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Google Drive is a
file storage In computing, file system or filesystem (often abbreviated to fs) is a method and data structure that the operating system uses to control how data is stored and retrieved. Without a file system, data placed in a storage medium would be one larg ...
and synchronization service developed by
Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
. Launched on April 24, 2012, Google Drive allows users to store files in the
cloud In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may co ...
(on Google's servers), synchronize files across devices, and share files. In addition to a
web interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine fr ...
, Google Drive offers apps with offline capabilities for
Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
and
macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
computers, and Android and
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
smartphones and tablets. Google Drive encompasses
Google Docs Google Docs is an online word processor included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google, which also includes: Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Google Keep. Google Do ...
,
Google Sheets Google Sheets is a spreadsheet program included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google. The service also includes: Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Google Keep. Google ...
, and
Google Slides Google Slides is a presentation program included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google. The service also includes: Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Google Keep. Goog ...
, which are a part of the
Google Docs Editors Google Docs Editors is a web-based productivity office suite offered by Google within its Google Drive service. The suite includes Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites, and Google Keep. It used to ...
office suite Productivity software (also called personal productivity software or office productivity software) is application software used for producing information (such as documents, presentations, worksheets, databases, charts, graphs, digital paintings, ...
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 is a subscription service developed by Google that offers expanded cloud storage and is intended for the consumer market. Google One paid plans offer cloud storage starting at 100 gigabytes, up to a maximum of 30 terabytes, a ...
. 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 In neuropsychology, linguistics, and philosophy of language, a natural language or ordinary language is any language that has evolved naturally in humans through use and repetition without conscious planning or premeditation. Natural languages ...
to find specific files, such as "find my budget spreadsheet from last December". The website and Android app offer a Backups section to see what Android devices have data backed up to the service, and a completely overhauled computer app released in July 2017 allows for backing up specific folders on the user's computer. A Quick Access feature can intelligently predict the files users need. Google Drive is a key component of
Google Workspace Google Workspace (formerly known as Google Apps and later G Suite) is a collection of cloud computing, productivity and collaboration tools, software and products developed and marketed by Google. It consists of Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, Meet ...
, Google's monthly subscription offering for businesses and organizations that operated as G Suite until October 2020. As part of select Google Workspace plans, Drive offers unlimited storage, advanced file audit reporting, enhanced administration controls, and greater collaboration tools for teams. Following the launch of the service, Google Drive's privacy policy was heavily criticized by some members of the media. Google has one set of Terms of Service and Privacy Policy agreements that cover all of its services, meaning that the language in the agreements grants the company broad rights to reproduce, use, and create
derivative work In copyright law, a derivative work is an expressive creation that includes major copyrightable elements of an original, previously created first work (the underlying work). The derivative work becomes a second, separate work independent in fo ...
s from content stored on Google Drive. While the policies also confirm that users retain intellectual property rights, privacy advocates raised concerns that the licenses grant Google the right to use the information and data to customize the advertising and other services Google provides. In contrast, other members of the media noted that the agreements were no worse than those of competing cloud storage services, but that the competition uses "more artful language" in the agreements, and also stated that Google needs the rights in order to "move files around on its servers, cache your data, or make image thumbnails". As of July 2018, Google Drive had over one billion active users, and as of September 2015, it had over one million organizational paying users. , there were over two trillion files stored on the service.


Platforms

Google Drive was introduced on April 24, 2012, with apps available for
Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
,
macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
, and Android, as well as a website interface. The iOS app was released later in June 2012.


Computer apps

Google Drive is available for PCs running
Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearly ...
or later, and Macs running
OS X Lion OS X Lion, also known as Mac OS X Lion, (version 10.7) is the eighth major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Mac computers. A preview of OS X 10.7 Lion was publicly shown at the "Back to the Mac" Apple Speci ...
or later. Google indicated in April 2012 that work on Linux software was underway, but there was no news on this as of November 2013. In April 2012, Google's then-Senior Vice President
Sundar Pichai Pichai Sundararajan (born June 10, 1972), better known as Sundar Pichai (), is an Indian-American business executive. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google. Born in Madurai, India, Pichai earned hi ...
said that Google Drive would be tightly integrated with
ChromeOS ChromeOS, sometimes stylized as chromeOS and formerly styled as Chrome OS, is a Linux-based operating system designed by Google. It is derived from the open-source ChromiumOS and uses the Google Chrome web browser as its principal user interfac ...
version 20. In October 2016, Google announced that, going forward, it would drop support for versions of the computer software older than 1 year. In June 2017, Google announced that a new app called Backup and Sync would replace the existing separate Google Drive and Google Photos desktop apps, creating one unified app on desktop platforms. Originally intended for release on June 28, its release was delayed until July 12. In September 2017, Google announced that it would discontinue the Google Drive desktop app in March 2018 and end support in December 2017. In July 2021, Google released a new app for Windows and Mac which is meant to replace "Backup and Sync" and "Drive File Stream".


Backup and Sync

In July 2017, Google announced their new downloadable software, Backup and Sync. It was made mainly to replace the Google Drive desktop app, which was discontinued. Its main function is for the user to be able to set certain folders to constantly sync onto their
Google Account A Google Account is a user account that is required for access, authentication and authorization to certain online Google services. It is also often used as single sign on for third party services. Usage A Google Account is required for Gmail, ...
's Drive. The synced folders and files count against the shared quota allocated between Gmail, Google Photos, and Google Drive. In early 2021, Google announced that it would be combining its Drive File Stream and Backup and Sync products into one product, Google Drive for Desktop, which will support features previously exclusive to each respective Client.


Mobile apps

Google Drive is available for Android
smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
s and tablets running Android 6.0 "Marshmallow" or later, and iPhones and
iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...
s running
iOS 14 iOS 14 is the fourteenth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. for their iPhone and iPod Touch lines. Announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 22, 2020 as the successor to iOS 13, it ...
or later. In August 2016, Google Drive ended support for Android devices running Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" or older versions, citing Google's mobile app update policy, which states: "For Android devices, we provide updates for the current and 2 previous Android versions." According to the policy, the app will continue to work for devices running older Android versions, but any app updates are provided on a best-efforts basis. The policy also states a notice will be given for any planned end of service. On May 4, 2020, Google rolled out a new feature update in its Google Drive app version 4.2020.18204 for iOS and iPadOS, known as Privacy Screen, which requires Face ID or Touch ID authentication whenever the app is open.


Website interface

Google Drive has a website that allows users to see their files from any Internet-connected computer, without the need to download an app. The website received a visual overhaul in 2014 that gave it a completely new look and improved performance. It also simplified some of the most common tasks, such as clicking only once on a file to see recent activity or share the file and added drag-and-drop functionality, where users can simply drag selected files to folders, for improved organization. A new update in August 2016 changed several visual elements of the website; the logo was updated, the search box design was refreshed, and the primary color was changed from red to blue. It also improved the functionality to download files locally from the website; users can now compress and download large Drive items into multiple 2 GB .zip files with an improved naming structure, better Google Forms handling, and empty folders are now included in the
.zip ZIP is an archive file format that supports lossless data compression. A ZIP file may contain one or more files or directories that may have been compressed. The ZIP file format permits a number of compression algorithms, though DEFLATE is th ...
, thereby preserving the user's folder hierarchy.


Storage


Individual user account storage

Google gives every user 15 GB (1 GB = 1 billion bytes) of free storage through
Google One Google One is a subscription service developed by Google that offers expanded cloud storage and is intended for the consumer market. Google One paid plans offer cloud storage starting at 100 gigabytes, up to a maximum of 30 terabytes, a ...
.
Google Docs Google Docs is an online word processor included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google, which also includes: Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Google Keep. Google Do ...
,
Google Sheets Google Sheets is a spreadsheet program included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google. The service also includes: Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Google Keep. Google ...
and
Google Slides Google Slides is a presentation program included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google. The service also includes: Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Google Keep. Goog ...
files do not count towards the storage limit. This cloud storage is also shared with
Gmail Gmail is a free email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide. A user typically accesses Gmail in a web browser or the official mobile app. Google also supports the use of email clients via the POP an ...
and
Google Photos Google Photos is a photo sharing and storage service developed by Google. It was announced in May 2015 and spun off from Google+, the company's former social network. As of June 1, 2021, in its free tier, any newly uploaded photo and video c ...
. Photos at maximum 16
megapixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device. In most digital display devices, pixels are the smal ...
s and videos at maximum
1080p 1080p (1920×1080 progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the screen vert ...
resolutions can be stored using the "High quality" setting in Google Photos. Using the "High quality" or "Original quality" setting uses Google Drive quota. Users can purchase additional space through either a monthly or yearly payment. The option of yearly payments was introduced in December 2016, and is limited to the 100 GB, 200 GB or 2 TB storage plans. Furthermore, the yearly payments offer a discount. In May 2018, Google announced that storage plans (including the free 15 gigabyte plan) would be moved over to
Google One Google One is a subscription service developed by Google that offers expanded cloud storage and is intended for the consumer market. Google One paid plans offer cloud storage starting at 100 gigabytes, up to a maximum of 30 terabytes, a ...
. , these are the storage plans offered by Google:


Chromebook promotions

Chromebook A Chromebook (sometimes stylized in lowercase as chromebook) is a laptop or tablet running the Linux-based ChromeOS as its operating system. Initially designed to heavily rely on web applications for tasks using the Google Chrome browser, Chromeb ...
users can obtain 100 GB of Google Drive storage free for 2 years as long as the promotion is activated within 180 days of the Chromebook device's initial purchase. This is available in all countries where Google Drive is available. Offer can only be redeemed once per device. Used, open-box, and refurbished devices are not eligible for the offer.


Google Workspace storage

Google offers 30 GB of Drive storage for all
Google Workspace Google Workspace (formerly known as Google Apps and later G Suite) is a collection of cloud computing, productivity and collaboration tools, software and products developed and marketed by Google. It consists of Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, Meet ...
Starter customers, and unlimited storage for those using Google Workspace for Business. Since July 2022, the G Suite Workspace for Education – valid for educational institutions and Universities in particular – provides 100 TB of storage. Universities with more than 20.000 Workspace users (students, staff and related entities) are offered an optionally increased storage limit .


Storage scheme revisions

Before the introduction of Google Drive,
Google Docs Google Docs is an online word processor included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google, which also includes: Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Google Keep. Google Do ...
initially provided 15 GB of storage free of charge. On April 24, 2012, Google Drive was introduced with free storage of 5 GB. Storage plans were revised, with 25 GB costing $2.49/month, 100 GB costing $4.99/month and 1 TB costing $49.99/month. Originally,
Gmail Gmail is a free email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide. A user typically accesses Gmail in a web browser or the official mobile app. Google also supports the use of email clients via the POP an ...
, Google Docs, and
Picasa Picasa was a cross-platform image organizer and image viewer for organizing and editing digital photos, integrated with a now defunct photo-sharing website, originally created by a company named Lifescape (which at that time was incubated by ...
had separate allowances for free storage and a shared allowance for purchased storage. Between April 2012 and May 2013, Google Drive and Google+ Photos had a shared allowance for both free and purchased storage, whereas Gmail had a separate 10 GB storage limit, which increased to 25 GB on the purchase of any storage plan. In September 2012, Google announced that a paid plan would now cover total storage, rather than the paid allocation being added to the free; e.g. a 100 GB plan allowed a total of 100 GB rather than 115 GB as previously. In May 2013, Google announced the overall merge of storage across Gmail, Google Drive and Google+ Photos, giving users 15 GB of unified free storage between the services. In March 2014, the storage plans were revised again and prices were reduced by 80% to $1.99/month for 100 GB, $9.99/month for 1 TB, and $99.99/month for 10 TB. This was much cheaper than competitors
Dropbox Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by the American company Dropbox, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, U.S. that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and Client (computing), client software. Dropb ...
and
OneDrive Microsoft OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) is a file hosting service operated by Microsoft. First launched in August 2007, it enables registered users to share and synchronize their files. OneDrive also works as the storage backend of the web ver ...
offered at the time. In 2018, the paid plans were re-branded as "
Google One Google One is a subscription service developed by Google that offers expanded cloud storage and is intended for the consumer market. Google One paid plans offer cloud storage starting at 100 gigabytes, up to a maximum of 30 terabytes, a ...
" to emphasize their application beyond Google Drive, along with the addition of a $2.99/month plan for 200 GB, and increasing the $9.99 plan to 2 TB at no additional charge. On November 11, 2020, Google announced charging
Google Photos Google Photos is a photo sharing and storage service developed by Google. It was announced in May 2015 and spun off from Google+, the company's former social network. As of June 1, 2021, in its free tier, any newly uploaded photo and video c ...
' storage once the users exceed the limit of 15 GB on their account. The update was announced to come into effect from June 1, 2021. Before June 1, all photos and documents uploaded on Google's online storage will not be counted under the 15 GB cap. In September 2021, Google added a 5 TB storage plan priced at $24.99/month.


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. Ownership is transferable. Files or folders can be shared privately with particular users having a
Google account A Google Account is a user account that is required for access, authentication and authorization to certain online Google services. It is also often used as single sign on for third party services. Usage A Google Account is required for Gmail, ...
, using the email address (usually, but not necessarily, ending in ''@gmail.com'') associated with that account. Sharing files with users not having a Google account requires making them accessible to "anybody with the link". This generates a secret URL for the file, which may be shared via email or private messages. Files and folders can also be made "public on the web", which means that they can be indexed by search engines and thus can be found and accessed by anyone. The owner may also set an access level for regulating permissions. The three access levels offered are "can edit", "can comment" and "can view". Users with editing access can invite others to edit. On September 13, 2021, the URL to a portion of existing files was changed, ostensibly for security reasons.


Third-party apps

A number of external
web application A web application (or web app) is application software that is accessed using a web browser. Web applications are delivered on the World Wide Web to users with an active network connection. History In earlier computing models like client-serve ...
s that work with Google Drive are available from the
Chrome Web Store Chrome Web Store is Google's online store for its Chrome web browser. As of 2019, Chrome Web Store hosts about 190,000 extensions and web apps. History Chrome Web Store was publicly unveiled in December 2010, and was opened on February 11, 2011 ...
. 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. Some of these apps are first-party, such as Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Drive apps operate on online files and can be used to view, edit, and create files in various formats, edit images and videos, fax and sign documents, manage projects, create flowcharts, etc. Drive apps can also be made the default for handling file formats supported by them. Some of these apps also work offline on
Google Chrome Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macOS ...
and
ChromeOS ChromeOS, sometimes stylized as chromeOS and formerly styled as Chrome OS, is a Linux-based operating system designed by Google. It is derived from the open-source ChromiumOS and uses the Google Chrome web browser as its principal user interfac ...
. All of the third-party apps are free to install. However, some have fees associated with continued usage or access to additional features. Saving data from a third-party app to Google Drive requires authorization the first time. The Google Drive software development kit (SDK) works together with the Google Drive user interface and the Chrome Web Store to create an ecosystem of apps that can be installed into Google Drive. In February 2013, the "Create" menu in Google Drive was revamped to include third-party apps, thus effectively granting them the same status as Google's own apps. In March 2013, Google released an
API An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software Interface (computing), interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standa ...
for Google Drive that enables third-party developers to build collaborative apps that support real-time editing.


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 JPEG ( ) is a commonly used method of lossy compression for digital images, particularly for those images produced by digital photography. The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and imag ...
, . PNG, .
GIF The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF; or , see pronunciation) is a bitmap image format that was developed by a team at the online services provider CompuServe led by American computer scientist Steve Wilhite and released on 15 June 1987. ...
, .
TIFF Tag Image File Format, abbreviated TIFF or TIF, is an image file format for storing raster graphics images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and photographers. TIFF is widely supported by scanning, faxing, word processin ...
, . BMP, .
WEBP WebP is an image file format developed by Google intended as a replacement for JPEG, PNG, and GIF file formats. It supports both lossy and lossless compression, as well as animation and alpha transparency. Google announced the WebP format i ...
) *
Video files A video file format is a type of file format for storing digital video data on a computer system. Video is almost always stored using lossy compression to reduce the file size. A video file normally consists of a container (e.g. in the Matrosk ...
(.
WEBM WebM is an audiovisual media file format. It is primarily intended to offer a royalty-free alternative to use in the HTML5 video and the HTML5 audio elements. It has a sister project, WebP, for images. The development of the format is sponsored ...
, .
MPEG4 MPEG-4 is a group of international standards for the compression of digital audio and visual data, multimedia systems, and file storage formats. It was originally introduced in late 1998 as a group of audio and video coding formats and related tec ...
, . 3GPP, . MOV, . AVI, .
MPEG The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is an alliance of working groups established jointly by International Organization for Standardization, ISO and International Electrotechnical Commission, IEC that sets standards for media coding, includ ...
, . MPEGPS, .
WMV Windows Media Video (WMV) is a series of video codecs and their corresponding video coding formats developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Windows Media framework. WMV consists of three distinct codecs: The original video compression technology ...
, .
FLV Flash Video is a container file format used to deliver digital video content (e.g., TV shows, movies, etc.) over the Internet using Adobe Flash Player version 6 and newer. Flash Video content may also be embedded within SWF files. There are ...
, .
OGG Ogg is a free, open container format maintained by the Xiph.Org Foundation. The authors of the Ogg format state that it is unrestricted by software patents and is designed to provide for efficient streaming and manipulation of high-quality d ...
) *
Audio formats An audio format is a medium for sound recording and reproduction. The term is applied to both the physical recording media and the recording formats of the audio content—in computer science it is often limited to the audio file format, but its ...
(.
MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...
, . M4A, .
WAV Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE, or WAV due to its filename extension; pronounced "wave") is an audio file format standard, developed by IBM and Microsoft, for storing an audio bitstream on PCs. It is the main format used on Microsoft Wind ...
, .
OGG Ogg is a free, open container format maintained by the Xiph.Org Foundation. The authors of the Ogg format state that it is unrestricted by software patents and is designed to provide for efficient streaming and manipulation of high-quality d ...
) *
Text file A text file (sometimes spelled textfile; an old alternative name is flatfile) is a kind of computer file that is structured as a sequence of lines of electronic text. A text file exists stored as data within a computer file system. In operating ...
s (. TXT) *Executable program files (.
EXE Exe or EXE may refer to: * .exe, a file extension * exe., abbreviation for executive Places * River Exe, in England * Exe Estuary, in England * Exe Island, in Exeter, England Transportation and vehicles * Exe (locomotive), a British locomotive ...
) * Markup/Code (.
CSS Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used for describing the presentation of a document written in a markup language such as HTML or XML (including XML dialects such as SVG, MathML or XHTML). CSS is a cornerstone techno ...
, .
HTML The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaScri ...
, .
PHP PHP is a general-purpose scripting language geared toward web development. It was originally created by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993 and released in 1995. The PHP reference implementation is now produced by The PHP Group ...
, . C, . CPP, . H, . HPP, . JS) *
Microsoft Word Microsoft Word is a word processing software developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983, under the name ''Multi-Tool Word'' for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms includin ...
( .DOC and
.DOCX The Office Open XML file formats are a set of file formats that can be used to represent electronic office documents. There are formats for word processing documents, spreadsheets and presentations as well as specific formats for material su ...
) *
Microsoft Excel Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet developed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows, Windows, macOS, Android (operating system), Android and iOS. It features calculation or computation capabilities, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro (comp ...
( .XLS and .XLSX) *
Microsoft PowerPoint Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program, created by Robert Gaskins and Dennis Austin at a software company named Forethought, Inc. It was released on April 20, 1987, initially for Macintosh computers only. Microsoft acquired PowerPoi ...
( .PPT and .PPTX) * Adobe Portable Document Format (
.PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
) * Apple Pages ( .PAGES) * Adobe Illustrator (
.AI .ai is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Anguilla, a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is administered by the government of Anguilla. It is popular with companies in and projects related to the artificial int ...
) * Adobe Photoshop (
.PSD Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the industry standard not only in ...
) * Autodesk AutoCad (
.DXF AutoCAD DXF (Drawing Interchange Format, or Drawing Exchange Format) is a CAD data file format developed by Autodesk for enabling data interoperability between AutoCAD and other programs. DXF was introduced in December 1982 as part of AutoCA ...
) * Scalable Vector Graphics ( .SVG) * PostScript ( .EPS, .PS) *Python (. PY) * Fonts ( .TTF) * XML Paper Specification ( .XPS) * Archive file types (
.ZIP ZIP is an archive file format that supports lossless data compression. A ZIP file may contain one or more files or directories that may have been compressed. The ZIP file format permits a number of compression algorithms, though DEFLATE is th ...
,
.RAR RAR is a proprietary archive file format that supports data compression, error correction and file spanning. It was developed in 1993 by Russian software engineer Eugene Roshal and the software is licensed by ''win.rar GmbH''. The name ''RA ...
,
tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bit ...
,
gzip gzip is a file format and a software application used for file compression and decompression. The program was created by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler as a free software replacement for the compress program used in early Unix systems, and in ...
) *. 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 Chrome Web Store is Google's online store for its Chrome web browser. As of 2019, Chrome Web Store hosts about 190,000 extensions and web apps. History Chrome Web Store was publicly unveiled in December 2010, and was opened on February 11, 2011 ...
.


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 Machine learning (ML) is a field of inquiry devoted to understanding and building methods that 'learn', that is, methods that leverage data to improve performance on some set of tasks. It is seen as a part of artificial intelligence. Machine ...
to "intelligently predict the files you need before you've even typed anything". The feature was announced to be expanded to
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
and the
web Web most often refers to: * Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal * World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to: Computing * WEB, a literate programming system created by ...
in March 2017, though the website interface received the feature in May.


Search

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. Text in images and
PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
s can be extracted using
optical character recognition Optical character recognition or optical character reader (OCR) is the electronic or mechanical conversion of images of typed, handwritten or printed text into machine-encoded text, whether from a scanned document, a photo of a document, a scen ...
. In September 2016, Google added "natural language processing" for searching on the Google Drive website, enabling specific user search queries like "find my budget spreadsheet from last December". In February 2017, Google integrated Drive and the Google Search app on Android, letting users search for keywords, switch to an "In Apps" tab, and see any relevant Drive files.


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 screenshot (also known as screen capture or screen grab) is a digital image that shows the contents of a computer display. A screenshot is created by the operating system or software running on the device powering the display. Additionally, s ...
(as an image of the visible part of the page or the entire page), or as a raw
HTML The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaScri ...
,
MHTML MHTML, an initialism of "MIME encapsulation of aggregate HTML documents", is a Web archive file format used to combine, in a single computer file, the HTML code and its companion resources (such as images) that are represented by external hyperl ...
, or Google Docs file. Users need to be signed into Chrome to use the extension.


Mobile apps

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 Docs is an online word processor included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google, which also includes: Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Google Keep. Google Do ...
,
Google Sheets Google Sheets is a spreadsheet program included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google. The service also includes: Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Google Keep. Google ...
, and
Google Slides Google Slides is a presentation program included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google. The service also includes: Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Google Keep. Goog ...
. The Google Drive app on Android allows users to take a photo of a document, sign, or other text and use
optical character recognition Optical character recognition or optical character reader (OCR) is the electronic or mechanical conversion of images of typed, handwritten or printed text into machine-encoded text, whether from a scanned document, a photo of a document, a scen ...
to convert to text that can be edited. In October 2014, the Android app was updated with a
Material Design Material Design (codenamed Quantum Paper) is a design language developed by Google in 2014. Expanding on the "cards" that debuted in Google Now, Material Design uses more grid-based layouts, responsive animations and transitions, padding, and d ...
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 In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can decip ...
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. Since 2021, Google Drive has been providing
client-side encryption feature


Professional editions


Google Drive Enterprise

Google Drive Enterprise (formerly Google Drive for Work) is a business version, as part of
Google Workspace Google Workspace (formerly known as Google Apps and later G Suite) is a collection of cloud computing, productivity and collaboration tools, software and products developed and marketed by Google. It consists of Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, Meet ...
(formerly Google Apps for Work or G Suite), announced at the Google I/O conference on June 25, 2014, and made available immediately. The service features unlimited storage, advanced file audit reporting, and eDiscovery services, along with enhanced administration control and new Application programming interface, APIs specifically useful to businesses. Users can upload files as large as 5 TB. A press release posted on Google's Official Enterprise Blog assured businesses that Google would encrypt data stored on its servers, as well as information being transmitted to or from them. Google delivers 24/7 phone support to business users and has guaranteed 99.9% uptime for its servers. In September 2015, Google announced that Google Drive for Work would be compliant with the new ISO/IEC 27018:2014 security and privacy standard, which confirmed that Google would not use data in Drive for Work accounts for advertising, enabled additional tools for handling and exporting data, more transparency about data storage, and protection from third-party data requests. In July 2018, Google announced a new edition, called Drive Enterprise, for businesses that don't want to buy the full Google Workspace. Drive Enterprise includes Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides which permits collaborative editing of documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, forms, and other file types. Drive Enterprise also allows users to access and collaborate on Microsoft Office files and 60+ other file types. The pricing of Drive Enterprise is based on usage, with $8 per active user per month, plus $0.04 per GB per month.


Google Drive for Education

Google Drive for Education was announced on September 30, 2014. It was made available for free to all Google Apps for Education users. It includes unlimited storage and support for individual files up to 5 TB in size in addition to full encryption.


Shared Drives

In September 2016, Google announced Team Drives, later renamed Shared Drives, as a new way for Google Workspace teams to collaborate on documents and store files. In Shared Drives, file/folder sharing and ownership are assigned to a team rather than to an individual user. Since 2020, Shared Drives had an ability to assign different access levels to files and folders to different users and teams, and an ability to share a folder publicly. Unlike individual Google Drive, Shared Drives offer unlimited storage.


Drive File Stream (soon Google Drive for desktop)

In March 2017, Google introduced Drive File Stream, a desktop application for G Suite (now Google Workspace) customers using
Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
and
macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
computers that maps Google Drive to a drive letter on the operating system, and thus allows easy access to Google Drive files and folders without using a web browser. It also features on-demand file access, when the file is downloaded from Google Drive only when it is accessed. Additionally, Drive File Stream supports the Shared Drives functionality of Google Workspace. In early 2021, Google announced that it will be combining its Drive File Stream and Backup and Sync products into one product, Google Drive for desktop, which will support features previously exclusive to each respective Client. Signing into the Client using a Google Workspace enable account is expected to enable the same enterprise features that Google is migrating to the new product.


Docs, Sheets and Slides

Google Docs Google Docs is an online word processor included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google, which also includes: Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Google Keep. Google Do ...
,
Google Sheets Google Sheets is a spreadsheet program included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google. The service also includes: Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Google Keep. Google ...
, and
Google Slides Google Slides is a presentation program included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google. The service also includes: Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Google Keep. Goog ...
constitute a free, web-based office suite offered by
Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
and integrated with Google Drive. It allows users to create and edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations online while collaborating in real-time with other users. The three apps are available as
web application A web application (or web app) is application software that is accessed using a web browser. Web applications are delivered on the World Wide Web to users with an active network connection. History In earlier computing models like client-serve ...
s, as Chrome apps that work offline, and as mobile apps for Android and
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
. The apps are also compatible with Microsoft Office file formats. The suite also consists of Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites, and Google Keep. While Forms and Sites are only available as web applications, Drawings is also available as a Google Chrome App, Chrome app, while a mobile app for Keep is also available. The suite is tightly integrated with Google Drive, and all files created with the apps are by default saved to Google Drive.


Updates

Updates to Google Docs, Docs, Google Sheets, Sheets, and Google Slides, Slides have introduced features using
machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of inquiry devoted to understanding and building methods that 'learn', that is, methods that leverage data to improve performance on some set of tasks. It is seen as a part of artificial intelligence. Machine ...
, including "Explore", offering search results based on the contents of a document, answers based on Natural language processing, natural language questions in a spreadsheet, and dynamic design suggestions based on contents of a slideshow, and "Action items", allowing users to assign tasks to other users. While Google Docs has been criticized for lacking the functionality of Microsoft Office, it has received praise for its simplicity, ease of collaboration, and frequent product updates. In order to view and edit Docs, Sheets, or Slides documents offline, users need to be using the Google Chrome web browser. A Chrome extension, ''Google Docs Offline'', allows users to enable offline support for Docs, Sheets, and Slides files on the Google Drive website. Google also offers an extension for the Google Chrome web browser called ''Office editing for Docs, Sheets and Slides'' that enables users to view and edit Microsoft Office documents on Google Chrome, via Docs, Sheets and Slides apps. The extension can be used for opening Office files stored on the computer using Chrome, as well as for opening Office files encountered on the web (in the form of email attachments, web search results, etc.) without having to download them. The extension is installed on ChromeOS by default.


Reception


Features

In a review of Google Drive after its launch in April 2012, Dan Grabham of ''TechRadar'' wrote that the integration of Google Docs into Google Drive was "a bit confusing", mainly due to the differences in the user interfaces between the two, where Drive offers a "My Drive" section with a specific "Shared with me" view for shared documents. He stated that "We think the user interface needs a lot more work. It's like a retread of Google Docs at the moment and Google surely needs to do work here". He considered uploading files "fairly easy", but noted that folder upload was only supported through the
Google Chrome Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macOS ...
web browser. The lack of native editing of Microsoft Office documents was "annoying". Regarding Google Drive's computer apps, he stated that the option in Settings to synchronize only specific folders was "powerful". He wrote that Drive was "a great addition to Google armory of apps and everything does work seamlessly", while again criticizing the interface for being "confusing" and that the file view was "not quite intuitive enough" without file icons. Grabham also reviewed the mobile Android app, writing that "it's a pretty simple app that enables you to access your files on the move and save some for offline access should you wish", and praised Google Docs creation and photo uploading for being "easy". He also praised that "everything is easily searchable". A review by Michael Muchmore of ''PC Magazine'' in February 2016 praised the service as "truly impressive" in creating and editing files, describing its features as "leading" in office-suite collaboration. He added that "Compatibility is rarely an issue", with importing and exporting options, and that the free storage of 15 gigabytes was "generous". However, he also criticized the user interface for being confusing to navigate, and wrote that "Offline editing isn't simple". The Android version of Google Drive has been criticized for requiring users to individually toggle each file for use offline instead of allowing entire folders to be stored offline.


Ownership and licensing

Immediately after its announcement in April 2012, Google faced criticism over Google Drive privacy. In particular, privacy advocates have noted that Google has one unified set of Terms of Service and Privacy Policy agreements for all its products and services. In a ''CNET'' report, Zack Whittaker noted that "the terms and service have come under heavy fire by the wider community for how it handles users' copyright and intellectual property rights". In a comparison of Terms of Service agreements between Google Drive and competing cloud storage services
Dropbox Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by the American company Dropbox, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, U.S. that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and Client (computing), client software. Dropb ...
and
OneDrive Microsoft OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) is a file hosting service operated by Microsoft. First launched in August 2007, it enables registered users to share and synchronize their files. OneDrive also works as the storage backend of the web ver ...
, he cited a paragraph stating that Google has broad rights to reproduce, use, and create
derivative work In copyright law, a derivative work is an expressive creation that includes major copyrightable elements of an original, previously created first work (the underlying work). The derivative work becomes a second, separate work independent in fo ...
s from content stored on Google Drive, via a license from its users. Although the user retains intellectual property rights, the user licenses Google to extract and parse uploaded content to customize the advertising and other services that Google provides to the user and to promote the service. Summarized, he wrote that "According to its terms, Google does not own user-uploaded files to Google Drive, but the company can do whatever it likes with them". In a highly critical editorial of the service, Ed Bott of ''ZDNet'' wrote that language in the agreements contained "exact same words" as Dropbox used in a July 2011 Privacy Policy update that sparked criticism and forced Dropbox to update its policy once again with clarifying language, adding that "It's a perfect example of Google's inability to pay even the slightest bit of attention to anything that happens outside the Googleplex". Matt Peckham of ''Time (magazine), Time'' criticized the lack of unique service agreements for Drive, writing that "If any Google service warrants privacy firewalling, it's Google Drive. This isn't YouTube or Calendar or even Gmail——the potential for someone's most sensitive data to be snooped, whether to glean info for marketing or otherwise, is too high. [...] Google ought to create a privacy exception that “narrows the scope” of its service terms for Google Drive, one that minimally states the company will never circulate the information generated from searching your G-Drive data in any way." In contrast, a report by Nilay Patel of ''The Verge'' stated that "all web services should be subject to the harsh scrutiny of their privacy policies—but a close and careful reading reveals that Google's terms are pretty much the same as anyone else's, and slightly better in some cases", pointing to the fact that Google "couldn't move files around on its servers, cache your data, or make image thumbnails" without proper rights. In comparing the policies with competing services, Patel wrote that "it's clear that they need the exact same permissions—they just use slightly more artful language to communicate them".


Growth

On November 12, 2013, Google announced that Google Drive had 120 million active users, a figure that the company was releasing for the first time. On June 25, 2014, at the Google I/O developer conference,
Sundar Pichai Pichai Sundararajan (born June 10, 1972), better known as Sundar Pichai (), is an Indian-American business executive. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google. Born in Madurai, India, Pichai earned hi ...
announced that Google Drive now had 190 million monthly active users, and that it was being used by 58% of the Fortune 500 companies as well as by 72 of the top universities. On October 1, 2014, at its Atmosphere Live event, it was announced that Google Drive had 240 million monthly active users. ''The Next Web'' noted that this meant an increase of 50 million users in just one quarter. On September 21, 2015, it was announced that Google Drive had over one million organizational paying users. In March 2017, Google announced that Google Drive had 800 million active users. In May 2017, a Google executive stated at a company event that there were over two trillion files stored on Google Drive.


Downtime issues

Although Google has a 99.9% uptime guarantee for Google Drive for
Google Workspace Google Workspace (formerly known as Google Apps and later G Suite) is a collection of cloud computing, productivity and collaboration tools, software and products developed and marketed by Google. It consists of Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, Meet ...
customers, Google Drive has suffered downtimes for both consumers and business users. During significant downtimes, Google's App Status Dashboard gets updated with the current status of each service Google offers, along with details on restoration progress. Notable downtimes occurred in March 2013, October 2014, January 2016, September 2017, January 2020, and December 2020. When the January 2016 outage was resolved, a Google spokesperson told ''The Next Web'':
At Google, we recognize that failures are statistically inevitable, and we strive to insulate our users from the effects of failures. As that did not happen in this instance, we apologize to everyone who was inconvenienced by this event. Our engineers are conducting a post-mortem investigation to determine how to make our services more resilient to unplanned network failures, and we will do our utmost to continue to make Google service outages notable for their rarity.
In an outage that affected all of Google's services for five minutes in August 2013, CNET reported that global Internet traffic dropped 40%.


Spam issues

Google Drive allows users to share drive contents with other Google users without requiring any authorization from the recipient of a sharing invitation. This has resulted in users receiving spam from unsolicited shared drives. Google is reported to be working on a fix.


See also

* Comparison of file hosting services * Comparison of file synchronization software * Comparison of online backup services


References


External links

* {{authority control 2012 software Cloud storage Companies' terms of service File hosting for macOS File hosting for Windows Google software, Drive Online backup services