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Friday, May 5, 2017

10 Tips for Organizing Google Drive

Google Drive has become one of my essential tools. All my files are in Google Drive. Withunlimited storage and easy access from any device, I put everything in Drive. At first, thiswas no big deal. But after about five years of heavy drive usage, it became more difficult tofind and manage my files.

Your files are like people. Folders are like houses. Make sure that everyone has a home! Thegoal is to eliminate any "homeless" files. Test it out: click on "my drive." What do you see - files or folders? Move any "homeless" filesinto folders.

Here are my top 10 tips for organizing your Drive account.

1. Use folders

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Tip: Don't be shy about how many folders you create. I have folder "trees" that are 7+ deep.If you want your files to be in a specific order, add a number prefix.

Tip: if you have a LOT of homeless files to organize, open the file tree on the left and dragand drop you files into folders. You can also hold down the ctrl key to select multiple files at

the same time.

Generic files names were okay when they were only your files. But Google Drive is forsharing, and when you share a file called "notes," you aren't doing your friends any favors.Be super detailed and specific with your file names.

Bad: Lesson Plan

Good: Week 3 Lesson Plan | John Sowash, 2017

Bad: Meeting Agenda

Good: Curriculum Meeting Agenda, March 21, 2017

Tip: you can use hashtags and special characters to draw attention to special files. I use[template] to identify documents that I copy frequently.

2. Name your files carefully

Sharing individual files is fine if you are sharing with a small number of people on aninfrequent basis. But most of us work in teams, groups or committees and share and passfiles around. This is a prime use for a shared folder. When you share a folder, no one has to remember everyone on the team. The folder alreadyknows. Dump your file in and you're done! Tip: I recommend sharing folders as "view only." You can make any file within the foldereditable, but you don't want everything editable by default.

Your team could benefit from using a TEAM Drive folder. This feature became available inthe spring of 2017 and offers new features for team sharing:

The TEAM owns the files, not a person (important when team members leave)

Team Drive files do not show up in shared with me

Team Drive has a very different visual design to set it apart from a shared folder.

Team Drives can be centrally created and managed through the Google AdminConsole.

You can learn more about Team Drive here.

3. Share folders not files

Tip: I recommend sharing folders as "view only." Youcan make any file within the folder editable, but youprobably don't want everything editable by default. Team Drive

When sharing with large groups of people, set up a Google Group and share the resourceswith the group, not individuals. You can manage access to resources simply by adding /removing individuals from the group. No need to re-share files with people who were recentlyadded to the group. Google Groups are important when sharing files with more than 200 people (like allstudents). You can manage access to resources simply by adding / removing individuals fromthe group. No need to re-share files with people who were recently added to the group.

Tip #3 creates a problem: "How do you add a file to the shared folder and keep it in yourfiles"? The answer is "shift + z." Use this shortcut to ADD a file to several folders. Now youcan keep files organized using your personal system AND put it in a shared folder. Try it: click on a file in drive and press "shift + z." It's magic! Note: you can’t use shift + z to add a file to a team Drive, only a traditional folder.

It's hard enough organizing your own stuff. With Google Drive, you also need to organizeshared files! Going into "shared with me" is enough to trigger a panic attack. Here's how tohandle the clutter: If you see something you want, drag it into "my drive" and place it into a folder. You are notmaking a copy, you are organizing the original into your personal system. Now that you haveadded it into a folder, you don't need to find it in shared with me. Ignore any file in shared with me that you don't need. Don't do anything. These files will will"disappear" eventually. Yes, you can "remove" a file, but if your goal is to empty out "sharedwith me" it is going to take you a LONG time. Do not treat "shared with me" like email. It is NOT your responsibility to visit and empty out

Google Groups

4. Use shift + z to add files to a folder

5. Dealing with "shared with me."

shared files every day. It is the responsibility of the person who shares a file with you toexplain why they are sharing the file. If you are using Google Classroom you are going to see a LOT of files in shared with me thatcome from Classroom. Ignore them. To view or manage these files, visit Google Classroom.

Google Drive has unlimited storage (for those using G Suite for Education). This is a blessingand a curse. Over time, clutter increases. Take a few minutes and delete any duplicate oroutdated files. This make is much easier to find what you are looking for! Create an archive folder for files you can't delete, but don't access use. Hiding old contentcuts down on the number of folders you need to sort through to find what you are looking for.

If you are a Microsoft Office user, you probably know that you can upload and convert yourexisting MS Office files into Drive. While it might be tempting to use the "folder upload" buttonto upload your entire my documents folder, resist the urge!

If you are a Microsoft Office user, you know that you can upload your existing MS Office filesinto Drive. Resist the urge to upload and convert your entire my documents folder.

6. Purge old files

7. Upload with care

If your documents folder is anything like mine, it's a mess. I had hundreds of files that I hadnot used in years. Why upload them to Drive? Instead, adopt the Drive migration challenge:

1. Each day, upload only the files that you use. 2. If you need to create a new file, create it in Drive.

3. After 1 year, throw whatever is left on to an external hard drive and toss in a drawer.

Add color to your most frequently used folders to make them easy to find. Rightclick on a folder and look for the "color" option.

If color isn't enough for you, you can add emoji to your folder names. Install Emoji forChrome and add your favorite emoji into your folder names! Tip: If you add your emoji at the front of the folder name it will move to the top of your list.

Need somewhere to jot a quicknote? Making a grocery list?Trying to keep track of your to-do list? This is a job for GoogleKeep, not Google Docs! Google Keep is great for all of your digital odds-n-ends. Putting these items in Keep reducesclutter in your Drive account. Need to move a Keep note into Drive? No problem! You canquickly convert an entire note to a Google Doc!

9. Color your folders

8. Use emoji

10. Use Google Keep

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Posted by John R. Sowash at 3:03 PMLabels: Google Drive

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4 comments:

Saundra Lambert May 8, 2017 at 12:25 PM

A few I was not aware of before. Thank you

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Doug Roske May 22, 2017 at 5:29 PM

"Purge old files" - Is there a good way to do this? Even a paid service that will do itfor you?

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John R. Sowash August 1, 2017 at 9:22 PM

I'm afraid not. You can use the advanced search to look for files by date,or you can sort your files by last edited and then delete files that youhaven't touched in a long time.

Brett May 30, 2017 at 11:54 AM

Great advice.

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