Google Drive, the tech giant’s primary cloud storage platform, received its Material 3 Expressive facelift a few months ago, but one aspect of the app didn’t lose its OG appearance: the app’s scan editor.
Essentially just a screen that you see when you’re done scanning a document, the new UI highlights a larger scan preview, with additional changes that bring more expressive elements to the screen to make fine-tuning a newly-scanned document a more visually appealing task.
The change doesn’t necessarily make the app any better than it already was, but it does add consistency to the tech giant’s suite of apps and services, which have all received similar redesigns in recent weeks and months.
Highlighted by Google in a new blog post (via 9to5Google), the app’s actual camera scanner UI remains the same. The change is limited to the UI you see when you’re done scanning a document, offering a more visually appealing editing workflow.
New interface, same functionality
Old (left), new (right)
The most evident change, as seen in the screenshots above, is the move from a half-screen preview to a larger, 3/4th screen one. Swiping on the large previews lets you switch between scanned pages, while a smaller page thumbnail viewer permanently sits at the bottom to let you switch between distant pages in one tap.
Said thumbnails take the place of the previous bottom-aligned toolbar, which has now been relocated to the spot right under the preview. Unlike its previous implementation, the toolbar now sits within a carousel, with each tool sporting its own pill-shaped button. The Gemini ‘enhance‘ button, which was previously located on the scan preview, now has its own pill within the toolbar.
The UI change is now rolling out to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. It should be widely visible within the next 15 days.
