The team behind Google's document editor apps has been on a roll over the last few weeks as regular updates continue to refine the user experience. New versions of Docs, Sheets, and Slides made their way out over the last few days – and while not packing significant functional changes, there are some pleasant improvements to the interface. If you're eager to see the new changes for yourself, and you haven't received these updates through the Play Store yet, there are convenient download links posted below.

What's New

Left: old, Right: new

While there aren't any new features to speak of, one commonly used option is a little more accessible now. The 'Keep on device' toggle that allows users to flag a file to always store a local copy has been added to the document overflow menu (open a document and tap on the menu button at the top-right).

This toggle is already available elsewhere in Docs, Sheets, and Slides, including the main document browser users see at launch, and in the Details screen accessible through the same overflow menu. Not that the other two aren't perfectly logical, but this overflow menu seems like a natural place for users to look for an option to keep a permanent local copy of a doc handy.

Left: old, Right: new

A purely visual change has also been added in response to taps on the New Document FAB button, but it's actually a good step for usability. Now, when the FAB expands into multiple options, a full white overlay covers the document chooser instead of just a gradient in the lower right corner. This ensures that the text remains readable and clear. It also looks cleaner and more elegant. There's also an advantage to scalability if Google inserts additional buttons in the expanded FAB in the future. Note: the expanded FAB can only be seen if Word documents (or Excel / Powerpoint) are enabled in Settings, otherwise the FAB launches directly into creating a document for Drive.

These are the only changes that I could find; but if any more turn up, please let us know in the comments.

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-1.4.112.11.35-51121135-minAPI14.apk

Version: 1.4.112.11.35 (51121135)

MD5: 11cd58e71068288c42c19a9e13aed099

File Name: com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.sheets-1.4.112.10.36-51121036-minAPI14.apk

Version: 1.4.112.10.36 (51121036)

MD5: e31a2607b8c751df58aad3cd20afdd6d

File Name: com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.slides-1.2.112.08.35-51120835-minAPI14.apk

Version: 1.2.112.08.35 (51120835)

MD5: 0bb05117352191187a989193d75263d0