Google's new feature in Drive allows users to help with making comments for Microsoft Office files without requiring Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat Reader local applications or end-use licenses.

Organizations using Google Drive to hold and share files for the cloud surely have an easier ways to interact with Microsoft Office files, PDFs and image files.

Google offers a new feature in Drive that lets users make comments appropriate Microsoft Office files, and additional files without requiring Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat Reader local applications or end use licenses.

Staring now, Google Drive users could easily use the preview pane to individuals almost any file in Drive regardless of format. They're now able to receive replies in order to those comments from even a person who are not using G Suite, said Google Drive software engineer Eric Zhang, and product manager Birkan Icacan inside a blog Feb.7.

Comments manufactured in Drive Preview are currently exported onto the underlying file once users accessible the file they're now able to see the comments created Drive Preview, using the company. "Let's say your coworker opens information on her Windows laptop using MS Word, she will see your comment while in the file and are able to reply starting from there," Zhang and Icacan said.

Aside from making file-level comments in preview pane, users could also make inline or anchored comments considering the new feature. One example is, a user can highlight a sentence in a very Office Word document and attach a comment for it or the actual same with any cell in a Excel spreadsheet.

The commenting feature eliminates the requirement for users to unwrap up other tools in order to complete tasks. Instead, it can now open Word, Excel, PowerPoint and additional Microsoft Office files online Drive preview and also make comments, give feedback, assign tasks and collaborate in various ways.

The improved interoperability with Microsoft or other environments is very important in situations where project teams have got to work with heterogeneous files and tools to be work done, the 2 main Google engineers noted. Like, a project team that has to collaborate with a external agency, or simply trying to negotiate legal contract with a client or preparing specifications will demand the ability to face multiple file formats with minimal disruption.

Your new ability to comment in Drive's preview pane is simply one example of the growing interoperability between Google's G Suite lineup of office productivity tools and Microsoft's Office application suite, Icacan and Zhang said.

To add, Google has a Drive plug-in looking for easier for users to avoid an attachment in a Outlook email to generate or insert files from Drive for Outlook email. Similarly, users also have also the ability to convert a Microsoft Office file into a Google Docs, Slides, or Sheets file. Moreover a previously available Office Compatibility Mode feature lets users edit Office files and not having to fully convert the theifs to a Google format, they added.

The fresh new feature can be contacted on all G Suite editions.