IntroductiontoGoogleDrive-WheatonPublicLibrary
IntroductiontoGoogleDrive
WhatisGoogleDrive?
GoogleDriveprovidesalocationtostoreyourfiles.Itisnottiedtoanyonedeviceormachine.Ratheritis
accessiblefromanywhere,includingyourhomecomputer,mobiledevice,orapublicmachineataschool
orlibrary.ThistypeofstorageisalsocalledCloudStorage.
FeaturesofGoogleDrive
● 15gigabytesoffreestorage.Additionalstorageisavailableforafee.
● Uploadand/orDownloadcapabilities
● FreedesktoppublishingsoftwarethatisavailablethroughyourGoogleDriveaccount.
○ GoogleDocs~MicrosoftWord
○ GoogleSheets~MicrosoftExcel
○ GoogleSlides~MicrosoftPowerPoint
● Filesharing-allowsotherDriveuserstoviewand/oreditfiles,simultaneouslyifneedbe.
HowDoIAccessGoogleDrive?
● IfyouhaveaGmailaccount,firstgotoGoogle.com,clicktheGmaillinkonthetop,rightcornerofthepage,
andthenlog-inwithyourusernameandpassword.
● ClicktheWaffleicononthetoprightcornerofthepage
● ClicktheDriveicon
CanIUseGoogleDrivewithoutaGmailAccount?
● YoucanassociateanyemailaddresswithaGoogleaccount
● Gotohttps://accounts.google.com/signupwithoutgmail
● Fillouttheformusingyourpreferredaddress(yahoo,comcast,etc.)
● Entertherestoftheforminformationasrequested
● AgreetoGoogle’sterms
ScreenLayout-LeftMenu
● MyDrive-displaysthecontentsofyourGoogleDrive,anythingthatyouhave
createdoruploaded
● Sharedwithme-Filesthatyoudidnotpersonallycreate,butthatyouhaveaccess
to,arestoredhere.Driveuserscansharefiles,givingaccesstodocuments,
spreadsheets,photos,PDFs,etc.withoutsendingthemasanattachment.
● Recent-thisvarieswithfrequencyofuse,butfilesthatyouhaveaccessedwithin
thelastday,week,ormonthwillshowupinthisfolder.
● Starred-similartoflagginganitem,oraddingittoFavorites,clickingthestar
makesiteasiertofindafilelater.
● Trash-movefilesyounolongerneedtothetrash.Remembertoemptythetrash
tocompletelydeletethefile.
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IntroductiontoGoogleDrive-WheatonPublicLibrary
ScreenLayout-Center
1. MyDriveToolbar
○ DisplaysthesectionofGoogledriveyouarecurrentlyviewing(e.g.Recent,Photos,etc.)
2. QuickAccess
○ Displaysfileseitherusedrecentlyorveryfrequently.
3. FileList-displaysallfilesstoredinGoogleDrive
○ TheheadingsdisplayedatthetopoftheFIleList(Name,Owner,LastModified,andFileSize)areall
categoriesthatallowsorting.Clickonaheadingtosortbythatparticularcategory.
○ Foldericon-doubleclickonthisicontoviewfilesstoredinthefolder
○ GoogleDocsicon
○ GoogleSheetsicon
○ GoogleSlidesicon
○ PDF(PortableDocumentFile)icon
4. Toolbar
○ TogglebetweenListViewandGridView
○ ActivatesorDeactivatestheDetailsandActivityportionofthescreen.
○ Settings-adjustyourstoragecapacity,screendensity,andappdefaults
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IntroductiontoGoogleDrive-WheatonPublicLibrary
5. MyDriveDetails/Activity
○ Activity-Clickonceonafilenameorfilefolder.TheActivitysectionofthepagedisplaystimesand
datesthatyouorotherusershavecreatedafile,editedafile,ordeletedafile.
○ Details-Providesspecificinformationaboutoneindividualfile:
■ Shared/NotShared
■ Typeoffile(doc,sheet,slide,etc.)
■ Size
■ Location-usefulifyouhaveahighlydetailedhierarchyoffilefolders
■ Owner
■ Modified/Opened/Createddates
■ Description-addyourowndescriptionofthefilecontents.
TheNewButton
CreateNewFilesandFoldersinGoogleDrive
● Folder-createnewFolderstohelporganizeyourfiles
● FileUpload-movefilesfromyourPCtothedrive
● FolderUpload-movemultiplefilessimultaneously.NOTE:thisismoretimeconsuming
● GoogleDocs-Wordprocessing
● GoogleSheets-Spreadsheet
● GoogleSlides-Presentations
● More
○ GoogleForms
○ GoogleDrawings
○ GoogleMyMaps
○ GoogleSites
● MyDrive-thisisaheading.Changesdependingonwhichnavigationyou’reusing.
GoogleDocs,GoogleSheets,GoogleSlides
● AllGooglesoftwareisbrowserbased.Itisonlyaccessibleontheweb.
● GooglesoftwareusesaMenuLayout,nottheTabandRibbonsystemthatOfficeuses.Themenusand
buttonsarestatic,anddonotchange.
● YoucaneditGoogleDocsfilesinMicrosoftWordandviceversa.However,theformattingwillnotalwayslook
identical.Makesureyoudouble-checktheentiredocument.
● Add-ons:Asabrowserbasedtool,GoogleDriveprovideseasyaccesstoadditionalfeatures,suchas
formattingtools,advancedcharttools,mailmergecontacts,etc.
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IntroductiontoGoogleDrive-WheatonPublicLibrary
Saving,RenamingandMakingaCopy
● Saving
○ Whenyoucreateanewfile,thefileisautomaticallysavedinGoogleDrive,assoonasyoutypeyour
firstcharacter.Thereisnoneedtosaveyourfiles.
○ Everychangeyoumakeissavedautomatically.Ifyouneedtodoublecheck,looknexttothemenu.
You’llsee“Saving”,followedby“AllChangesSavedinDrive”.
● Renaming
○ AfilecreatedinGoogleDriveisgiventhenameUntitledDoc,Spreadsheet,orPresentation.You
shouldrenameyourfileforeasieraccesslater.
○ Clickdirectlyon
Untitleddocument
,foundinthetop
leftcorner.Typeamoresuitablename.Youmayusecapitalletters,smallletters,andpunctuation.
● MakeaCopy
○ Ifyouareeditingapreviouslycreateddocument,andyouwishtosavetheoriginal,thefirstthing
youshoulddoisgotoFile→MakeaCopy.Thisallowsyouacreateasecondfilewithadifferent
name,or
○ Leavethefilenamethesame,butsaveittoadifferentfolder.
○ ThisfeatureissimilartoSaveAsinMIcrosoftOffice.
TheFileMenu
● Moveto-Movestoadifferentfolderinyourhierarchy.
● MovetoTrash-movestotheTrashfolder.You’llneedtoemptytheTrashto
reallydeleteit.
● SeeRevisionHistory-GoogleDrivecreatesSavepointsforallfiles.Youcan
revisityourchanges,androllbackyourdocument.Thisisparticularusefulin
collaborativeenvironments.
● EmailCollaborators-Ifthefileisshared,usethislinktocontactanyonewho
haspermissionstoviewthefile
● EmailasAttachment-whenthefileissentasanattachment,itwillbe
convertedtoPDF,anOfficeextension(.docx,.xlsx,.pptx,etc.),richtext,plain
textorHTML.
● DownloadAs-Ifyouneedtosavethefileasanotherformat,suchasWord,
orPDF.
○ Whenyoudownload,thefileisstoredontheHardDriveofyourPC.
○ TostorethenewfileonGoogleDrive,youmustreturntothemain
screenofGoogleDrive,thenclickNew→UploadFile.
● Print-sendtoalocalornetworkprinter.
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IntroductiontoGoogleDrive-WheatonPublicLibrary
SharingFiles
Giveotherusersaccesstoviewandeditfiles.Alsoallowsrealtimecollaboration,
meaningmultipleuserscaneditthefilesimultaneously.
● TheSharebuttonisfoundonvirtuallyeverypageinGoogle
Drive.Lookforoneofthefollowingicons:
● Toshareafileorfolder,clickonceonthefilenamefromthe
GoogleDrivelistscreen.UsetheSharewithOtherswindowto
typethecontactinformationoremailofthepersonwithwhom
youwouldliketoshare.
○ NOTE:PeopledonotneedtouseaGmailaddress,buttheirownemailmustberegisteredwithGmail
inordertovieworeditGoogleDrivefiles.
● UsethePencilpulldowntochangepermissions.Userscan
Organize,Add,View
,or
Edit
thefile.Thenclick
Done.
● Toconfirmthatthefilehasbeenshared,lookforthisicononthefilelistscreen
● ToChangeorRemovePermissions
○ Clickonceonthefileorfolder,thenclick
theShareicon .Youshouldseealist
ofpeoplewithwhomyouhavesharedthe
document.Clickonceonaname.
○ Tochangepermissions,clickthePencil
○ Toremovesharingpermissions
completely,clicktheX.
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