In terms of apps, everything changes frequently . And sometimes, those changes consist of taking a step back for the better . Google Drive was born as Google Docs, a web app for creating, editing and saving text documents in the cloud. Over time it began to support more formats and types of documents: spreadsheets, presentations … To the point of becoming Google Drive. An online file store that also replaced Microsoft Office from your browser. Then would come desktop applications, mobile apps …
And in a curious move, Google decided to turn Google Drive for Windows and Mac into something else: Backup and sync . A tool that served to upload your local files to your Google cloud. A change of name and strategy but that maintained the foundations of Google Drive.
The last step, return to the origin of what was Google Drive for desktop . For many, a simple name change to claim a powerful brand such as Google Drive. And in practice, it is about recovering what makes this application good: storing files but also being able to open and edit them .
Change of name and join functions
In addition to replacing its desktop app to date with another easier to recognize, Google Drive dumps all its functions available on the Web to use them from the Windows and Mac desktop. To this is added the union of the app for the domestic public and professional. The first, Backup and Synchronization and the second, Drive File Stream .
The professional app changes its name, so it will update automatically. The home user, for now, can continue to download the backup app. But Google recommends making the leap to Google Drive for PC and Mac.
The app that Google has called Google Drive for computers offers the functions of file synchronization already available in the previous app for Windows and Mac. Synchronize all your files , only specific folders and files …
It also maintains the local use of these files by other applications such as Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Access) or Photoshop. The novelty, you will be able to see if someone is editing a shared document . That, and accessing files on shared drives , somewhat limited to the Web for now. Both applications can be used with personal or professional Google accounts.
In short, with Google Drive for computers , Google puts a bit of order in its desktop applications so that anyone can synchronize their files and documents from their PC or Mac to their Google cloud. That and being able to work with those files , online or locally. In addition, it unites its two clouds, Google Drive and Google Photos, in the same desktop application.
Other interesting details have to do with the possibility of synchronizing content from external disks or flash drives.
What should I do to update Google Drive?
We said that, for the moment, both applications coexist. But Google wants us to make the change before September 2021. What's more, from that date on it will become more insistent that we make the change.
To make it easy, if you are a user of Backup and synchronization you will see messages encouraging you to install Google Drive for computers . The requirements are similar in both applications, so you will not have to make any changes except to install the new application.
And if you are a user of File Stream of Drive , it is likely that by now it has already been updated and renamed to Google Drive for computers , incorporating the new features inherited from the file sync tool for home users.
