A more modern interface for viewing PDFs, videos, images, and audio files in Google Drive on the web

What’s changing

Google Drive is making significant improvements to the viewing experience of third party file formats, such as PDFs, videos, images, and audio files. With this launch, we are modernizing the interface to include:

• A new left rail for PDFs which will include a table of contents (where applicable) and thumbnails for easier navigation of documents
• A new file menu
• A new toolbar and app bar
• An option to search by transcript when looking at a video

This modernization will make it easier for Google Workspace users to navigate documents, and will be particularly useful for large documents.

New Drive Web Viewing Experience for PDFs

Getting started

• Admins: This feature will be on by default. There is no admin control for this feature.
• End users: This feature will be on by default. You will see it when you open a supported file format in a new tab in Google Drive on the web. Use our Help Center to learn more about how to use Google Drive. 

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release domains: Available now
• Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility starting on December 11, 2025

Availability

• Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts