Google adds ability to save attachments to Drive in Gmail

Google launched a new feature for Gmail users today that lets them save email attachments directly in their Drive account without ever leaving Gmail. It’s been possible to view attachments within Gmail messages for some time now, but the Drive integration makes it possible to save the attachments without downloading them to your computer. Users can view pictures and other files in full-screen preview windows when they click on them.

This new feature is more convenient for Drive users — saving an attachment to Drive makes it instantly accessible from a variety of devices, including smartphones and tablets — but it also makes it easier for Google to keep you within the Gmail browser window and sell more Drive storage. Those that use desktop email apps or other clients to access their Gmail won’t be able to save files to Drive in the same manner, for instance. Google says that the feature will be rolling out to Gmail users over the next week.