Workspace PDF Improvements

MY CONTRIBUTION

UX Lead

I defined UX strategy for PDF improvements. I set high-level direction, collaborated with UXD/VisD, Defined information architecture framework

Delivering 6 major featurescontributed to delivering 6 major features, and designing 6 additional features for future milestones.

IMPACT

BUSINESS GOALS

Part of Drive’s 2025 strategy is to improve the consumption experience for 3rd party file types, including of PDFs.

CONTEXT

Drive has long supported viewing PDFs but hasn't made consequential updates to its PDF experience in years. Drive is adding table stake features allowing users to fill out forms, easily navigate, edit, and annotate PDFs without leaving Drive.

PDF METRICS

1.7 billion weekly views

1st most commonly viewed file types across Workspace

Drive is missing table stake features

APPROACH

Two part approach

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

To accommodate a rapidly expanding roadmap, I designed a scalable information architecture framework. This system ensured that new features could be integrated seamlessly without disrupting the core user experience as the product evolved

Defined taxonomy into categories and insert tools with a team card-sorting exercise, bridging Google Slides patterns with PDF-specific user needs.

Leveraging Workspace precedents for navigation and collaboration; focusing design optimization strictly on viewing and markup toolbar positioning

I organized an information architecture alignment session with Google Slides. They were also proposing a new IA strategy that I wanted to adopt.

I presented two directions to leadership. We moved forward with
option 2 — a familiar “Editor-aligned” system.

While I personally felt the Editor toolbar was dated and potentially overwhelming, having a familiar system will increase adoption.

Defined principles to help drive product decisions

I successfully advocated for a unified navigation system across all files types in the File Viewer, no just PDFs. By standardizing menus and toolbars into a scalable framework, we could deliver a cohesive navigation for third party files types across all of Workspace.

The navigation focused on — files menus & toolbars.

TOOLBAR

Partnering with Video and eSignature UX leads, I led the design convergence of our tools into a standardized system. By aligning with the Workspace design system, I future-proofed the navigation architecture and leveraged familiar mental models to ensure seamless platform consistency.

Short-term

Long-term

FILE MENUS

The existing file menu had problems to solve

I conducted a comprehensive audit of the File Menu to map cross-surface and file inconsistencies.

From these findings, I established a unified taxonomy—standardizing groupings, iconography, and keyboard shortcuts to ensure a predictable user experience.

Define principles for when to hide, display, or disable a menu items

Hide a menu items if it’s:

Disable a menu item if :

Utilized existing menu components and Editor’s established information architecture

TABLE STAKE FEATURES

To meet an aggressive roadmap by delivering 12 features,
I prioritized ecosystem familiarity over bespoke components.

By aligning core interactions—such as zoom and grid views—with established Workspace and Chrome patterns, we accelerated development while ensuring immediate user proficiency

Table stake features

We explored designs for 12 features to help leadership and cross-functional partners define a multi-year vision and roadmap.

I created a prototype to evaluate opening, navigating, viewing, and editing features.

The findings were positive

I iterated on the save button to clarify intention — this experience was understood in a follow up study

CONSTRAINTS

At this point, we learned that engineering underestimated feature development time due to legacy platform limitation, so — we had to reduce scope for MVP.

I partnered with XFN leads to redefine the MVP scope. We prioritized a robust viewing experience to maintain our launch timeline, ensuring a high-quality foundation while strategically deferring editing features.

RE-SCOPING EXERCISE

To determined what features to priority by triangulating user priority, product priority, and eng cost.

MVP included:

REFINE DESIGN

We refined the visual, motion, and accessibility design

LAUNCH

PDFs in Drive

Workspace PDF Improvements

UX Lead

I defined UX strategy for PDF improvements. I set high-level direction, collaborated with UXD/VisD, Defined information architecture framework

Delivering 6 major featurescontributed to delivering 6 major features, and designing 6 additional features for future milestones.

1.7 Billion weekly views

CSAT: Increased satisfaction by +20% to 74%

DSAT: Decreased disatisfaction by 7% to 12%

Part of Drive’s 2025 strategy is to improve the consumption experience for 3rd party file types, including of PDFs.

Drive has long supported viewing PDFs but hasn't made consequential updates to its PDF experience in years. Drive is adding table stake features allowing users to fill out forms, easily navigate, edit, and annotate PDFs without leaving Drive.

1.7 billion weekly views

1st most commonly viewed file types across Workspace

Drive is missing table stake features

Two part approach

Information architecture

Tablestake features

To accommodate a rapidly expanding roadmap, I designed a scalable information architecture framework. This system ensured that new features could be integrated seamlessly without disrupting the core user experience as the product evolved

Defined taxonomy into categories and insert tools with a team card-sorting exercise, bridging Google Slides patterns with PDF-specific user needs.

Leveraging Workspace precedents for navigation and collaboration; focusing design optimization strictly on viewing and markup toolbar positioning

I organized an information architecture alignment session with Google Slides. They were also proposing a new IA strategy that I wanted to adopt.

I presented two directions to leadership. We moved forward with option 2 — a familiar “Editor-aligned” system.

While I personally felt the Editor toolbar was dated and potentially overwhelming, having a familiar system will increase adoption.

Defined principles to help drive product decisions

I successfully advocated for a unified navigation system across all files types in the File Viewer, no just PDFs. By standardizing menus and toolbars into a scalable framework, we could deliver a cohesive navigation for third party files types across all of Workspace.

The navigation focused on — files menus & toolbars.

Partnering with Video and eSignature UX leads, I led the design convergence of our tools into a standardized system. By aligning with the Workspace design system, I future-proofed the navigation architecture and leveraged familiar mental models to ensure seamless platform consistency.

Short-term

Long-term

The existing file menu had problems to solve

Actions aren’t easily discoverable

There are missing features, like “Make a copy”

The menus are inconsistent across Overlay and Standalone file viewer

I conducted a comprehensive audit of the File Menu to map cross-surface and file inconsistencies.

From these findings, I established a unified taxonomy—standardizing groupings, iconography, and keyboard shortcuts to ensure a predictable user experience.

Define principles for when to hide, display, or disable a menu items

Hide a menu items if it’s:

A file specific actions e.g. Closed captions

An admin enabled feature e.g. Label

For commercial users e.g. Approvals

If not possible in viewing/editing mode, hide as viewer (TBD)

Disable a menu item if :

The user doesn’t have permission to perform the action on all files

User setting prevents the action e.g. individual rights management —copy, download, print

Utilized existing menu components and Editor’s established information architecture

The Editors recently updated their file menus. To keep navigation familiar we aligned with their IA, language, and icons

Utilized Drive’s existing menu component for the menus

To meet an aggressive roadmap by delivering 12 features, I prioritized ecosystem familiarity over bespoke components.

By aligning core interactions—such as zoom and grid views—with established Workspace and Chrome patterns, we accelerated development while ensuring immediate user proficiency

Table stake features

Two page view

Grid view

Table of content

Thumbnail preview

Zoom improvements

Present mode

Rotate pages

Rearrange pages

Join PDF

Extract PDF

Markup – text, shape, line, signature

Form filling

We explored designs for 12 features to help leadership and cross-functional partners define a multi-year vision and roadmap.

I created a prototype to evaluate opening, navigating, viewing, and editing features.

The findings were positive

Information architecture and almost all icons made sense

100% task completion across almost all features

I presented two directions to leadership. We moved forward with
option 2 — a familiar “Editor-aligned” system.

To meet an aggressive roadmap by delivering 12 features,
I prioritized ecosystem familiarity over bespoke components.