Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Files by Google is getting ready some upgrades to its inside PDF viewer.
- Right now, the app’s PDF assist is bare-bones, with exterior apps like Drive doing the heavy lifting.
- These upgrades will seemingly be unique to Android 15.
Despite all their complexity and faults, PDFs are nonetheless one thing of a contemporary miracle, letting us share digital paperwork as straightforward as we’d hand somebody a paper. But the instruments we use to entry them aren’t created equally, and despite the fact that PDF files could also be virtually common, reader and editor apps fluctuate wildly of their characteristic units. Right now we’re what Google’s been as much as that would carry some further performance to the PDF viewer constructed into the Files by Google app.
An APK teardown helps predict options which will arrive on a service sooner or later based mostly on work-in-progress code. However, it’s doable that such predicted options might not make it to a public launch.
Files by Google most likely isn’t the app you instantly consider when needing to work with PDF paperwork on Android. But in a pinch, the file supervisor makes it straightforward to tug up any PDF you’ve downloaded for a fast look. On most of our telephones, although, there’s a little bit of a trick going on right here, and should you’ve additionally received Drive put in, Files will faucet it on the shoulder for somewhat help with displaying PDFs. By leaning on Drive’s PDF viewer, Files by Google is ready to supply options like zooming, textual content choice, and even search.
But proper now, Files by Google can’t do any of that on its personal. On a tool with out Drive (for no matter motive), the app presents very, very restricted PDF assist — you’ll be able to view paperwork, entire web page by entire web page, and that’s about it.
Looking on the new Files by Google 1.4955.677425801.0-release beta launch, we’re in a position to activate some new options for the app’s inside PDF viewer. Those embody zoom, textual content choice, and search, in addition to the power to open even password-protected PDFs.
Notably, these new options solely appear to work when operating the app on Android 15 programs, and we weren’t in a position to set off them on Android 14. There’s most likely motive for that, although, as Android 15 delivers upgrades to the platform’s PdfRenderer APIs that ship simply the type of options we’re seeing right here. In truth, we wouldn’t be shocked if we begin seeing different apps equally getting a PDF improve as Android 15 spreads.