays a sidebar with a table of contents, complete with thumbnails for each page, making navigation easier than ever. Likewise, tools like downloading, printing, zoom in/out and more are available and visible with the new UI.

The updated UI is the new default and you as a user do not need to opt-in or change any settings. It’s also worth noting that you don’t have the option to revert to the old viewer UI.

Google Drive’s new file viewer UI is rolling out now and will be widely visible to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Customers, and users with personal Google accounts sometime in mid-December.