Google improves Drive accessibility by enabling first-letters navigation

 

Gif Credit: Google Workspace Updates

Google has introduced first-letters navigation in Drive, a feature designed to streamline how users interact with files. This new functionality allows users to navigate through file lists more efficiently by simply pressing the initial letter or letters of the file's name. Repeating the letter will move the focus to the next item that begins with the same letter.

To support this new functionality, Google is moving existing single-letter shortcuts in Drive to multi-key shortcuts. Users interested in adopting the new shortcuts can activate them starting today. This can be done either through a notification banner within Drive or by navigating to Drive settings under "Keyboard shortcuts" and selecting "Update now."

To view all shortcuts, click on "Keyboard shortcuts" under the gear icon in the top right corner of Google Drive. To navigate a doclist with a keypress, type the first letter or first few letters of the file’s name to navigate to files starting with those letters. 

The full transition to first-letters navigation will be automatically completed for all users by August 1, 2024. Post-update, you will see these shortcuts displayed in menus and when hovering over toolbars within Drive. For a comprehensive view of all available shortcuts, users can access the "Keyboard shortcuts" option from the gear icon located in the top right corner of Google Drive.

This feature is rolling out to Rapid Release domains and will be visible gradually over 15 days starting April 30, 2024. For Scheduled Release domains, a similar gradual rollout will commence on May 22, 2024.

The updated keyboard shortcuts and first-letters navigation are available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts.