14 DAY TRIAL // The Google Docs team unveiled a great Android app a couple of months ago. For long-time Docs users, it was way overdue and greatly appreciated. But not everyone is going to have the Docs app installed and this is exactly when you need to browse your files or share a document with someone.
Luckily, there is the mobile website you can turn to and it has now gotten several new features, including the ability to share a file with colleagues or the world.
"Today, we've updated the look of Google Docs for mobile browsers and added the ability to sort, narrow, and share multiple docs in your mobile docs list," Hossein Attar, software engineer at Google wrote.
"To share from your mobile docs list, select one or more documents, press the Share button, and select Share, Get the link to share for public or unlisted docs, or Email as attachment," he explained.
You will notice that the Docs website has gotten a visual revamp as well. Considering that the mobile version looked outdated, this is a welcome change. The new site is much more 'app-like' with big buttons and less tiny links.
Since most Docs users, the ones that are going to need mobile access anyway, have hundreds of files, if not more, the fact that Google has only now added the ability to sort the file list in the mobile site seems like a big oversight.
You can sort files by name, the date of the last modification or the time they were last opened. You can also narrow down your list with several filters, to make it easier to find the documents you were looking for.
It probably goes without saying that the new website is only available for smartphones. Android 2.2 and above is supported. Older versions may work, but Google makes no guarantees. iOS devices, the iPhone and the iPad, running on iOS 3 and above also work.