Your favorite apps, with Google Drive (Holiday Edition)

For the second installment of our Apps in Google Drive series, we’re giving things a holiday twist with apps that can help you out with some (last-minute) personalized gifts. Once you install one of the third-party Drive apps below, you can use them to create a variety of one-of-a-kind gifts: your pug on a mug, your very own holiday song, or a video of this year’s biggest moments.

CafePress: Create a personalized gift using pictures stored in Google Drive. 
Use photos you keep in Drive to add a personal touch to hundreds of potential gifts. Just select a photo in your Drive open it with the CafePress app. Get the app

WeVideo: Make a video (fancy editing skills not required). 
Make a recap video of the highlights of 2012 with the photos, videos, and other files that you keep in Drive. Then add a personal touch with text, effects, music, and voiceovers. Get the app

UJam: Create new holiday tunes. 
Grab some sleigh bells and write your own full track with a variety of backing instruments, beats, and styles from scratch, or start with a song template. Get the app

Check out many more apps that work with Google Drive to spread some of your own holiday cheer. 

Posted by Google Drive Elf #12

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Introducing the Save to Drive extension, plus enhancements to images

The new Save to Drive Chrome extension gives you a few new ways to capture content from anywhere on the web and store it neatly in Drive. After you install the extension, you can click on the Drive extension icon to save:

• an image of an entire page or an image of the visible page
• the HTML source code 
• a Web archive (.mht) 

Or you can right-click on images or links to files and save them directly to Drive.

After you save using the extension, you’ll see options to immediately open the file in Drive, rename it, or view it in your Drive list, where you can do things like add it to a folder or share it with others.

There are also a few new ways to work with images you’re already storing in Drive. You can now zoom by scrolling or using the new ‘fit to page’ and 100% buttons. And if you have something to say about a specific part of an image, you can select a region and add a comment to it.

Posted by Josh Hudgins, Product Manager

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5,000 new stock images in Google Drive, thanks to you

A few months ago, many of you submitted ideas on how we can expand the selection of stock images in Google Drive to add to the categories that you’re most interested in.

Thanks to your suggestions, 5,000 new photos of nature, weather, animals, sports, food, education, technology, music and 8 other categories are now available for your use in Docs, Sheets, and Slides. More than 900 of these photos were selected directly from your submissions -- we really appreciate your help!

Thanks again for your submissions, and keep the ideas coming on the Google Drive +page.

Posted by Adah Berkovich, User Operations Specialist

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Edit spreadsheets on the go with the Drive mobile app

You’re making your list, you’re checking it twice—and now you can do it from anywhere.

Just in time for this year’s holiday season, you can edit Google Sheets on your mobile device, just like you can with Google Docs. From the Drive app on your iPhone, iPad or Android device, you can create a new spreadsheet or edit an existing one. You can switch fonts, resize columns, sort data, and more. And just like on your computer, you’ll be able to see other people’s edits in real time as they’re made.

Beyond spreadsheets, you may notice a few other tweaks to the Drive app, including better text formatting when you copy and paste in a Google document. And if you’re using an Android device, you can now edit text within tables in documents and add a shortcut on the homescreen of your device to any specific file in Drive.

Whether it’s holiday recipes, shopping lists, or just your family budget, the Drive app on your mobile device makes it easy to get stuff done wherever you are.

Get the Google Drive app today from Google Play and the Apple App Store.

Posted by Shrikant Shanbhag, Software Engineer

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Gmail and Drive - a new way to send files

(Cross-posted from the Gmail blog)

Since Google Drive launched in April, millions of people have started using Drive to keep, create and share files. Starting today, it’s even easier to share with others: you can insert files from Drive directly into an email without leaving your Gmail.
Have you ever tried to attach a file to an email only to find out it's too large to send? Now with Drive, you can insert files up to 10GB -- 400 times larger than what you can send as a traditional attachment. Also, because you’re sending a file stored in the cloud, all your recipients will have access to the same, most-up-to-date version. Like a smart assistant, Gmail will also double-check that your recipients all have access to any files you’re sending. This works like Gmail’s forgotten attachment detector: whenever you send a file from Drive that isn’t shared with everyone, you’ll be prompted with the option to change the file’s sharing settings without leaving your email. It’ll even work with Drive links pasted directly into emails.
So whether it’s photos from your recent camping trip, video footage from your brother’s wedding, or a presentation to your boss, all your stuff is easy to find and easy to share with Drive and Gmail. To get started, just click on the Drive icon while you're composing a message. Note that this feature is rolling out over the next few days and is only available with Gmail's new compose experience, so you'll need to opt-in if you haven't already.

Posted by Phil Sharp, Product Manager

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Some new ways to get stuff done in Google Drive

In case you haven’t noticed them already, here are a handful of small updates that will make it easier to find, organize, and view stuff on Drive.

• Search by person: Can't remember the name of a file but know who shared it with you? Now Drive search auto-completes people’s names making it easier to find the stuff you’re looking for.

• View Google Earth map files: You can now open, preview, and interact with Google Earth files (.kml and .kmz) right inside Google Drive on the web.

• Create new folders while organizing files: Now when you select files in your Drive list, in addition to adding them to an existing folder, you can add them directly to a new folder.

• Drag and drop folders in Chrome: If you’re using Chrome, you can drag and drop entire folders from your desktop to Drive on the web.

• Search includes your trash: Sometimes files you are looking for accidentally ended up in your trash, so now search results include files there too.

Posted by Josh Hudgins, Product Manager

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Co-write a song, tell a shared story with the Gone Google Story Builder

We love hearing about all the different ways people use collaboration in Docs - from creating shared grocery lists to co-authoring full length novels. In the past, we even created a few of our own stories showing how you can go Google, whether you’re writing an 80s hit or crafting the perfect invite list.

Now, anyone can create their own story about collaboration with the Gone Google Story Builder. Make your own personalized video featuring the characters, story, and even music of your choosing and then share it with everyone you know (or maybe just a few of your closest friends).

Get started at google.com/gonegoogle/story.

If you feel up to it, post your best creation to Google+ with the tag #gonegoogle - we’ll feature a few favorites next week on our Google+ page. 

Posted by Preston Hershorn, Product Marketing Manager

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