Update Wednesday went by with merely a whisper this week, barely registering more than a handful of fresh versions. Out of the group, we did get bumps for each of the Google Drive companion apps: Docs, Sheets, and Slides. All three received minor interface adjustments, the more notable changes went solely to Docs, which also gained rich editing support in Office Compatibility Mode and the ability to insert links into Google Documents.

What's New

A new version of the Google Docs Android app is now available on Google Play. New features include:

  • Support for selecting, cutting, copying and pasting text along with images, tables, and charts in Office Compatibility Mode
  • Ability to insert links in Google documents

Left: old, Center + Right: new

The main functional changes are obvious from the changelog. It's now easier to move around rich content in Office Compatibility Mode with cut/copy/paste, and now there's an option to insert links into Google documents. The link feature is already present in the Sheets app, so this change has more to do with bringing Docs up to speed. Still, both of these changes are actually clearing up some fairly significant usability holes, so they are certainly welcome improvements.

2 x Left: old, 2 x Right: new

All three of the apps received a change to the action bar that traded positions for the toggle between list view and grid view. Taking the toggle's place is the Open document button. With the device in landscape mode, or viewed on a tablet, both buttons should appear; otherwise, the toggle will only be accessible through the overflow menu. This is definitely a minor change, but it makes a lot of sense from a usability perspective, since most people will need to open documents far more commonly than switch views.

Left: old, Right: new

Finally, for those that might be interested in revisiting the welcome screen, it's now possible in the updated Settings page. The options for About and Open source licenses have been replaced by Product Tour, which simply opens up the welcome screen as if the user is visiting it for the first time. The information found in the two removed links has been placed in the Help & Feedback item located near the bottom of the navigation drawer.

Download

The APK is signed by Google and upgrades your existing app. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is safe to install and was not tampered with in any way. Rather than wait for Google to push this download to your devices, which can take days, download and install it just like any other APK.

File name: com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.docs-1.4.072.10.35-50721035-minAPI14.apk

Version: 1.4.072.10.35 (50721035) (Android 4.0+)

MD5: 745e368dbb8103cee9f780bd5c77efda

File name: com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.slides-1.2.072.04.35-50720435-minAPI14.apk

Version: 1.2.072.04.35 (50720435) (Android 4.0+)

MD5: 67c7ebccde59671ca3ee4ad00364d7ad

File name: com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.sheets-1.4.072.02.34-50720234-minAPI14.apk

Version: 1.4.072.02.34 (50720234) (Android 4.0+)

MD5: a21a4db7fdaabce1fa3450e10f5b7230

Source: Google Apps Updates Blog