Embedded Files
This guide details the use of Google Drive, including My Drive, Shared Drive and Shared with me. It also details the various sharing options in Google Drive, and best practice for which one to use and when
1. Signing In
Go to the website https://drive.google.com and click the button to sign in with “personal” account on the left. Don’t actually use a personal account should you have one.
Sign in using your atlantic.academy account, NOT your personal google account.
From a school computer, your account will be signed in with your Microsoft account automatically. If you are accessing your work account from home, you will be redirected to a Microsoft sign in page. You will need to enter your Atlantic Academy email address and the password that you use to sign into the computers on site.
Once signed in you should see these options in the left panel:
1. 1 Determining Signed in Account
Here is how you determine which account is currently sign in, as sometimes Google can switch the account you are logged in as, if you use multiple accounts:
In the top right of the page, you should see the Atlantic Academy logo and your initial in the circle. Mouse over the button or click to check it is your email address you are signed in with. If you click the button you will be able to change what account you are signed in with.
This button will be at the top right of your screen.
Once clicked, this popup will appear. This is where you can change the account you are signed in with.
2. My Drive
My drive is where you can store and organise your private documents that only you will have access to.
To create folders and upload files from your pc, click the ‘New’ button, located top left.
3. Shared Drives
These are where collaborative files and folders are stored. These drives are best for sharing files across an entire department or faculty for collaboration between multiple users.
Google Shared Drives are similar to a folder within our G drive and Student Resources here on site, but there are some slight differences:
• Cloud Based – All files in a Shared Drive are stored in the cloud, so internet access is required to access a Shared Drive.
• Easy Access - A Shared drive can be accessed from anywhere that you have an internet connection
• Collaboration - Documents, Spreadsheets and Slides stored in a Shared Drive can be edited by multiple users at the same time
• Cross MAT File Access – Staff can work with colleagues across the MAT on shared documents
• Archive – Shared Drives provide us with unlimited storage, which is perfect for storing big files that are taking up lots of space on our systems here
4. Shared With Me
Any files in this section have been shared with you from someone else’s My Drive.
If you want a specific person to have access to a document, temporarily, that is not suitable to placed into a department shared drive, you can share from My Drive.
5. How to Share
Right Clicking a file in My Drive will let you click Share. Start typing the email address of who you would like to share with and then select the correction permissions for the recipient.
Viewer – only able to view the document and make a copy for themselves which will be editable, but your original will be untouched.
Commenter – will only be able to leave comments on the document, leaving only annotations and no changes.
Editor – full access to the document to make changes as they wish.
If you share a file with Commenter or Editor permissions it is recommended that any collaboration work is done using Google Docs, as the Microsoft Office tools will not update quickly enough and you may end up with lots of versions of a file to condense later.
The file that you’ve shared should now appear in the recipients “Shared with me” section.
7. Sharing Options
There is some overlap between My Drive and Shared Drive when it comes to sharing. Please see some guidelines below, along with some examples to help decide which is the best method of sharing for your scenario.
Scenario: You need to share a single document with a small number of people for a short period of time
Recommendation: Right click share
Scenario: You’re frequently sharing different documents with the same colleagues
Recommendation: Shared Drive
Scenario: You wish to share a document with someone for a short period
Recommendation: Right click share, and then remove permissions later on
Scenario: You are working on a short-term project with some colleagues where you will be collaborating heavily
Recommendation: Shared drive with an expiry date (can be extended)
Note: it is recommended that to keep sharing tidy, remove share permissions when they are no longer required.
Here are some (fictional) examples of appropriate use of Shared Drives:
Example 1 – Department Collaboration
The head of Maths has a collection of student/class performance tracker spreadsheets that must be edited throughout the year.
These spreadsheets could be stored on a ‘Staff Maths’ Shared Drive.
IT would create the Shared Drive, and set it up so that specific people, or everyone in the Maths department would have the necessary access, including new teachers that may join in the year (automatically).
Everyone who has access to this Shared Drive would be able to edit these files simultaneously with others who are trying to access the same file at the same time. Multiple members of the Maths department could edit the same spreadsheet at the same time.
IMPORTANT: If users are editing simultaneously we recommend that you use googles online editing tools such as Google Docs (for Word files) or Sheets (for spreadsheets) for the best experience.
Example 2 – Archive Data
The PE dept has a number of old video files of GCSE student evidence in the G drive, or on some password protected media such as a USB Hard Drive.
The PE dept would let IT know where these files are stored, and IT would create a ‘Staff PE Archive’ Shared Drive with the necessary access permissions. IT would upload these videos to the Shared Drive for long term storage, with the PE department still having access to them through Google Drive.
Page updated
Report abuse