Files by Google’s new carousel brings your recent files front and center

Summary

• The Files by Google app has rolled out a new Recents panel design that presents files in a carousel format with previews, making it easier to find specific items.
• You can tap on files in the carousel for a full-screen view, or swipe to see recent screenshots, downloads, and camera photos.
• The UI update includes a three-dot menu button on each carousel item for sharing, deleting, or starring files.

Google made some nifty changes to its Files by Google app earlier this month. The file management application, which was launched back in 2017, makes it easy to find files on your device with auto-categorization of downloads, images, videos, audio, documents, and more. It’s ease of use, paired with a straightforward design, Quick Share support, duplicate spotting capabilities, and more, have earned it a spot among some of the best file manager apps on the market.

Its most recent update revealed that the tech giant is working on bringing compression functionality to the app, alongside an option to pin folders to your Collections. Although the functionality hasn’t gone live yet, a different UI tweak has.

The Recents panel, which shows up right at the top of the app’s home screen, now presents itself as a rectangular carousel with rounded edges, as spotted by 9to5Google.

This replaces the old 2×2 view of the folders within Recents, which you had to tap to view the contents inside. The updated view allows you to swipe the carousel to see all recent screenshots, downloads, camera photos, and more, complete with a preview of the file, its name, and file type/extension. Tapping the file itself also gives you a full-screen view of it.

A more intuitive design

The carousel shows you your 10 most recent items, with a See all button situated right above it to give you access to older files. Additional functionality includes a new three dot menu on each carousel that will allow you to share, delete, or ‘star’ the file. It’s likely that many will find this design to be better than its predecessor, considering that you can see big previews of files without having to open a dedicated folder first. The file’s name being mentioned on the carousel should also make it easier to spot specific files at a glance.

Elsewhere, we know that Google is planning to move the Collections folder on the home screen higher and replace the Categories section. However, just like the missing compress and pin to collections feature, the minor UI change doesn’t appear to be live yet.

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The Recents UI tweak is now available to try out with Files by Google 1.4374.656266854.0.