Google Docs hasn’t been available for Android devices for long, but Google is already pushing out a rather huge update to its document editing app. Among the major changes are support for Android L, and support for editing and saving Word documents, a feature that recently made it to the Google Drive app and was announced at Google I/O.
For those unaware, the inclusion of support for Word documents in Docs is part of Google’s plan to shutter QuickOffice for Android (and iOS) and replace it with the dedicated Docs, Sheets, and Slides apps. Thanks to the update, you can now create a new document directly as a Word file, and also send existing documents in PDF or Word format.
There are quite a few other changes as well, including a new editing interface and a less cluttered action bar, with some of the icons moved into the navigation drawer. There’s also a new floating document button (for creating new documents), new details page for files, the ability to open files from the device storage, and improved spellcheck and corrections.
The update bumps the version number of Docs to 1.3.251.9 – the update doesn’t seem to have gone live on the Play Store just yet, and when it does, you can expect to be waiting for a few days before it becomes available for everyone. For those who don’t like to play the waiting game and would like to update manually, a link to the new version’s APK file is below.
Update: A similar update is rolling out for the Google Sheets app as well, which adds support for editing native Excel files, Android L compatibility, option to insert formulas after selecting it from a list, charts, auto-fill, and all the interface changes that are present in the Docs update. Grab the APK from below, or wait for the update to hit the Play Store. (Google Slides probably won’t be getting updated, as it was only recently launched and includes all the features introduced in Docs and Sheets.)
