Google Docs Previews Make Sense Of Docs Links

You may get a lot of Google Docs links emailed to you, but their URLs tell you nothing about what’s inside. A new Gmail Labs feature shows you the name and a text preview of Docs files shared via Gmail.

The Docs previews, enabled by heading to your Labs beaker icon or in Settings, is in line with the YouTube, Flickr, Picasa and Yelp preview Labs, giving you a cursory glance at what you’re being linked to. Hit “Show Preview” and a simple text or cellular spreadsheet preview drops in beneath the attachment link.

Given that Docs is a realm less vigilantly guarded for spam, and one in which the URLs are fairly indecipherable, there are probably very few negatives to getting a reassurance that what you’re being asked to look at is really what you’re looking at—and that it’s worth your time to download or read in full.

New in Labs: Google Docs previews [Official Gmail Blog]