Using Google Drive

Google Drive is the online storage space (or think of it as a file cabinet) where your google docs, sheets, and slides are kept. It can be tricky to use if you don't organize it well. The beauty of using Google Drive is that you can open and edit all of your documents on any machine if you store them here.

Note: You must be logged in to your Google apps account, not your personal gmail account. It will work for you on your personal account, but you won't see your school materials.


Get started with Google Drive

You get 15 GB of space in your Drive for free.

Step 1: Go to drive.google.com

On your computer, go to drive.google.com. You’ll see "My Drive," which has:

  • Files and folders you upload or sync

  • Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms you create

Step 2: Upload or create files

You can upload, view, share, and edit files with Google Drive. When you upload a file to Google Drive, it will take up space in your Drive, even if you upload to a folder owned by someone else.

Types of files

  • Documents

  • Images

  • Audio

  • Video

Note: You can upload up to 750GB a day per account.

Upload & view files

On your computer, you can upload from drive.google.com or your desktop. You can upload files into private or shared folders.

  1. On your computer, go to drive.google.com.


2. At the top left, click New File Upload.

  1. Then click Upload File


Windows Explorer will open and you can select the document from there.

Convert documents into Google formats

If you want to upload files like Microsoft Word documents, you can change a setting to convert files.

Note: You can only change Google Drive settings from your computer.

  1. Using a computer, go to drive.google.com/drive/settings.

  2. Next to "Convert Uploads," check the box.

Upload files with the same name

If you upload a file with the same name, Google Drive will upload the file as a revision of the file already in Google Drive.

To keep both files:

  • On your computer, go to drive.google.com.

  • Upload a file.

  • Click Keep as separate file.