Google loves iterating on software design, but it often takes some time for its new ideas to trickle down to all its products. The refreshed Material Design principles visible in applications like Gmail are present in some parts of Chrome OS, but not others. That’s changing soon, though, as the operating system’s decidedly stale Files browser is getting a refresh.
The current Chrome OS Files app atop the Settings app, which already sports the updated design.
The new app ditches the old gray backgrounds in favor of white, and adds the colored pill-shaped menu indicators seen elsewhere in the OS (and in Google’s other apps). It’s a pretty minor change, and seems to be entirely visual, but it’s a small step toward a more cohesive experience.
The new app. Image: Chrome Unboxed
If you’re on Chrome OS 82 (that’d be the Dev or Canary channels), you can get the new Files menu now by navigating to chrome://flags/#files-ng and flipping it to Enabled.
