Google Drive is a cloud space for file storage and sharing, don’t miss its tutorial.
If you have used various Google products, you have probably heard the name Google Drive. One of the best cloud spaces available on the internet that can eliminate your need for any external storage devices such as different memories. In Google Drive, you can even share your files with your colleagues and friends. In this article, we fully explain what Google Drive is, and how we can have Google Drive and use it.
Table of Contents
What is Google Drive?
Google Drive, one of Google’s products, is one of the most popular cloud spaces on the Internet and provides you with a space whose task is to store your files. Maybe it has happened to you that you wanted to install software on your computer, but due to the large size of the file, you did not have free space to install the software and you failed. Google Drive was created exactly for this purpose, to save your secondary files on it to help your hard drive. In addition, another advantage of using Google Drive is that you can access your files and even share them with others in any place with only internet access.
How much is the tariff for buying extra space from Google Drive? The interesting thing is that if you already have a Google account, you don’t need to create another account and it’s like you have a free cloud space with 15 gigs right now. Of course, keep in mind that all the attached files in your Gmail will be placed in this space and naturally it will take up a lot of space. To have more space, you can use the paid version of Google Drive, which is not very expensive by the way, and you can buy 100 gigs per month for $1.99 or 2 TB for $9.99.
How does Google Drive work?
The main task of Google Drive is to store your computer files in its cloud space. To do this, you can use the website version and upload the file and edit it, you can also install the desktop version on your system, as a result of which, a folder is created on your system where you only need to add the desired file. Transfer to that folder so that it is automatically uploaded to your Google Drive. The advantage of the desktop version is that you can go directly to the Google Drive folder edit the file and be sure that the updated file is saved in the Google Drive folder.
Advantages of using Google Drive
One of the advantages that makes using Google Drive preferable over any other cloud space is its ability to connect to other Google services. As you know, other Google services such as Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Sheets, etc. are very useful and used by many people and businesses, by the way, these services are connected to Google Drive at the same time, which is why many people use Google Drive. Consider it a priority over other cloud spaces.
Another advantage that can be provided by Google Drive is the ability to publish files privately and personalize access. For example, when you want to send a file from Google Drive to your colleague, you can create access for him as you wish, whether you allow the other person to edit the file or not is all under your control. This communication can be done with more than 100 people in Google Drive, which is great for large teams.
For example, suppose you have a file that you want to work on at the same time with several colleagues so that anyone can make changes to it. In this case, the best thing to do is to use Google Drive and Google Docs at the same time.
How to enter Google Drive
To use Google Drive, you must first have a Google account, if you don’t have one, you must create one in the first step so that you can use Google Drive and other Google tools such as Google Docs or Gmail. To create a Google account, you must enter the Google homepage click on the Sign in button in the upper right corner, and then select Create account.
At this stage, you will be asked for a username and password, and you must fill in your personal information, such as your name and date of birth, in several fields. In the next step, just agree to Google’s rules and after that, your Google account will be created easily and quickly.
Now that you have entered your Google account, just go to the Google Drive website at drive.google.com or you can even install its application on your mobile phone and back up the files on your phone. In the following, we teach all three methods, i.e. through the browser, desktop, and phone.
How to use Google Drive in the browser
In this method, you do not need to install any program and you can directly access the Google Drive space through the browser. To do this, just type the drive.google.com address in your browser to enter the Google Drive space.
The design of the initial page of Google Drive is completely clean and simple, and you will not get confused by it at all. The menus are on the left side of the screen and your files are in the middle of the screen. You can see the rest of your cloud space under the menu on the left.
Getting to know different parts of Google Drive
The Google Drive menu has different sections that you may not understand at first glance. In the following, we will introduce the different sections of its menu and explain the function of each one to you.
- My Drive: This tab is located in the left menu and contains all the files you have saved in Google Drive. The folder that you sync on the computer enters the My Drive space.
- Computers: This section contains all the folders you have saved from your computer (the folder that is in your system as Google Drive).
- Recent: In this section, you can see all the recent files that you have uploaded in order.
- Shared with me: Any file sent to you by another person will be placed in this folder.
- Starred: There are some files that you can mark as Favorites so that you can access them more easily and quickly. After marking these files, you can follow them from the Starred folder.
- Trash: Any file you delete will remain in the Trash folder for 30 days, after which it will be completely deleted.
The middle of the screen is where you can see all the files and folders. You can even upload files by dragging and dropping. By right-clicking on any file, you can access the edit menu of each file. Of course, a menu is also placed on top of the files, with which you can have faster access to the options.
There is a search bar at the top of the page where you can search for files by name and find them faster. When you click on one of the files or folders, several icons will appear right below the search bar, with these icons you can do things like publish the file, rename the file, delete or move it in the folders. (Of course, these features are also displayed by right-clicking on the desired file).
As you can see in the picture above, there is a menu on the right side of the page that contains a series of shortcuts. These shortcuts are for faster access to other Google tools (in general, any tool that connects to Google Drive). We will explain more about this part in the rest of the article.
How to upload files to Google Drive
Now it’s time for the most important part, uploading the file to Google Drive. To upload a file in this tool, you must click on the New button on the top left side of the page and select the file you want to upload. Of course, the easier way is to keep the main page of Google Drive open drag the desired file from your computer folder, and drop it in the middle of the Google Drive page.
Now that the file has been uploaded to Google Drive, we can do whatever we want with our file through the icons on the top of the screen or by right-clicking on the file itself and using its menu.
How to send the file in Google Drive to someone else?
Sharing files with others in Google Drive can be done in two ways. One of the methods, which happens to be simpler, is done through a Sharable link, which means you will be given a link that anyone you send can access the file.
The second method is the share option, if you click on it, a box will open for you where you can add people’s email, and the message you want to write to the other person, and you can even specify specific access to the file for the other person.
Another feature in Google Drive is the Preview option. With this option, your file of any type (PDF, photo, video, Word…) you can see it in Preview mode. In this case, if you want to make a change in the file, you must first open and edit it with related tools such as Google Docs or Google Sheets from the Open option.
How to use the Google Drive desktop application
The Google Drive desktop application is called “Backup and sync from Google”. If you install this application on your system, a Google Drive folder will be created on your computer. This folder is the main folder where any file you enter is saved in Google Drive, which means that any file uploaded in this folder will automatically enter your Google Drive storage space and you can access it from anywhere else.
When you install the Google Drive application on the computer, a box will be displayed on the top of the taskbar, where there are three icons next to your email, which include the Google Drive computer folder, the Google Drive website, and Google photo, and click on each one to go to It will be transferred. You can also start or stop uploading files from this box. There is also a three-dot icon with which you can enter the settings and personalize it for yourself.
One of the interesting and important features that the Google Drive application gives you is the ability to add an option to your right-click menu. Now you can create a folder in any part of the computer you want. Just right-click on it and select Sync this folder through the Google Drive option in the menu. Now this folder is connected with your Google Drive and any other file you add to this folder will be automatically saved in your Google Drive memory. Whenever you edit the files in this folder, the edited version in your Google Drive will also change.
Note that on any number of computers you install the Google Drive application and connect all of them with a specific email, upload any file on any computer and it will be seen in other folders. This work is also very useful for the employees of a company. You can connect to Google Drive on all company computers with Gmail and create a folder, and you only need to upload the shared file you want to the Google Drive folder once so that all other employees can use it.
Using Google Drive through the mobile version
Using the Google Drive mobile application is very simple and is available for both Android and iOS. This application is like many other cloud applications, but it has its own way of use. When you open the application, you will be presented with a homepage that will display the files you have recently uploaded. In the bottom menu, there is the homepage tab, the Starred tab, the Shared with Me tab, and the My Drive tab.
There is also a button with a plus sign that you can click to create a folder, upload a file, or scan a document. You also have other options that are other Google tools such as Google Sheets, Google Docs, and Google Slides and you can use them.
In the Google Drive mobile application, each file and folder has its menu, which is exactly like the right-click menu in the web version.
Connecting the gallery to Google Drive in the mobile application
In addition to the previous cases, you can automatically connect your mobile photo gallery to the Google Drive folder so that every photo placed in the gallery is automatically entered into the Google Drive memory. Of course, this requires Google Photos, which must be installed separately. Of course, many Android phones have Google Photos by default.
You can set the photo upload in two ways. In the first method, the size of your photo will be automatically reduced, although there will be no significant change in its quality. In the second mode, the photo will be uploaded in the same original mode with the same size and quality, which of course will fill up your cloud space quickly.
Gmail and Google Drive connection
Your Gmail has a two-way relationship with your Google Drive. Gmail uses your Google Drive memory to store your email attachments, and you should keep in mind that these email attachments make up a part of your Google Drive cloud space. On the other hand, Google Drive uses Gmail to send files.
If you have used Gmail, you may have seen an icon in the icon menu at the bottom of the box when writing an email from the Compose section. This icon that shows Google Drive will take you to your Google Drive space and you can choose from the files you have saved in that space and attach them to your email.
Connecting third-party services to Google Drive
As we said at the beginning of the article, Google Drive can connect to a large number of other services and you can use them in parallel. Google Drive works with all Google services under the name of G Suite (Google’s version of Microsoft Office) and connects with them, but in addition, there is a complete app store called G Suite Marketplace where you can find very useful tools and Connect it to Google Drive to make your work easier.
To connect to these applications, just click on the button with the plus sign (from the menu on the left side of the screen), after that the applications will be displayed with you, and after selecting the desired application, click on the Install option.
Of course, you can do the same thing through the file itself. Just right-click on the desired file, select Open from the opened menu, and click on Connect more apps to connect to the auxiliary service of your choice and open the file in it. For example, you can use attractive applications like Pixlr and edit your photos in Google Drive with it. Or use a tool like Sketchup and create 3D files.