Google Improves Incompatibility Indicator on Its Online Services

  • 14-08-2022 |
  • Polad Aladi

Google developers improve the performance of their popular online services. Now, when collaborating in Docs, Sheets, or Slides on Microsoft Word documents, you’ll get a handy notification telling you exactly what’s wrong with a particular (incompatible) file.

Document incompatibility information has been displayed on Google services before. However, it is now more visual, and you have more options for further editing. You will be notified of compatibility issues as soon as you start working on a particular file. For example, Docs has a new blue box next to the document’s name, indicating its format. You can click on it and open a window with detailed information to find out why it appeared.

You can continue working with this document, knowing its problems and risks (for example, the formatting might not be preserved), or you can choose other options. Now you have a separate button that will help fix the problem. If you would like to learn more about this issue, you can follow the link provided, which contains additional information you may find useful.

If you missed the warning and have already made some changes to the incompatible file, you can reset them by reverting to the original copy in the “Version History.” The new “Restore” button is a faster option to undo all your edits. The abovementioned changes affect not only Docs but all Workspace services and accounts, including G Suite and even personal profiles. Together with the recent optimization of Google tools for large screens, all this makes them even more convenient for organizing collaboration.

This online services update has just rolled out, so it will take about two weeks to reach all regions. Please share your thoughts in the comments if you have already tried it. How often do you have to deal with incompatible files?