Dropbox had a major role in making cloud storage popular. Unfortunately, the company still gives only 2GB of storage for a free account, an amount which has long since been surpassed by Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive. The service has managed to retain many loyal consumers, and now, it's getting integration with Google's cloud productivity tools: Docs, Sheets, Slides, Hangouts, and Gmail.
The company announced a partnership with Google Drive on Thursday with the aim of delivering a "more unified home for work." Dropbox is planning to develop a series of cross-platform integrations connecting Google's G Suite cloud productivity tools (Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Hangouts) with its global collaboration platform.
Dropbox states that these integrations will be made available for all users, which will result in users being able to create, open, and edit Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files that are stored in Dropbox. Users will have the option to open and edit compatible files directly in Docs, Sheets, and Slides. It's worth noting that the company launched the same integration for Microsoft Office users in 2014. Also, Dropbox Business administrators will be able to manage Docs, Sheets, and Slides files like any other content that is stored in the cloud storage service.
That's not all, though. The company will develop additional native G Suite integrations with Gmail and Hangouts Chat (that was made generally available to G Suite users this week), which is said to help teams keep project content connected with the conversations that involve it. The new Gmail add-ons will allow users to select and generate Dropbox file links from directly within Gmail. Users can also choose to see metadata on Dropbox content in Gmail including date created, last saved, and last accessed.
The new Hangouts Chat integration, on the other hand, will allow users to search for, share, and preview Dropbox files in Hangouts.
"We want to make it easy for our users to work across devices with the tools they love," Tony Lee (VP of Engineering at Dropbox) stated. "This partnership with Google Cloud is one more way we're creating a unified home for content and the conversations around it. We're excited to work with Google to break down silos and centralize the information teams rely on every day."
The company stated that it expects these integrations to be available starting in the second half of 2018. When the integrations go live, Dropbox users who use G Suite will have a better experience as they won't need to jump back-and-forth between two apps. It will bring Google's productivity suite up to par with Microsoft Office in terms of integration with the cloud storage provider.