Google Docs and Sheets get big updates with new UI, ability to create Office files, and more

Following the announcement that the Quickoffice app will be sunset, Google is pushing substantial update to its Docs and Sheets apps, bringing a new UI design and many new features.

The updates for the two productivity apps bring a slew of new features, starting with a welcome visual refresh that nudges the apps towards Material design. The blue menu bar at the top has been tweaked and is now cleaner, and there’s a new floating button for creating new documents, similar to the create post button in Google Plus. Google also tweaked the aspect of the account selection dropdown and reorganized the options from the left side menu.

In terms of new functionality, the new Docs is able to differentiate between Docs files and Word files (previously, that was only possible in the web version). Users will be able to create and edit Word files (.docx), open files from the device’s storage, and share files as PDF or Word via email. There’s also a revamped editing interface and the new document view that Google introduced on Drive last week is now accessible from Docs.

Similar changes are coming to the Sheets spreadsheet editor – you can create and edit Excel files from the app, there’s a new details page that includes editing history and sharing information, the app differentiates between Excel files and Sheets files, and the spreadsheet editing interface was refreshed. Other new features include the ability to create charts, open files from device storage, and share files in Excel format.

Expect an update notification for Docs and Sheets any minute now. The third app in Google’s productivity suite, Slides, which launched last week, is already sporting the new design.