You can now save Gmail attachments directly to Google Drive, effectively eliminating the need to download.

Google understands that downloading email attachments is sometimes a pain. They take up space on a hard drive, get lost in download folders, etc. But not anymore. Google has added an alternative option. Now, when you load an email with attachments in Gmail, you'll see preview thumbnails of the attachments, and hovering over each one will reveal all the download options.

The down arrow symbol represents the traditional way of downloading and saving files to your computer. The new Google Drive symbol, well, you guessed it, allows you to save to Google Drive. You can even choose subfolder or create a new folder in your Drive account.

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Clicking on a preview thumbnail reveals a full-screen view of the image or document, where you can then read, search for a particular phrase or browse through multiple attachments right in Gmail. This functionality works with photos, videos, spreadsheets, PDFS and more.

If you don't want to save each file individually, you can simply choose an option from the little row of symbols above the preview thumbnails on the right-hand side. The best part about this new integration is that - with Google Drive - you can access all saved attachments from any computer or mobile device.

Gmail's new attachment experience for desktops is rolling out over the next week.