Google Files' 'Important' tab will be removed after February 15, 2024

Google will retire the ‘Important’ tab feature in its Files by Google app available on both Android and iOS soon. Introduced last year and exclusively available for devices in India, the ‘Important’ tab scans users’ phones to identify crucial documents such as passports, IDs, and other essential files.

This ‘Important’ tab feature inside Files by Google aligned well with the Indian government’s DigiLocker service. However, Google will remove this feature from the app in the next update scheduled for February 15, 2024. Users should make copies of their important files before the tab’s discontinuation.

Users of the ‘Important’ tab in Google Files can leverage the share option in the Files app

As noted by an APK Insight post from 9to5Google, a notice inside the app informs about the removal of the ‘Important’ tab, emphasizing that the feature will no longer be available after February 15, 2024. It further states, “Your saved documents in the ‘Important’ tab will be permanently deleted from Files after this date. To save a copy of your documents, use the Share option to do so before 15 February 2024.”

Users who have utilized the ‘Important’ tab feature should take note that they will no longer have access to all files stored under this category inside the Files app after the specified date. To safeguard their crucial documents, users can create copies before the impending removal. Google suggests utilizing the ‘Share’ option within the app to create copies of the stored documents inside the ‘Important’ tab.

In an effort to prevent users from losing their important documents, Google will also send out notifications to users, informing them about the impending shutdown of the ‘Important’ tab inside Files by Google. The notification may look something like “Files is removing the Important tab. Your saved documents in the Important tab will be deleted after 15 February 2024”