Google Drive
Google says its Drive feature is a way to "store and access your files anywhere -- on the Web, on your hard drive or on the go." It's a cloud service that offers access from desktop and mobile devices.
Google offers 5 GB of storage for free; you can have 25 GB for $2.49 a month.
Drive synchronizes with Google Documents and its optical character recognition feature. Users can upload PDFs and convert them via OCR to Google Docs (you also can store PDFs in their original format). Drive replaces the Google Docs "Document List" feature but allows Docs collaboration as before.
Users can also install Drive to their systems or mobile devices, allowing the application to automatically sync files they're modified. Installation requires downloading a 334KB package. The Drive application requires about 68MB of hard drive space.
Product:
//Company:
//Version Tested:
//Cost:
Free-$2.49/month
//Open Sourced:
No
//Demo Available:
No
//Obsolete:
No
Our Reviews
Verdict:
OCR limits present significant constraints; useful for document sharing, management
Google Drive text recognition promising, but file size limits a problem
Google Drive is fast and simple to use, with precise searches and abundant memory for projects. But for all that storage capacity, the web-based service has severe file-size restrictions that pose significant problems for reporters, who often work with large documents.
READ OUR FULL REVIEW »Test Results
Verdict:
Converted text in most search targets accurately
Drive quickly recognizes text in scanned forms
Google Drive handled this test with relative ease, uploading and recognizing text in 174 political candidate disclosure forms in about 40 minutes.
READ OUR FULL TEST RESULT »Verdict:
Flawlessly converted small documents; didn't accept larger files
Google Drive flawless with scanned-in memos, but only if small files
Due to its file size limit, Google Drive was only able to recognize text in half the memos we tested from the Obama administration's Your Seat at the Table site.
READ OUR FULL TEST RESULT »Verdict:
Couldn't upload large file
Google Drive fails to convert large partial-text PDF
Google Drive failed completely in our attempt to recognize text in this list of executive branch reports required by Congress.
READ OUR FULL TEST RESULT »Verdict:
Can't handle large files, long documents; completely failed test
Drive chokes on large transcript files, fails to convert text
Google Drive couldn't get out of the starting gate in this test of combatant tribunal transcripts because of its file size restrictions.
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