Using Google Docs and Drive on Android tablets is about to get a lot better

Ahead of tablet improvements coming to Android 13, Google has rolled out Workspace improvements for “Android’s larger screens”

Choices are limited when it comes to Android tablets but there are a few like Lenovo’s Yoga Tab and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra that take on Apple’s iPad Pro.

Google might turn the tide on the lack of Android tablets in 2022 after it abandoned the Pixel Slate in 2019. Recent improvements have come via Android 12L

version of Android 12 for tablets and foldable devices — and the upcoming Android 13, which is currently in beta. Google in May revealed it is making a Pixel Tablet but it likely won’t be released until 2023.

The Workspace updates bring improvements to Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Keep that make sense on “larger screen” Androids, including drag and drop functionality, keyboard shortcut support, and a side-by-side view of Drive windows. 

“Earlier this year Android introduced 12L, a software update to make devices with bigger screens, like tablets, easier to use. At I/O, we shared plans to update more than 20 Google apps on tablets to take full advantage of the extra space on those bigger screens,” says Scott Blanksteen, senior director of product management on Android.

The Workspace updates bring improvements to Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Keep that make sense on “larger screen” Androids, including drag and drop functionality, keyboard shortcut support, and a side-by-side view of Drive windows. 

“Earlier this year Android introduced 12L, a software update to make devices with bigger screens, like tablets, easier to use. At I/O, we shared plans to update more than 20 Google apps on tablets to take full advantage of the extra space on those bigger screens,” says Scott Blanksteen, senior director of product management on Android.

To get started, today we are making Google Workspace apps even better on Android’s larger screens with updates to Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Keep.”

Android tablet users can now use drag-and-drop functionality for multitasking between Docs, Sheets, and Drive. Users can now drag text or images from Chrome or Sheets and drop them into an existing Docs document or Sheets spreadsheet cell and vice versa.