Does it count as a new idea if it’s been around for ages? Google Docs has introduced an all-new feature — if you’re just looking at Docs. It’s been around in other apps for ages — Firefox, Chrome, and Microsoft Excel. Basically, anything coded after 2008…
We’re talking about tabs, of course. Odds are you’re reading this article in one. That magically innovative feature is headed to your Google-hosted documents. Why? More effective document navigation. We’re sure it doesn’t make it easier for Gemini to read your work or anything.
What’s up, Google Docs?
The stated reason for adding document tabs to Google Docs is to “help you organize longer documents, centralize information, and make collaboration easier.” Those all seem like great things to have if you’re a Docs user looking to improve their efficiency. No amount of switching-between-info functionality will help some users — the kind who lump everything into a lumbering mega-document that might destroy an entire company if it’s ever deleted — but there’s hope for the rest of us.
Provided you’re in sales, management, or possibly HR. Those are the careers Google has chosen to highlight what’s possible with the new tabs feature but it all boils down to subdividing information so it’s easier to access pertinent data. It’s not just confined to a few tabs, either. The feature will allow for sub-tabs, meaning you could drill down information until your document looks like a CD Projekt RED dialogue tree.
Tabs will open a left-hand pane that will make navigation even easier and users also have the option to assign emoji to each tab to somehow signify what it’s all about. Google’s feature will offset everyone’s diminished long-form information processing capacities from today, with a full rollout expected to take until about 24 October. If you don’t have it now, you’ll have it soon.