Google Drive, Calendar updates make collaboration easier

Google Drive

It should be easier to collaborate in the digital world, but unfortunately with placeshifting, keeping track of what's been shared with you can sometimes be more burdensome than having someone walk into your office and hand you a stack of papers to look over.

Google is updating its Google Drive app to make sharing easier. Rather than having to dig through your email inbox to find out what's been shared with you, the iOS and Android apps now come with push notifications to alert you when you have a new file that's been shared with you.

You can also tap on the notification to jump directly to the Google Docs, Sheets or Slides file. Mobile users can also request access to open files, and the file owner can similarly grant access from their mobile devices.

Recover lost invitations

Google also updated its Calendar app to view and recover all your trashed events and invitations. Now, when you delete a calendar event, it's similar to moving the event to the trash or recycle bin. Until you empty out your refuse bin, you can quickly see what you've removed from your calendar.

"Trash is accessible from the calendar's dropdown menu in the My calendars section as well as from Calendar Settings," Google said in a blog post. "This functionality is available for both primary calendars and secondary calendars for which people have edit rights."

When you delete calendar items for the first time, Google will send you an email alerting you that your "event has been moved to the trash" along with details of the new feature.

Items in the trash bin for Google Calendar will be stored for thirty days. During this time, you can either permanently delete the item or you can restore deleted items, Google said in a message.

Unlike the update to the Drive apps, the calendar feature is web-only at this time. Hopefully, Google will also update its Calendar apps for iOS and Android with better trash integration.

For businesses deploying Google Apps, Google is also giving IT administrators access to users' trash containers by examining the Calendar Audits logs in the Admin console.

Google advised that the feature may take a few days to completely roll out to all users.