Google Workspace apps on Android12L are getting drag and drop support for split screen, more

Tablets are not dead. This is a fact that Google has made abundantly clear over the past few months. Android 12L seeks to restore the former glory of these middle-ground devices with particular use cases, and I couldn’t be more excited. Today on The Keyword, the company announced that it would be introducing new ways to make Workspace apps more useful as you’re sitting on the couch.

To start, Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Keep are all receiving drag and drop functionality while split screen is active on any larger screen device running Android 12L. It’s not just text either, you can also quickly move images over from Keep to a Gmail body, for example, skipping the attach file step entirely! This goes for existing documents and spreadsheet cells as well, giving you that desktop convenience while you kick back and relax.

Using drag and drop in Drive from the Files app, for example, will automatically begin a file upload – again, just like it does on a desktop or laptop with a mouse. Another example Google gives in the blog post is dragging Drive file links into Keep to rapidly create a shortcut back to something important in your notes. An interesting use case to be sure, but I’d probably just opt for a Drive star icon for important files unless it specifically ties to a thought I’ve saved in Keep.

More importantly, tapping the three dots “more” menu on a Drive file’s information section will now let you “Open in new window”. Calling these two instances of Drive up side by side will let you see information or view and edit a file without losing your current position in your file hierarchy!

Lastly, Android 12L will now work with common keyboard shortcuts in Drive and other apps like copy, cut, and paste in the same exact way you would expect from a full-fledged operating system. The point of adding this is to keep your hands on the attached keyboard and not have to reach up to press and hold a file name to get its options.

The groundwork for this was laid weeks ago when Google introduced copy, cut and paste in Drive, the only Workspace app that seems like it was missing it to date. These updates will roll out to Android 12L devices for those with Workspace and personal Google accounts over the next couple of weeks. Apparently, this is just the start of what Google is looking to add to the tablet OS, and I’m excited to see what’s next.