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Balsamiq Mockups Now Integrates with Google Drive!

Sep 2017 UPDATE: We have released a new version of Balsamiq for Google Drive. It includes our Balsamiq Wireframes editor, and can be installed from here. I have updated the post below with the new link.


Hello friends!

In case you missed it, Google just released Google Drive, their new storage and collaboration offering in the cloud.

We've been using it for a couple of months over here, and it's really awesome. You can get to all your files from any device, it all syncs automagically.

What's especially cool in Google Drive are the super-powerful sharing abilities: you can share files and folders with another person, a group of people, everyone on your Google Apps domain, or the whole world. If you've used Google Docs in the past, you know what I'm talking about. Except now you can save ANY kind of file in there, the first 5Gb are free and Google Docs files don't count against your quota. Sweet.

Another feature that really stands out to us is Drive's extensibility. You can create and edit documents directly from Google Drive, using in-browser applications.

When Google approached us to see if we would be interested in integrating Balsamiq Mockups with Google Drive, we jumped at the chance. It's been a couple of months in the making, but we're proud to release it to you today!

Balsamiq Mockups for Google Drive is available on the Chrome Web Store, and it works on all modern browsers.

There's a free 7-day, fully-functional trial. After the trial you'll have to sign up for a paid plan ($5/month or $50/year) to continue to save your mockups with the app, but you'll still be able to view them.


The editor is the one you know and love from the other versions of Balsamiq Mockups, but it's a little more limited in its feature set (linking, image upload and symbols are not supported right now). As usual, we wanted to get something useful out the door quickly, then listen to your feedback to help us prioritize what to work on next. We plan on improving the app FAST, don't worry. Use it for a while and tell us what you think! We're all ears.


Here's a few links (updated to the latest version in 2017):

One of our goals as a company is to be there where you need us, not to force you to work in a specific way in order to use our software.

Mockups for Google Drive brings us closer to that goal. We hope it will help you and your team design better software, and have fun doing it!

Onward!

Peldi for the Balsamiq Team

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Comments (23)

  1. Really want links and images.

  2. Another vote for mybalsamiq + Gdrive + Google Apps integration. I want to pay a monthly fee like mybalsamiq but have the storage and sharing handled through Gdrive/Google Apps

    Mark Sears
  3. it’s nearly useless without linking. please integrate this…

  4. This is excellent. I just shared a series of wireframes with staff at another location and as I made balsamiq adjustments based on our real-time conversation, the visuals updated immediately for everyone to see. Awesome.

    Sherrie Gossett
  5. Links functionality on Google Drive is a must. This, and the Sketch Skin are the keys to your success, Balsamiq. So, don’t jabber about the clouds and storage, add the missing functionality, quick quick! Your product is the best on the market.

  6. I’m loving this product! Once you can link and save symbols, this will be my go to wireframing tool!

    Anthony
  7. Fabrizio, not yet. The Google Drive version using the web editor only allows the basic editing without links now. If you are using Google Drive as cloud storage with Desktop, you can of course create links. We want to do links in the web-based editor in the future.

  8. Hi, is it me or it’s not possible to use the linking features in Gdrive version?

    fabrizio
  9. Hi, Sven. The Google Drive plugin that lets you use the web service in a browser is a separate product and carries a monthly fee.

    You can use Google Drive to store your files in the cloud for free (up to your given storage limits) and just use as a cloud drive with Desktop, however. Not sure if that’s of interest to you. myBalsamiq should provide more functionality than the Drive version, which only lets you edit single files, and doesn’t let you use advanced features like symbols yet.

  10. Hi, we are using the desktop und web version of BM. Do we have to pay extra for the app?

  11. Hi, Tony. When you export to PNG you have to go back to the folder where you saved your Mockup in Google Drive. You’ll see your PNG there.

  12. Hi. I installed the 7 day trial today. So far so good, except when i try to export to PNG, I get a back box telling me “Mockup Exported”, but it is not clickable. I cannot find where the image has saved to.

  13. Excellent! I second Daniel with his request. As a myBalsamiq user, and a Google Apps user, I’d love to see both services integrated with each other, being able to share mockups of myBalsamiq from Docs. Sending it by mail, sharing, and so on. Great work!

    Alejandro
  14. Hi Tomas, I’m going to make a video and write a doc about it, but it totally works if you install the Google Drive sync app and store your bmmls in your local Google Drive folder. People using Mockups for Google Drive will be able to see your mockups, for free. It can be improved, but it already works pretty well!

    Peldi Guilizzoni
  15. i was amazed to see my loved balsamiq in Drive, i just wonder if there will be some cooperation with e.g. balsamiq for desktop, so e.g. i could create/edit files on desktop and save them to gdrive (and possible share to edit with people with balsamiq for gdrive or other balsamiq version)

  16. Hi Davide. Today is only day one! Keep that feedback coming! 🙂 http://community.balsamiq.com is our favorite way so that others can comment on feature requests and vote on them.

    Peldi Guilizzoni
  17. Hi Peldi, congratulations for the release. I’ve used the integration a bit since last week and I find it great.

    That said, as an apps user I feel compelled to ask for the obvious “next-step” features (which someone like me starts craving for after 5 minutes using the integration):
    – commenting features “à la” Google Docs (comment stream, reviews, etc. as in http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2011/03/introducing-discussions-in-google-docs.html ),
    – collaboration features (e.g.: live synchronization of the activities on a wireframe for all of the Google users connected to the same wireframe),

    Davide Baroncelli
  18. wow that was quick

  19. ok, thanks :)) so as of now, “regular” myBalsamiq and myBalsamiq in Gdocs are separated accounts? also 5 $ instead of 12, can you link my premium to gdocs?

  20. Correct. I’m sure we’ll come up with a better flow if lots of people ask for it 🙂

    Peldi Guilizzoni
  21. Hi Peldi,

    thanks for your reply :))so i need to download bmml and than reupload it on Gdrive for each Mockup manually?

    Best

    Daniel

  22. Hi Daniel, congrats on the 1st feature request! 😉

    myBalsamiq is not connected to Google Drive, but they do share the same BMML format, so you can move files between them as much as you’d like (manually, at least for now).

    Peldi Guilizzoni
  23. can I see / access my myBalsamiq projects from GDrive, i have premium account but balsamiq in gdrive is in trial mode