Google Drive steps up its video collaboration game with timestamped comments

Over the years, I’ve collaborated with many video editors and content creator friends of mine, often pointing out things like how the text isn’t visible around the two-minute mark or how the transition in the opening sequence feels a little off. 

However, most of the time, they would end up scrubbing through the whole clip trying to find what I meant, or they’d ask me to send a screenshot of the exact moment I was referring to. Considering I wasn’t charging anything to spot those issues, that extra effort always stung a little. Thankfully, Google’s latest Workspace update finally fixes that.

So how does this actually work?

Google Drive now supports timestamped comments on videos. While reviewing a video, you’ll get a split button letting you choose between a universal comment and one linked to the exact moment you’re watching. 

If you drop a timestamped note, it shows up as a little marker sitting on the video’s timeline, so that anyone reviewing the file later can click that marker, jump straight to that second, and see the relevant comment pop up automatically. 

Basically, this removes the guesswork in dragging the scrubber and trying to figure out where the feedback applies. Everything you’d expect from Workspace comments still works, including replying, resolving, editing, and tagging teammates with an @ mention.

Who gets this, and what’s it actually good for?

Timestamped comments are available to every Google Workspace customer across Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains. Both Workspace Individual subscribers and people with a personal Google account can use it. It’s enabled by default. 

The catch, however, is that you can only create these timestamped notes on the web. Mobile users on iOS or Android can still view them, but they’re displayed as ordinary file comments instead of timeline markers. 

In my opinion, the feature replaces the awkward back-and-forth of tracking timecodes in a separate WhatsApp group or Slack thread; it’s a quality-of-life improvement for those who rely on Google Drive for their daily editing or creation workflow. 

If I zoom out a little, this fits Google’s broader pattern of quietly bridging feature gaps against dedicated review tools like Frame.io and Vimeo. For those catching up, these platforms have offered timestamped video feedback for quite some time now.