Google Drive can be a fantastic productivity and collaboration tool. However, once you start using it a lot, it can be difficult to keep everything organized. Fortunately, Google foresaw this problem and made it easy to find what you're looking for and make sure you never lose it again.
Like standard file explorers, Google Drive allows you to organize your files into folders, which is useful if you're working on multiple different projects. What makes it a bit more complex is that your files can come from up to three different sources, which are listed in the sidebar at drive.google.com:My Drive , Share with me , and google photos .
If you're looking for a file, it could be in any of those categories, making it difficult to navigate to a file. To make it easier, you can add any file or folder to its own Drive. If you click and drag a file to your Drive, that removes the file from its current location and relocates it to your Drive.
To avoid confusing other people by making your files and folders disappear, use the Add to my drive Option from the right-click menu. Adding a file to your drive essentially adds a shortcut to the file or folder to the top level of your drive. That way you can find it faster, but you don't have to move it out of its original location,
This is a really basic one, but it's worth explaining because it's not immediately clear where to find this option. The Sort Options The button is on the right side of the toolbar and shows the letters A and Z between two arrows. Click that icon and you'll be given the option to sort by name, date last modified, date last modified, and date most recently opened.
It seems extremely simple, but it can be extremely useful!
Another very simple tip, but did you know you can SHIFT + click or click and drag to select multiple files in Google Drive?
Some online services don't support this functionality, but Google Drive does, and it allows you to select files and perform batch operations on them much faster than if you had tried to make changes to each one individually.
Searching for a file using the search bar at the top of the screen is definitely the best way to find something you've lost, and using the advanced tools that are just a couple of clicks away will make it even more effective.
When you click on the search bar, you will see that you can click on any type of file to limit your search to that type of file. When you click on it, “type:[file type]” will appear in the search bar, and you will see a list of all the file types you have on your drive. Scrolling through this list is a good place to start looking.
You can also enter “[your search term] type:[file type]” to search for a document, spreadsheet, PDF, presentation, or other file type to make your search faster.
In addition to searching by file type, you can click More search tools at the bottom of the file type selection menu to access more advanced search options, such as date modified, words contained in the file, owner, and shared with.
These options will be a big help for people who store a ton of files on Google Drive, especially if you keep a lot of different file types (students using Google Drive. 7 New Features of Google Drive. All Students Should Know. 7 New Features Google Drive. Must Know School is in session and Google is ready to make things easier for students with Google Drive. New features have been introduced and old ones have been refined. We have the details. More information you may find these useful tools).
You can create complex folder hierarchies, but sometimes it's easier to have a more visual system. By right-clicking on a folder, you can select Change color and select a new color for the folder.
Instead of the standard (and rather boring) gray, you'll now have a brightly colored folder that you can find among the masses of other folders on your drive.
You can also star items by selecting Add star in the context menu, and all the files and folders you have starred will appear when you click Starred in the left menu.
It's like using stars in Gmail, if you're familiar with that practice.
If you're not sure what your document is called, or if you just want a quick reminder of what's in a file, you can make good use of the preview button - it's in the menu bar at the top and looks like a eye..
Click on a file, click the preview button, and you'll get a quick view of what's in the file, reminding you what's in it. It's not very fast, but it might be faster than opening the file in a new tab to see if it's the one you're looking for.
If you only need a very small look at your document, you can use the grid view to see thumbnails of each document in your unit (the Grid View button is next to the Sort Options button on the toolbar).
It's probably not as useful as the list view, but knowing it's there could save you some time if you're in a situation where it could help.
A quick right-click can show you who made revisions and when on any document, even if it's not a Google Doc. (I'm using this on a PDF in this picture. Did you know that Google Drive is also 10 Tips to Do More with Your PDFs in Google Drive 10 Tips to Do More with Your PDFs in Google Drive From managing your files to collaborating in Docs, Drive is a working office suite What many people don't realize is its ability to do much more than just view PDF files (Read More?)
To view this information, simply right-click and select Manage Revisions...
To view the editing history of a Google Doc, right-click it and press View details . This will open the details panel on the right side of the screen:
You can now select other files to view their revisions and edit histories or click Details to see things like created and modified dates, size, location, owner, and who has access to the file.
Google Drive used to have a tagging feature that allowed you to find related files, even if they weren't stored together. That functionality was removed. However, it can be replaced by a Google Drive app that will allow you to add a single file to multiple folders.
To connect this app, click on any file, hover over Open with , and select + Connect more apps . Use the search bar to find Multifolder and add it to your Google Drive. Now, just right click on a file or folder, hit Open With> Multicast , and you can add it to multiple folders.
In addition to Multifolder, a number of other great Google Drive plugins 5 Google Drive Plugins You Need to Use 5 Google Drive Plugins You Need to Use Google Docs and Google Spreadsheet are awesome free services, but when you include some of the plugins that are listed here can breathe new life into these tools. Read More For example, FileThis is a super useful app that will automatically pull bank statements, bills, and utility bills into a folder on your Google Drive.
The free FileThis.com account allows you to connect up to six accounts and update them once a week.
Another potentially useful app is called Hidden Folder , and allows you to prevent other apps from viewing specific files on your drive. Google Drive is quite secure. How secure are your documents in Google Drive? How secure are your documents in Google Drive? Read More
There are all kinds of useful Google Drive apps. Make Google Drive absolutely amazing with these tools. Make Google Drive absolutely amazing with these tools. Google Drive comes with many smart features. And you can greatly expand its potential with third-party tools. Here we have collected some of the best tools that connect to Google Drive. Read More Hit + Connect more apps and explore a bit to see which ones can help you!
These tips will help you get control of your Google Drive. The Only Google Drive Guide You'll Ever Need to Read The Only Google Drive Guide You'll Ever Need to Read Google Drive is the perfect combination of online file storage and document management tools. We explain how to best use Google Drive online and offline, on your own and in collaboration with others. Read More
Among all the great strategies for organizing Google Drive, which are your favorites? How do you make sure you can find the files you need in Google Drive? Do you use other apps, or just a solid organizational system?
Share your best tips in the comments below!
