Google Docs has a new feature for instant documents

Technological innovation can take the form of massive breakthroughs, such as driverless cars, but more often than not, it comes in the form of small features that make our lives easier and more productive. A new invention of Google Docs enters the latter category, but it's still not bad.

This feature allows you to avoid the tedious process of creating a new document by going to Google Drive, selecting "new", and specifying whether you want a new document, spreadsheet, or slide.

Now you can just type "doc.new" in your browser and, voila, the document is ready and ready to be typed. Similarly, you can enter "sheet.new" or "slide.new" if you want to start a new spreadsheet or slide.

Google Docs announced the feature on Twitter late last week:

The new productivity advantage is possible thanks to Google's decision, several years ago, to acquire a set of so-called top-level domains, notably the ".new" domain, which the company apparently dedicated to instant document creation.

Google has also configured the tool so that users can enter various expressions, such as "docs.new", "deck.new" or "spreadsheet.new", to call a document. (Of course, a user needs a Google account for this to work).

As TechCrunch notes, users are already asking Google to create more shortcuts such as "email.new" and "new.designs". It seems likely that the company will expand its offerings in the coming months.

The "new" feature is not a technology that will change the world, but it still offers a welcome way to increase productivity by 10 to 20 seconds each day.

Google launched Google Docs for the first time as a test feature in 2006 and has since significantly expanded the product. In recent years, the service has begun to challenge the all-powerful Microsoft Office suite as a mainstay of enterprise software.