Google Drive is a suite of free cloud-based tools for creating, sharing, storing and collaborating on files. Just like Microsoft Office suite, Google Drive offers different file types for different functions.
Google Drive is a suite of free cloud-based tools for creating, sharing, storing and collaborating on files. Just like Microsoft Office suite, Google Drive offers different file types for different functions.
To use Google Drive, you can sign in with an existing Google account or create one. Since it’s cloud-based, you can access your files from any device just by logging into your Google account and going to drive.google.com.
Click the red “New” button in the left sidebar and choose which file type you wish to create. Your file will open in a new browser tab and you can start working on it immediately. Give your file a name by clicking where it says “Untitled Document” (or Spreadsheet, etc) in the upper left corner.
Just like on your desktop computer, you can create folders to organize your files. Click the red “New” button from your My Drive page and select “Folder.” Then, just drag and drop files into that folder.
You can also choose how your My Drive page is displayed. Click the icon in the upper right to switch between list view and grid view.
To share a file, click the blue “Share” button in the top right corner while your file is open. Then, you can either copy and paste the link to share with others, or invite people directly. If you invite them directly by typing their email address into the box, they will get a notification via email and will have the option to add the file to their own Google Drive.
You get to choose the level of access of the people you share files with – whether you want them to be able to edit the file, add comments, or to view only.
You can also share an entire folder with someone else, and they will gain access to all files within that folder. To do this, open the folder you wish to share and click on “Share” in the drop-down menu under the folder name.
A really handy feature in Drive is that it’s compatible with Microsoft Office tools. You can open Word, Excel and PowerPoint files in Drive, and there’s an option to convert the files into their Google Drive counterparts so that you can utilize the sharing and collaboration features. To do this, click “Upload Files” from the drop-down menu on your My Drive screen. To convert a file, open it and click the “Open” link at the top.
Ever had your computer crash and realize you didn’t save that Word document or PowerPoint presentation you had been slaving away over for hours? One of my favorite features in Drive is that it saves your work almost instantaneously every time you make an edit, so there’s no need to save your work, ever. It does it automatically.