Recently Google Docs and Spreadsheets got a hefty upgrade. On the visual side of things, the list now features more icons, more content and more ways to organize stuff. Folders also debut in this release, and not surprisingly, this one has been one of the most requested feature. The document search now features a search-ahead feature not unlike the one you see in Google suggest. This guide aims to reorient you to the new look and the new way of doing things with folders and the added organizational tools.

To start, below is the screenshot of the the new Documents List.

The new document list has four main parts: the new smart sidebar, an enhanced toolbar on the top, the search (which is worth noting because of the suggest feature) and the main content which contains a context-sensitive list of your documents.

The Sidebar

The sidebar is the most noticeable addition to the documents list and this is your main way of organizing your documents. Similar to the iTunes sidebar, what you see on the main pane will depend on the item you select on the sidebar.

The sidebar has four (4) main sections:

1. All Items, which by default lists all your documents, and three additional views: documents you created, starred documents and the trash.
2. Then there’s the folder section which gives you different folder views. A brief note on the folder concept: this is what tags has become, so it acts more like them. A document can exist in one or more folders at any given time. Either way, you will be working on a single copy of your document.
3. The Items by type section allows you to view all your documents of a particular type: whether a spreadsheet or a document.
4. The last section is the sharing node, where you can see a list of all the people that you are sharing a document (or more) with.

The sidebar works just like how you expect it: selecting one of its many views gives you a smart list of documents on the main pane based on the view that you selected. This makes moving around your documents a lot easier and more convenient.

You can also drag your documents to some items in the sidebar, initiating an appropriate response to your action. For example, you can move your documents around folders by dragging them to the appropriate folder in the sidebar. You can also “star” documents by dragging them to the starred documents view.

We will continue with the guide on the next post.