• Learn Google Drive Basics
• Organize your Google Drive
• Learn how to keep your Google Drive organized

Let’s get started with the basics of moving around in Google Drive.

Right now, this My Drive folder is closed. The folder’s contents are hidden.

This My Drive folder is expanded. We can view the folder’s contents.

Expand a folder by tapping once on the small triangle to the left of the folder name. Try it now!

Close a folder by tapping the triangle again. Try it now. Practice it a few times.

Find each of these items in your own Google Drive.

1 = Create Button: Click it to create new documents or folders.

2 = Navigation Pane: Click these folders to view your files.

3 = Main Window: The main window displays the contents of whatever folder you have clicked in the navigation pane.

4 = Sort Button: Changes how files and folders are sorted in the main window.

5 = View Buttons: Lets you view the main window as a list or as icons. Click on the View buttons to see what happens.

6 = Settings: Click on the gear to change Google Drive settings.

There are two types of items in your Google Drive.

• Personal folders and files are ones that only you can see.
• Shared folders and files are ones that both you and some other people can see.

How can you tell the difference? There are two ways. First let’s look in the Navigation Pane.

• Personal folders are a solid color.
• Shared folders have a person on them.

Look at the folders below. Can you tell which ones are personal and which ones are shared?

Next, look at your own Google Drive. Use the Navigation Pane to find one personal and one shared folder.

Looking in the Navigation Pane works for folders. It does not work for files. We find out if files are personal or shared by looking in Main Window. The key is to look to the right of the document’s title.

• If the file is shared, it will say Shared right after the title.
• If a file is not shared it may be blank after the title. If it is not blank, it will list the folder(s) in which the file is stored.

Let’s practice. Look at this list of files.

• Which ones are shared?
• Which ones are personal?

Next look at the Main Window of your own Google Drive. Find one shared and one personal file.

Before we move on, let’s consolidate what you have learned so far. Go to your Google Drive. Locate each of these items.

1. Navigation Pane.

2. Main Window

3. a folder that is Personal

4. a folder that is Shared

5. a file that is Personal

6. a file that is Shared

7. Gear button where we go to change settings

Google Docs = old view

Google Drive = new view

Some day there will no longer an the old view. It is good to start using the new view before that happens.

Look at the picture below. You are in the old view if you have these two folders…

1. My collections
2. Collections shared with me

Your are in the new view if you see My Drive.

Go to your Google Drive. Check to see if you are in the old view or the new view.

Now that you can find your way around the Google Drive window, you are almost ready to start organizing. It is easiest to organize your Google Drive when you are in the old view.

1. Click on the Gear button.

2. Click on the words Temorarily use the old look. If you don’t see those words, then you are already in the old view.

1. Look in the Navigation Pane.

2. Scroll down until you find Collections shared with me.

3. Expand the the folder by tapping the triangle which is to the left of Collections shared with me.

Look at the Navigation Pane below.

– The first two folders are all the way to the left. That means they are top level folders.
– The next two folders are indented to the right. That means they are inside another folder. They are subfolders.

When we organize your Google Drive, we only want to work with top level folders. Ignore the subfolders.

We are ready to start organizing. When we organize, it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to never drag folders. Dragging may hide the item from other people. Here is the correct way to organize folders.

1. Control-click a top level folder in the navigation bar.

2. A menu will drop down.

3. Click Organize.

5. After a few seconds, an Organize window will open.

6. HOLD DOWN THE COMMAND KEY ON YOUR KEYBOARD.

7. Tick My collections.

8. Click Apply.

9. Let go of the command key.

Holding down the command key ensures that other people can still find the folder. It is essential that you hold it down during steps 7 and 8.
If you are on a Windows computer, hold down the control key instead of the command key.

You have successfully organized a shared folder into your My Drive. Now work your way through the Collections shared with me folder. Here are some tips to help you with your organizing.

– You may not need every folder. Click on a folder and then look at its contents in the main window. If you don’t need it, don’t organize it.

– Folders that start with ti are Teacher Dashboard folders. Do not delete any of them.

– For now, do not delete any folders. Just leave the ones you don’t need in Collections shared with me.

When you are done organzing the Collections shared with me folder, it is time to switch to the new look in Google Drive.

1. Click on the Gear button.

2. Tick Upgrade to new look.

If there are certain files or folders you use frequently, you may want to make them easier to find. One way to do this is to add a star. There are two ways to add a star.

In the navigation pane…

1. Control-click the title of a folder.

2. Select Add star in the dropdown menu.

Another way to add a star is in the main window.

1. Find the file or folder in the main window.

2. Tick the star to the right of the title.

Any time you want to find an item that you starred, click on Starred in the navigation pane.

Changing the color of a folder is a way to make it easier to find high priority folders in your navigation pane.

1. Find the folder in the navigation pane.

2. Control-click on the folder.

3. Select Change color.

4. Click on a color.

Now that your Google Drive is organized, starred and color coded, let’s make the main window easier to use. Many teachers find it most useful to sort the main window in this way.

1. Click on the Sort button.

2. Select Last opened by me.

Now the main window should mostly show the files and folders you are actually using.

Here is a good work flow to follow so you can more easily keep track of new files that are shared with you.

1. When you receive an email informing you that a new file has been shared with you, click on the link in that email. The file will open in your Google Drive.

2. In the top, left corner of the file, is a folder icon. Click on that.

3. HOLD THE COMMAND KEY and then tick the folder where you want to put it.

4. Click Apply changes.

5. Let go of the command key.

Notice that at the bottom of the window there is an option to Create a new folder.
Now practice this with the email Susan Sedro sent to you for this workshop.