G Drive Browser Navigation

This article is about using G Drive in your browser. See G Drive Mobile Navigation on how to use the mobile app.

When you reach the G Drive by either typing in the URL or using the 9-dot Icon (if you don't know how, read Apps In Your Browser), you will see a pretty complicated screen.

Instead of being overwhelming about it (I know, it's too late...), I invite you to get oriented by looking at some of the items I am about to point out. If you are trying to accomplish something and can't figure it out after this exploration, drop me a note, and I will document how to do what you need done in detail, and share it with you and others through an article on this site.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Starting in May 2019, Google renamed "Team Drives" to "Shared Drives" in the Google Drive apps. As of today (June 12, 2019), I have only seen the change in some places, but not all. I will update text but not images soon, but not quite yet...

In the screenshot above, I have identified 10 areas (outlined in red and numbered, somewhat randomly) that I would like you to experiment with. Please do any experimentation in your "My Drive" and not in any of the Shared Drives to keep clutter out.

• Area 1: These are two different aspect of G Drive that I talk about more in the G Drive Overview article. Notice the little dark triangle next to the labels - I have circled the one next to Shared Drives. These triangles allow you to examine the folders, and I recommend that they become your friends. Go ahead and click on the triangles and see what happens. Depending on the permissions you have, you will see one or more Shared Drives, each with another triangle to the left of it. Clicking on any right-pointing triangle expands another level of folders (if it doesn't, then there are no sub-folders); and clicking on a down-pointing triangle closes that level. When you finally get to the place you are interested in, click on the folder name, and see what changes in the various areas, in particular Area 4 and Area 6. Try these folders:
  1. (Nuevas Sonrisas) Trip 2019 -> Photos
  2. (SCORE) PDX Score Drive -> Handout Library -> 01 Business Plan
• Area 2: These are the files that have been Shared with you. They can have originated anywhere - another person's My Drive, a Shared Drive, even a Shared Drive from another organization. The files may disappear at any time if the owner removes them, or changes your permissions to access them. You can move the files to your own My Drive for organization, but you still do not gain ownership. Sharing is without a doubt a great feature for ad hoc file sharing, but (in my opinion, anyway) it soon can become overwhelmingly chaotic. I highly recommend not sharing documents in a Shared Drive, and instead letting people know about the documents and where they are in a Shared Drive, and giving them a link. I wrote the article Saving And Sharing Files about how to do that.
• Area 3: Click on the New button to create a new folder or document in the current folder (shown in Area 4), or upload folders and documents.
• Area 4: The name of the current Drive and Folder(s). Try clicking on the little down-pointing triangle next to it. There are more things you can do with the Drive or Folder.
• Area 5: This is the Quick Access area that shows documents you have worked with recently.
• Area 6: This is where you find the files referenced from the current Drive or Folder (shown in Area 4). You can also right click in the empty part of the area (below the listing of files) to get the same effect as clicking on New in Area 3. Another easy way to upload files to the drive or folder.
• Area 7: Click on the icon. From there you can go to Settings (explore them, some are obvious, some less so), get Drive File Streaming (more on this in the G Drive File Streaming article) and see Keyboard Shortcuts for truly hardcore users (even I generally don't use most of them).
• Area 8: Click on the icon to toggle how you see the files in Area 6. Try it, and stick with the one that you like most.
• Area 9: Click on it to learn a lot more about the current Drive, Folder, or selected File. Click on it again (or click on the X at right top) to hide the information.
• Area 10: Right click the name to see actions you can do with the file or folder. Double click to open the file or folder.