Announcing Version 2 of the Google Drive SDK

by Mike Procopio, Software Engineer, on behalf of the Google Drive SDK team

In April, we announced the first version of the Google Drive SDK along with a range of Drive apps. Built using the SDK, these apps bring life to the files people store in Google Drive. Today at Google I/O, we're announcing the next version of the Google Drive SDK with a number of updates including an expanded API, a simplified developer experience and mobile app support.

The new Drive API exposes all standard file operations as well as methods to list and search files, convert between formats, copy files, manage revisions, and share files with users. The API is based on open standards, including a RESTful service architecture, JSON data exchange format, and OAuth2 for authorization. And with a simplified design and drop-in client libraries available in eight languages, using the API has never been easier.

Users want to access their files in Drive from anywhere. Today, we're announcing full mobile support for Android and iOS apps using the Drive SDK. Mobile apps can securely use the Drive API to read and write files directly to Google Drive. Users can also "Open with" on mobile devices to view or edit content from their phone or tablet just like they do on the web. (Installation of apps via the Chrome Web Store is no longer required.)

We also introduced several new features for Drive apps for the web. Google Drive makes it easy to share files, and we’re bringing sharing to your apps with the familiar Drive sharing box. With just a few lines of JavaScript added to your app, users can share their files with the new embeddable sharing component. Also, users can now open Google document formats in any app that supports one of the many export formats available. For example, an app that faxes PDFs can now fax a Google document, spreadsheet, or presentation directly.

Finally, there are a handful of great new Drive apps that will soon join the many apps already available today. These new apps range from mobile photo editors for cropping photos on your phone to a web-based IDE for slingin' code in the cloud.

Want to make your application work with Google Drive? Full documentation on the Google Drive SDK is available at developers.google.com/drive, or if you're itching to start building, head to our Getting Started guide. Our team is on Stack Overflow to answer any questions you have when integrating your app with Google Drive.


Mike Procopio is a Software Engineer for Google Drive, focusing on all things Drive apps. He gets to leverage his passion for the developer and user experience by working on the next-generation APIs that help unleash Google Drive. Before joining Google in 2010, he was a machine learning researcher, and enjoys engaging in illuminating statistical discussions at every opportunity.

Posted by Scott Knaster, Editor