Google Drive

Google Drive helps businesses and non-commercial users create, store, and share documents and access them online and offline. We provide in-person training in Houston and online training to help your business gain the most out of Google Drives features.

We’ll train total beginners to become confident in using their Google Drive in no time. And we provide insights that intermediate users can find value in as well.

Through this training, you’ll learn:

Sending Files

Gmail has a small file size limit that can hinder you from sending huge files. With Google Drive, you can send files of any size. All you need is to attach a link to your message and your recipient will be directed to the file in Google drive.

Here is the process:

When composing a Gmail message, there are Drive Link and Attachment options. Select the Google Drive option and click insert to choose the file you want, attach it to your email, and send.
Files like word, excel, access, etc. that weren’t created in Google Drive can be attached through the “Attachment” option.
Google Drive enables you to allow your recipient to view or edit. You can also decide to allow or disallow them to open the files. This makes files safe even when you accidentally send them.

There are many Google Drive courses online, but none are as in-depth as our Google Suite training. So join us and sharpen these invaluable skills for your business.

Access Files Online

Reliable tools provide online file access; they enable file sharing with remote workers. Google Drive is one of them. It enables you to find them from any device as long as you are on the internet.

Go to the Google Drive site to access your Google Drive files on a PC or smartphone. Alternatively, install the PC or smartphone app and ensure you are signed in to your Gmail account. Then, you will be able to open your Google Drive files and do what you want.

See Changes in Files and Folders

Google Drive is a perfect tool for collaboration. Team members can edit the same document, and the changes are synchronized. This eliminates the production of various versions of a single document.

All team members can see the changes made and who made them. When you need any improvements to be made on edited documents, you can tag the editors, and they’ll get an email notification.

To see your changes in files or folders, go to Google Drive and select your file. Then, select your version history and click on the see version history option.

Then choose a timestamp to check a previous version of the file. You will see the names of those who edited and colors next to every name below the time stamps. The colors indicate the changes made.

Change to Previous Version of Files

Sometimes changes are made mistakenly. With Google Drive, you can restore them.

If somebody manipulates your files, you can use this feature to restore the previous versions, which makes it a safety feature.

Google Drive also provides options to copy or name the reverted files to differentiate various versions for future reference.

To change to your previous file version, open your Google Drive and select your file. Then click on the file menu and select the version history option.

On the right-hand side of the file, click on the three dots to see more actions such as restore, name, or make a copy of this version.

Choose the action you want and make the necessary changes.

Working with Microsoft Office Files

Google Drive is compatible with other software like Microsoft office tools.

If you have Microsoft Office files, you don’t need to recreate or copy them and waste time and/or make mistakes. Instead, you can access them through Google Drive and save time navigating between different apps.

At our Google apps training in Houston, we know time is money, and it’s essential to economize it. That’s why we are dedicated to training businesses on how to integrate different apps.

You’ll learn how to:

Put Microsoft Office files into Google Drive without changing the format
Change your Adobe PDF files and Microsoft Office files into Google Drive files
Preview and download Microsoft Office files
Email Google Drive files in a Microsoft Office Format
Edit a Microsoft Office file and save the changes in Goole Drive
Comment on Microsoft Office files in Google Docs preview

Here is the process we’ll take you through:

How to Add Microsoft Office Files to Your Google Drive

When you open your Drive, click on the “New” option on the left-hand side and select “File Upload.” Then choose your Office file and upload it.

How to Open Microsoft Office Files in Google Drive

Ensure your Office file is already saved in Google Drive.
Open your Google Drive and select your Office file. Right-click on it and choose the “Open With” option. Then, select whether you want to open it with Google Sheets, Slides, or Docs.
The file will open and you’ll be able to share and edit, and the changes will be saved in the Office file.

How to Convert Your PDF and Office Files into Google Files

You can convert PDF and Office files by opening Google Drive and selecting the file you want to convert. Then double-click on it or press “enter” to open it.
When the file opens, select the file menu and click the “Save as” option to save the file in the Drive format.
If you join Google apps training, we’ll show you how to automatically convert your Office files into Google Drive format. This will save you time and help you avoid inconveniences in case you forget to convert them.

How to Work in Microsoft Office and Synchronize Your Files in Google Drive

If you move your Office files into Drive, you can still work on them in Office and save your changes in Google Drive. However, you are required to have the Google Drive App on your PC.

First, add your Office files to your Drive folders. Then, open the particular Office application, for example, Word, Excel, etc. Then click on the file menu and select “open” to find your Google Drive folder.
Click to open your file and work on it, and the changes will be automatically saved in the Drive.

How to Comment on Office Files in Drive

This feature helps in offering suggestions or directions on editing shared files.

You can do this by opening your Google Drive and selecting the file you want to comment on. Then press enter or double-click to open it.
Then select the plus (+) icon on top of the file, and a comment box will open. To direct your comment to a targeted person, enter a plus (+) sign and select the email. Then, click comment, and the person will be notified.

How to Share a Copy of Your Drive Files in an Office Format

When you work only in Office files in your team, Google Drive can help you share your Drive files in the appropriate format.

You need to open your Drive file and click on the file menu. Then select the email option and click on the “Email this file” option, which will display a small page.
Select the drop-down menu below the page, and it will give you several options. Choose the option you want, enter the email address, write the message, and then send it.
If you want, you can also keep a copy for yourself by selecting the “send to yourself a copy” option.

Manage Google Drive Mobile App

The accessibility of Google Drive on different devices makes it a convenient marketing tool.

You can access it on your mobile phones and create, share, edit, and store files. When your computer breaks or is lost, or when you are away from it, you can still work on your files.

You can access the mobile app through the Play Store for Android phones and the App store for iPhones.

When you use large-screen phones, you can even multitask. For example, you can open a file on one side of the screen and browse other files or folders on the other.

To enable this, open a folder or file on the Drive, tap the menu (…), and select the “open in new window” option. The documents will be split and enable you to multitask.

Email Collaborators

This tool is helpful in following up on conversations or asking questions that are too long for the comment boxes.

The email collaborators feature helps email your team members or staff directly from the worked-on files.

You can even add a copy of the file directly to your email. This prevents inconveniences in case somebody else in your team edits the document.

Here is how you can do it:

Open your sheets, slides, or docs files and click on the file menu. Then click on the “email” option, and select the “email collaborators” option.
A box will be displayed. Add your subject and create a message or paste a copy of the file. Then, add the email addresses you want to send to and click send.
If you want a copy, tick the send yourself a copy box.

Giving and Removing Sharing Access

Google Drive enables you to allow or deny access to your files. You can stop, limit, or give collaborators full access to your files. It also allows the publishing of files to make them available on the web for everyone to read.

This access feature hinders people from accessing your files without your permission, preventing the loss of private data.

Our Google Suite training program can help you utilize this feature so you can control how collaborators can handle your files.

To publish your file, open it, select the file menu, and click on the “share” option. Then select the “publish to web” option and click on “start publishing” to publish it, or click on “stop publishing” to unpublish it.
To share or stop sharing a file, open the file you want to change and select the file menu. Then click on the “share” option, and select the “share with others” option to find the person you want to share with.
A small page will be displayed where you can add the email address(es) you want to share. Below the person whose email address is added, there is a drop-down menu. Click on it and select whether you want to make them a viewer, commenter, or editor, or remove access.

You can also transfer ownership of the document to somebody else on your team. This enhances easy access and control of documents when you are away from work.

There are also general access options called “restricted” and “anyone with the link.” Select the “anyone with the link” option if you want to allow anybody to open the file.

Changing the general options to restriction allows only people with access to open the file.

To enable these features, click on the general access option and select the “restricted” option to restrict the file or the “anyone with the link” option to allow anybody with the link to access your documents.

Using Search Feature

Google Drive search feature helps manage time.

Instead of browsing through the tool to find files or folders, you can type and filter your desired results.

The good thing is that if you have forgotten the whole document’s name, you can type only one letter and the files or folders with that letter will be displayed.

To utilize this feature, open the Google Drive app. Then, type a file name on the “search Drive” option on top of the tool and search, and the results you want will be displayed.
Optionally, click at the right of the search bar and choose how you want to filter your results.
You can filter by type, e.g., photos, PDFs, documents, spreadsheets, etc.
You can filter by the document owner, write a term matching the file you’re searching for, location, edited date (modified), and so on.

Manage Files

Google Drive, Google Photos, and Gmail share the same storage. However, you can’t create, share, edit, or send a message when your storage is full. That’s why you need to delete unused files so your storage doesn’t reach its limit.

To delete a file, open Google Drive and select the file you want to delete. Then, right-click on it and select the “remove” option, and the files will be sent to the trash.
Files stay in the trash for thirty days before they automatically, permanently get deleted. If you restore them, you can do that before the time limit.

Organize Files

When you organize files in Google Drive, it’s easy to find them.

To keep your files organized, create specific folders for related files, and arrange the folders in alphabetical order.
You can arrange them in A to Z order or Z to A by clicking on the arrow in the folders section. Opposite the arrow, there is an option where you can arrange your folders by “name,” “last modified,” “modified by me,” and “last opened by me.” This helps prioritize the files you want to work on.

Accessing Shared Documents

It can be time-consuming to browse through Google Drive to find shared documents. However, there is a way to speed up the process.

Open Google Drive and click on the “shared with me” icon, and you will open only the documents shared with you.

Tagging Others

This is an important feature for shared files. It helps notify collaborators about suggestions and corrections on worked-on documents.

To utilize this feature, go to Google Drive and open a file. Then click the “comment” option in the “insert” menu.
A comment box will open on the side of the file.
Insert the @ symbol, enter the email you want, and click on comment, and you will successfully tag them.

Assigning Action Items in Google Documents

This feature is perfect for working on a shared document. You can assign your collaborator to edit a document, and they will be notified.

To assign an action, open a file in Google Drive, select the “insert” menu, and select the “comment” option.
Then, create your message, enter an @ sign, and put an email address.
Then select send, and the collaborator will be notified.

How to Share

Collaboration influences company success, and Google Drive provides the ways to do it.

You can share files with the public or specific email addresses.

You can share a single file, a folder, or a whole drive, giving access to your staff or team members to view or edit files or folders.

When someone is permitted to edit documents, they can copy, move, or delete them.

Here are steps to sharing documents:

How to Share Files with Specific People

To share a file with email addresses:

Open your Google Drive and select a file and open it.
Click on the file menu and select the “share” option.
Choose “share with others,” enter the email addresses of the people you want to share with, and click done. The people will get emails that you’ve shared a file.

Alternatively, when you open Google Drive, select your file and right-click on it. Then, choose the “share” option, enter the emails, select done, and the file will be shared.

How to Share Files with the Public

This applies when you want to share with people you don’t have their email addresses.

First, you need to ensure the file is published.

To do that, open your Google Drive, click on files, and select “publish to web” to make it available to everyone on the internet.
Then, right-click on the file and select “get link,” and select whether you may want people to view, comment, or edit it.
After that, copy the link and share it on any platform, and everyone will be able to read it.

How to Share a Folder

Shared folders help organize teams’ documents so they can be easily accessible.

To share a folder, go to Google Drive and select the folder you want to share.
Right-click on it, select “share,” and set how you want collaborators to do on the files.
Then add the collaborators’ emails, select done, and the folder will be shared.

How to Share a Drive

Creating a shared Drive enhances the accessibility of an organization’s documents. Documents can be created directly in the shared folder, preventing the accumulation of shared folders and files in personal Drives.

To create a shared drive, open your organization’s Google Drive and on the left, click “shared drives,” and at the top, click “new.” Then enter the drive name and click “create.”
After creating the Drive, you’ll need to set levels and permissions on how the Drive will be used.

Joining our Google apps training will help you learn more tricks and smoothen your organization’s tasks.

We’ll show you how to add members and set access levels, change member access levels, remove members, and more.

Productivity Tips

Google Drive helps organizations create and access files and influence the efficient running of tasks.

Our Google apps training program is reliable and instills digital skills in small and large organizations. When you join us, you will learn tips to increase productivity in your business.

Among the tips you will learn include:

Accessing Google Drive Offline

Google Drive allows you to create, save, edit, and open files even when you can’t access the internet.

To enable offline access, you must connect to the internet using Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.
Ensure there’s enough space on your device because offline files take up space on your device as well.
To turn on offline mode on files that are not yet available offline, right-click on the file and click on the “available offline” options.
Alternatively, you can open the file and select the file menu. Then, select the “make available offline” option.

Send Large Files Using Google Drive

Gmail allows sending a limit of 25MB attachments. However, with Google Drive, you can send larger files. You can do this by attaching a link to Google Drive in your email, which recipients can follow to see the files.

Assign Tasks to Others through Comments

Google Drive makes it easy for teams to work on shared files. For example, you can assign tasks directly on the file instead of sending emails through Gmail, and people will get email notifications.

You can highlight the specific section you want to be edited so people can quickly know where to make changes. This saves time in moving from one tool to the other.

Add a File to another Location

It’s time-consuming to navigate between folders when working on files from different folders. You can move or make a copy of a file and easily access it using Google Drive.

To add files to different locations, open Google Drive, right-click on a file, and choose whether to move or make a shortcut or copy.
Choose where you want to move your file, and it will be accessible in both the new and the old locations.

Use Keyboard Shortcut

Keyboard shortcuts save time when working in Google Drive. If you join Google Apps training in Houston, we will show you easy ways to navigate and use the tool.

Some of the shortcuts you will learn include the following:

If you want to create a new document, open your Google Drive and press “shift+t.”
If you want to create a new presentation, press “shift+p.”
To open the menu, press “c.”
If you want to sort the menu, press “R.”

Our Google apps training program teaches many more tricks than these to help you manage your time and focus on other marketing tasks.

Color Your Folders

This feature helps differentiate folders according to their purposes. It enables you to visually organize your Google Drive.

For instance, you can color folders you want to prioritize and make it easy to see them.

To color folders, open your Drive and select a folder.
Then right-click on it, select the “change color” option, and choose your favorite color from the grid.

Add Files and Folders to Starred

Starred is a feature that helps to group files so they are easily accessible.

To utilize this feature, select the file or folder you want to add to starred and right-click on it. A number of options will be displayed. Click on add to “starred” and it will be added.
Or, you can add a folder to starred by opening it and clicking on the “starred” option on the menu on the right-hand side of the folder.
Additionally, a file alternative starring method involves opening the file and selecting the star icon above the menu at the top of the file.

Keep Track of Activities on Your Drive Files

It’s essential to be aware of the changes done on the shared files when working in a team. Google Drive saves the changes and can indicate who made them.

For example, you can see when someone:

Uploads a new folder or file
Shares or unshares a document
Renames a file or folder
Edits or comments in a document
Deletes a file or folder

You can even revert to the previous document if you want to compare or confirm on changes made.

Here is how to use this feature:

Open Google Drive and click on the “view details” icon on the upper right-hand side of the page. Then click “activity” to see the recent activity.
If you want to view a specific file’s activity, select and open the file and select the comment history icon on the upper right side of the file. All the activities done will be displayed.

This is not a complicated process if you are skilled. However, it’s confusing if don’t have the know-how. Finding a digital tools trainer can help you learn this quickly. Our Google apps training program is your best help.

This is a program operated by Google Analytics-certified trainers. Join us, and we will show you all that’s needed for your business to thrive through Google Drive.