Got Gmail? You can now save attachments directly to Google Drive

By Konrad Krawczyk November 12, 2013

gmail update google drive upload download attachment2 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

We’re pretty sure you’ve done this dance before. You have Gmail attachments you want to put up on Google Drive, but you first need to download them to your machine and then upload them to your Google Drive account. Rinse and repeat. This is a huge annoyance if you’re uploading lots of files, but much like the Lindy Hop and the Harlem Shake, this dance will soon be a thing of the past, according to an official Google blog post.

The blog post, which was written by Scott Johnston, Director of Product Management, states that with a new update to Gmail that is currently being rolled out, users will be able to save attachments directly to their Google Drive account from emails that contain them. When you open emails in Gmail after the update hits, any attachments in that email will contain a preview image of those attachments. By simply hovering your mouse pointer over one of these preview images, you’ll get two options: either download to your machine or save directly to Google Drive. Clicking on a photo or document will bring up a full-screen version of it.

Though the Google blog post makes it seem like the feature is currently available to all, Johnston says later on in the post that the update to Gmail is rolling out “over the next week.” So, sooner or later, the days of you having to download attachments just to upload them to Google Drive will be history.

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Konrad Krawczyk

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Konrad covers desktops, laptops, tablets, sports tech and subjects in between for Digital Trends. Prior to joining DT, he…

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