I'm Dreaming of a Virus-Free 2021! Happy Online Holidays!

As we are waiting for 2020 to come to a close, it seems like the New Year, with new promises, can't come fast enough. I wish for each of you good health and a better 2021! I hope that despite this trying year, you enjoy the holiday season or at least some relaxing downtime.

For my family, this year's holidays are bringing even more Google Meet video conferencing than normal, as we connect with relatives and friends nearby and around the globe.

Thank you for staying with me for the blog posts throughout this year. I hope they are helpful to you. Some of you have reached out to me by email for a deeper dive into certain areas of Google Workspace, and I truly appreciate your business. As you know, this is my passion; I am more than happy to help you become a power user of the Google tools.

For the rest of December, I am going to take a bit of time off from work and blog posts; I will be back with new tips in January.

See you again in 2021! Happy Online Holidays! Stay safe and well!

All best,

Gabriella

Need a Google Workspace expert for your organization's digital transformation and change management? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com 

Bypass the New-IT-System-Growing-Pains and Go Straight to Productivity

Every organization, small or large, who doesn't have a Google Workspace change management expert, goes through a period of learning and experimentation when they first adopt Google Workspace (formerly G Suite). For example, without a knowledgeable guide, it takes users some time to harness the power of Google Drive so they don't have to work with a sea of unorganized documents or to tame Gmail for business purposes. The good news is that you don't have to go through those growing pains with your digital transformation if you have a tried-and-true blueprint for getting people acquainted with the tools, best practices, and establishing team norms.

💎 Below are the 5 most important concepts that you should introduce your users to, sooner rather than later, as you start working in Google Workspace:

1. Information security:

1. Establish norms for using only business accounts for work. 

2. Ensure that everyone understands how to keep Google Accounts (e.g., Google Workspace and Gmail) separate and avoid tangled sign-ins by using different browsers, or better yet, separate Chrome profiles. 

3. Ensure that users know how to check which account they are signed into.

2. Make sure that users know how to access their Google Workspace tools easily.

3. Teach users about Gmail automation for organizing their emails.

4. Encourage leveraging linkability between Google tools and files to avoid duplication and facilitate collaboration.

5. And most importantly, for Google Drive: 

1. Give an overview about the functionalities in Google Drive, 

2. Share best practices for keeping files (individuals' and team files) organized, and 

3. Ensure understanding of how to work with non-Google files (e.g., Microsoft files) in the Google environment.

Need a Google Workspace expert for your organization's digital transformation and change management? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

No-Cost Extra Email Addresses for Your Google Workspace Domain

Did you know that you can set up extra email addresses for your company on your Google Workspace domain without any extra cost overhead? 

When you run a business, you will at some point find that you need not only your own personal business email address, but maybe a generic email (info@), or a support email address (support@), or one for sales (sales@) to funnel different kinds of messages. 

Whatever extra emails you may need, you can create these in 2 ways in Google Workspace. (Note that these are not user inbox-type emails. Hence they don't have costs associated with them; rather they are ways to manage incoming emails.)

💎 1. Create them as aliases to your personal business email account, under the Users section in the Admin Console, within your user profile.

OR

💎 2. Create them, with a vision for growing and scaling up your business, as Google Groups for Business emails. One way to do this is: you can access Groups from the Admin Console and create an email address with settings that allow for incoming emails from outside of your domain. If you are a member of the Group, you will see incoming emails right in your normal email inbox. 

This is just one of the many functionalities of Google Groups -- which is one of the key pillars of the flexibility that Google Workspace allows. 

💎 Bonus KloudGem:

As you grow, you can even enable collaborative inboxes that allow for a team of your employees to triage emails in the Google Groups for Business interface -- like in a light-weight support ticketing system.

Need help taming your Google tools or training your users? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

Thanksgiving 2020 -- Remotely

 

We are approaching a Thanksgiving that will be like no other we have seen; you might be trying to find ways to connect with family, friends, and coworkers safely. This week I wanted to offer tips for doing just that -- remotely:

💎 Meeting application:

While the Google Meet available to free gmail.com can be tricky to use with non-Google accounts, the Meet in Google Workspace offers the option to invite any email address, and they will be able to join without any account signup.

Google Meet works with the current version of the browsers listed below:

Chrome Browser
Mozilla Firefox
Microsoft Edge
Apple Safari

(Meet has limited support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 11; Microsoft Edge provides a better Meet experience. If you want to use Internet Explorer for Meet, you need to install a plugin. Download and install the latest version of the Google Video Support plugin: https://www.google.com/tools/dlpage/hangoutplugin ) https://support.google.com/meet/answer/7317473#browsers 

💎 Devices:

While seeing everyone on a laptop or desktop screen is great, you can also access the meeting through your tablet or phone; you will need to download the Google Meet app.

💎 Inviting people:

• My favorite way to invite people is through a Google Calendar (https://calendar.google.com) invite. If turned on in the Admin Console, your meeting links will be automatically added to the invite when you drop in the invitees' email addresses. You can choose whether people can invite others or see each other's contact info.
• For a more impromptu gathering, you can also create a meeting right in Google Meet (https://meet.google.com) and invite people on the fly from within the meeting.

💎 Seeing everyone on the screen:

If you don't see everyone on your screen, click the 3 dots in the lower right corner and access Change layout. Pick the Tiled view.

💎 To share your screen:

• Bring your mouse down to the bottom of the Meet window, and click Present now to share your screen.
• To play a video for the participants, click Present now and then A tab.

💎 Call in by phone:

Google Meet in Google Workspace also offers a call-in option by phone.

I hope these tips are helpful! I truly hope you have a pleasant Thanksgiving despite this incredibly challenging year we are in. Stay well!

I appreciate you being here! Any questions, let me know in the Comments.

Need help taming your Google tools or training your users? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

Chchchchanges Coming to Photos and Google Drive Storage in Google Workspace

Hm… This past week's change announcement in Google Workspace is not going to be popular:

As much as some of the recent improvements in Google Workspace have been very helpful, now come some less popular changes, albeit changes you need to be well aware of.

In Google Photos

Remember how you are able to upload photos to Google Photos in high quality, and that enables you to store unlimited photos without extra charge? Well, that's going away for photos you upload after June 1, 2021.

In Google's own words: "Starting June 1, 2021, any new photos or videos uploaded to Google Photos or Google Drive in High quality will count toward the storage limits for users in your domain. Currently, only photos and videos uploaded in Original quality count toward storage quotas. Please note that any photos or videos uploaded in High quality prior to June 1, 2021, will not be impacted by this change and will not count toward storage limits."

https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2020/11/changes-to-google-workspace-storage.html

In Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, and Jamboard

A similar change is coming to other Google products. One of the best reasons to keep your files in Google formats in Google Drive has been that you could create and store as many of them as you liked. Not after June 1, 2021.

"Starting June 1, 2021, any newly created Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, and Jamboard files will also count toward the storage limits for users in your domain. Existing files within these products will not count toward storage, unless they’re modified on or after June 1, 2021."

https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2020/11/changes-to-google-workspace-storage.html

What is a bit unclear is how to plan for this change. Not make changes to old files? What size can we expect our files will be? Currently, because Google isn’t showing us the sizes of the items we’re allowed to store without limit, there is not much of a reference point. For enterprise customers who are already paying for large storage, this may not have such a large impact; hard to tell yet, but how about the smaller fish?

Is there a sliver of a silver lining?

Since all good things must come to an end, impact aside, let's take a look at a bit of the silver lining….

💎 KloudGem 1:

After the storage changes, we will likely change habits: instead of making a copy of a Google file and create duplicates, we may leverage the powerful linkability of content.

💎 KloudGem 2:

After the storage changes, we are more likely to take time for periodic cleanup of our content to evaluate what could be discarded. And there will be help with that from Google: Manage files in your Google Drive storage - Google Drive Help

❓ How do you foresee this storage change impacting your business? I know I may need to spend some quality time with my Google storage periodically…

📝 As a side-note, if you use gmail.com accounts, you might want to check out these posts as well:

An update to storage policies across your Google Account

Updating Google Photos' storage policy to build for the future

Need help taming your Google tools or training your users? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

Reduce Your Video Conferencing Costs

Tips for end-users and small businesses:

As a business owner, I make a point of maximizing my usage of my Google Workspace (G Suite). Before considering a 3rd-party solution -- which usually means 

overhead -- I try to ensure I am using what I have and already pay for. This not only results in tools that are seamless with my current experience but also in cost savings. The prime example of such cost savings is my use of Google Meet.

Since the increase in work from home due to COVID-19 restrictions, Google Meet has been rolling out feature after feature after feature, making it a viable and user-friendly substitute for other video conferencing tools. 

One of the newest features, available to most Google Workspace customers is the ability to blur or change your background, making it easier to work from (almost) anywhere.

💎 KloudGem 1:

To learn how to make Google Workspace (G Suite) tools work for you as you work from home, subscribe to my newsletter and get my WFH Guide free.

❓ Do you leverage Google Meet or pay extra for another video conferencing tool? Let me know in the Comments.

Tips for mid-size companies and large enterprises:

Have you taught your users yet about all the new Google Meet features and how they interact with Google Drive?

💎 KloudGem 2:

To see all the recent changes to Google Meet, check out this Help article.

❓ Have you seen a change in Google Meet usage by your organization as a result of the new features? Comment below.

Need help taming your Google tools or training your users? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

Shared Drives Just Got More Flexible

Let's face it, Google Drive's shared drives* have been a bit rigid in their structure -- until recently when folder-level sharing got rolled out. 

(*Shared drives are available in: Google Workspace Business Standard and Plus; Enterprise; Education and Enterprise for Education; Nonprofits; Essentials)

Tips for end-users and small businesses:

This new folder-level sharing feature rollout means that you can, for example, add a smaller set of people at the shared drive membership level (these people will be able to see everything within a shared drive) and then add extra people on the lower level folders (who will only be able to see content within and below those folders). 

Translating this into practical terms: collaboration across teams and -- if needed -- with non-domain accounts, will be smoother.

💎 KloudGem 1:

You want to however be aware that only people given Manager-level membership on a shared drive can share folders.

❓ How does your business's Shared drives use differ from its My Drive use?

Tips for mid-size companies and large enterprises:

Decide on the parameters you want to allow in your organization for sharing, create best practices -- for Google Drive in general, as well as specifically in Shared drives. Align these with the company's security ground rules. Then set your settings in the Admin Console and communicate to your users.

💎 KloudGem 2:

Get your users used to sharing with a small audience at the top folder or shared drive level and with a larger audience or external people at the lower folder or file levels. This is a best practice both for the My Drive and the Shared drives section of Google Drive.

❓ Does your organization use Shared Drives?

Need help taming your Google tools or training your users? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

Easier Sharing Files to Clients - Google Workspace

 A long-awaited feature was rolled out not too long ago in Google Workspace: sharing files with non-Google accounts, aka. Visitor sharing. What does this mean? It means that if this feature is enabled for your Google Workspace domain, you can directly share to -- and most importantly -- collaborate with non-Google accounts on files in Google Drive. 

Tips for end-users and small businesses:

Previously, when you wanted to share with non-Google/non-Gmail accounts, you had to choose between:

A) sharing with a link (which was viewable or editable by anyone to whom the link was sent or forwarded) 

or 

B) having the recipient be prompted to create a Google Account. 

However, when you work with clients, do you think they want your shared collaboration to be less secure (A) or be bothered to create a Google Account (B)? Nope.

And that is why Visitor sharing is a huge step in the direction of enabling powerful collaboration not just internally at a business, but also with clients; it has the potential to really allow businesses to work more seamlessly and grow.

💎 KloudGem 1:

Visitor sharing will prompt your file's recipient to enter a PIN code. This code is automatically generated and sent in a separate email to their email address.

💎 KloudGem 2:

Visitors will be asked to get and re-enter a new PIN after 7 days.

💎 KloudGem 3:

Visitor sharing does have limitations. Currently, you can only allow Visitor sharing for these kinds of Google Drive items:

Folders, Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Sites, Images, PDFs, and Microsoft Office files.

💎 KloudGem 4:

Visitor sharing is a Google Workspace (G Suite) feature; @gmail.com accounts don't have secure PIN sharing.

❓ How do you see this changing your client collaboration?

Tips for mid-size companies and large enterprises:

Has your organization felt like internal collaboration is smooth as butter, but external collaboration is very bumpy?  Visitor sharing will change that. Suddenly, there is no longer a need to jump through hoops to create a Google Account if the external collaborator does not already have one. It will eliminate the back-and-forth and time-consuming account setup.

❓ What will Visitor Sharing enable your organization to do?

Need help taming your Google tools or training your users? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

What's your biggest challenge with your IT/Google tools?

This week's post is a bit outside the regular programming. 

You are probably here because you know that helping businesses figure out their IT infrastructure and ensuring that they use their tools confidently is near and dear to my heart. I strongly believe that IT shouldn’t be pictured as some complicated, mystical thing that only the "techies" can understand or have access to.

Every day, I see businesses big and small struggling with their IT. They might be having trouble figuring out 

• what tools are must-haves, or 
• how to use what they have to the fullest extent, or 
• getting their users to feel comfortable with tools.

What are YOUR  IT struggles?

💎 I want these posts to respond to your needs, so feel free to get out your virtual pen and paper and leave me a comment with your biggest challenge with IT and Google tools.

Thank you, and I look forward to tackling some of these challenges in upcoming posts!

All best,

Gabriella

Need help taming your Google tools or training your users? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

"What's in a name?" - Google Workspace

This week we are discussing a new pivoting point in the history of G Suite, namely its rebranding to Google Workspace last Tuesday (October 6, 2020).

💎 KloudGem 1:

The editions currently available for G Suite will be redistributed into more fine-grained tiers. Just to give an example, you will be able to record video meetings and screenshares in a more economical pricing tier.

💎 KloudGem 2:

Google is asking G Suite accounts' primary admins to look out for an email (to be sent before October 16, 2020) that will outline your transition options to one of the above plans.

From a practical perspective, in the short term, this change will mean new tiers of editions:

Google Workspace Business Starter

Google Workspace Business Standard

Google Workspace Business Plus

Google Workspace Enterprise 

(https://workspace.google.com/pricing.html)

Google Workspace Is the New G Suite

Tips for end-users and small businesses:

Google aims to even better integrate its suite of productivity and communication tools, making the transition from one tool to another as seamless as possible. They are promising Google Workspace will be more than yet another name change for G Suite; it will be a true transformation.

💎 KloudGem 3:

The transformation itself is unlikely to be a one-day-to-another reveal, but a gradual rollout of new features, some of which we have already started seeing, for example with Gmail, especially in the mobile apps, where it's now easier to switch between email, chat/chat rooms, and video conferencing.

❓ What do you think? How do you see these changes impacting your business IT? Leave me a note in the Comments; I am curious to know.

Tips for mid-size companies and large enterprises:

Since the functionalities and editions currently available for G Suite will be redistributed into the above new tiers, you will get a chance to reevaluate what works best for your business needs and how you envision your business adopting them. With the new, more integrated toolset, take this also as an opportunity to reshape the way people in your organization work, and highlight the agility of communicating within the actual file you are creating or working in -- whether synchronously or asynchronously.

❓ What will these new features enable your organization to do?

Need help taming your Google tools or training your users? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

Part 10: Mind the Trash - Are You Constantly Looking for Files in Your Google Drive?

Changes are coming to how Google Drive is handling contents in My Drive's Trash:

The Trash Section in Google Drive

Tips for end-users and small businesses:

Both for Gmail and G Suite users, starting October 13, 2020, files that have been sitting in the My Drive Trash for 30 days, will get deleted. This is in line with how Shared drives (G Suite Business and up) and Gmail are handling deleted items.

💎 KloudGem 1:

You can restore items from the Trash by right-clicking them and selecting Restore. The content will go back to its original location once restored.

💎 KloudGem 2:

When you do searches in Drive, pay attention to small popup notifications in the lower left corner of your Google Drive. They may disappear quickly! Those are notifications that indicate that you may have content that matches your search, but the items are in the Trash. If you need to, re-do the search and watch for the notifications.

💎 KloudGem 3:

Note that when it comes to storage, files in your Google Drive Trash can take up storage space. If space is needed, delete them forever by right-clicking them and selecting Delete forever.

💎 KloudGem 4:

Generally speaking, Google files do not take up space, but other file formats do. To check what takes up storage space in your Drive, click on Storage.

❓ Is there anything else that keeps you scratching your head in Google Drive? Let me know in the Comments below.

Tips for mid-size companies and large enterprises:

Communicate about upcoming changes to the Google Drive Trash -- just in case your users rely on files in Trash to be restorable.

❓ Need help taming your Google tools or training your users? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com 

Part 9: Recent and Starred - Are You Constantly Looking for Files in Your Google Drive?

Last time, we talked about the Priority section of Google Drive, which is split into: Priority (the Google-determined content) and the Workspaces (the user-determined content) areas. Today's two sections in Google Drive are going to be a bit similar in nature:

The Recent and Starred Sections in Google Drive

Tips for end-users and small businesses:

The function of the Recent section in Google Drive is to surface files that you used most recently. It provides an easy way to find and open a file you have closed only to realize a bit later that you still need it.

The Starred section on the other hand, is almost like a bookmark. When you right-click (PC) or two-finger click (Mac) on a file or folder in Google Drive and select Add to Starred, you are actively bookmarking the item for easy access.

💎 KloudGem 1:

You can also star a file directly from within the file by clicking on the Star icon next to its name.

💎 KloudGem 2:

You can even search among Starred items from the Search dropdown.

💎 KloudGem 3:

To remove a file/folder from the Starred section, right click/two-finger click on it in Google Drive and select Remove from Starred. Or in the case of a file, simply click the Star icon when you have the file open.

❓ Is there anything else that keeps you scratching your head in Google Drive? Let me know in the Comments below.

Tips for mid-size companies and large enterprises:

Show your users the Quick Access, Priority (Priority+Workspaces), as well as the Recent and Starred sections so they can access their content faster and work more efficiently in Google Drive.

❓ Need help taming your Google tools or training your users? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link:

https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

Part 8: Priority Section - Are You Constantly Looking for Files in Your Google Drive?

An area that often confuses users is the Priority section of Google Drive.

The Priority Section in Google Drive

Tips for end-users and small businesses:

The function of the Priority section in Google Drive is two-fold, and they both closely tie into our topic of finding your stuff in Drive:

• The top part, Priority, shows files that Google has determined you might need to access soon (similar to the Quick Access section that you can turn on or off using the Settings).
• The bottom part, Workspaces, shows files that you collate into topics yourself. Create a workspace or more (a topic or collection of files that you access frequently) and pull relevant files in (see screenshot). Or you can add files by right-clicking on them in a Drive file list and finding the option to Add to workspace. (Note that it is files, not folders, that you can add to a Workspace.)

💎 KloudGem 1:
You can set Priority to be your default landing area whenever you access Google Drive: see screenshot. You can also set this in Settings.

💎 KloudGem 2:
You can remove files from a Workspace from within the Priority section by hovering your mouse over a file and clicking the 3 dots next to it.

💎 KloudGem 3:
You can remove a Workspace itself by clicking its 3 dots in the Priority section.

💎 KloudGem 4:
Teach Google what you want to see by indicating if a Priority item that's automagically suggested (or a Quick Access item they suggested) is not helpful: right-click (on a PC) or two-finger click (on a Mac) to find the menu item Not a helpful suggestion.

❓ Is there anything else that keeps you scratching your head in Google Drive? Let me know in the Comments below.

Tips for mid-size companies and large enterprises:

Ensure your users know how the Priority section works. If a user unintentionally sets the Priority section as default view, without knowing its purpose, they may have difficulty finding their way around Drive to locate their files and folders.

❓ Need help taming your Google tools or training your users? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link:
https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

Part 7: Grid View/List View - Are You Constantly Looking for Files in Your Google Drive?

Today's tip is about an often-overlooked small button that can be of big help when looking for files in Google Drive.

The Grid View / List View Toggle Button in Google Drive

Tips for end-users and small businesses:

In the top right corner of Google Drive, look for the Grid view / List view button. If Google Drive is showing you a list, you'll see the button offer a Grid view, like below.

If Google Drive is showing you a grid of thumbnail pictures of the contents of the files, you'll see the button offer a List view, like below.

💎 KloudGem 1:

When you are searching for files in Google Drive, and you try to sift through the search results, it's sometimes more helpful to see them in a List view and other times more helpful to see them in a Grid view where you can see a thumbnail image of the contents so you can identify visually what you are looking for. The Grid view is especially helpful when you might have files that bear the same name, and you are confused about which one to keep and which one to delete, or which one to rename.

❓ Is there anything else that keeps you scratching your head in Google Drive? Let me know in the Comments below.

Tips for mid-size companies and large enterprises:

I have seen the Grid view / List view button make a big difference in how fast users can find the content they were looking for in Google Drive. I recommend including this in training for users.

❓ Need help taming your Google tools or training your users? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link: https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter

KloudGem website: https://www.kloudgem.com

Part 6: Google Drive Settings - Are You Constantly Looking for Files in Your Google Drive?

Do you wish your Google Drive files could be used offline? Do you get annoyed when Google Drive converts your uploaded files into Google files without asking? Get ready to tame your Google Drive.

The Settings in Google Drive

Tips for end-users and small businesses:

If you want to make sure that your Google Drive behaves the way you want it to behave, spend some time in the Settings area under the gear icon.

In the General section, you'll see:

• What items take up space in your Google Drive. This can be helpful when you are low on space.

💎 KloudGem 1:

Remember that native Google files are not counted against your storage; only other files types are.

Convert uploads settings: If checked, Google Drive will try to convert your uploaded files to Google format. If you don't want that, just uncheck the box. You will still get the chance to convert uploads manually.

• Language settings
• Offline working settings: these enable you to create, open, or edit Docs, Sheets, Slides if you happen to be offline. You will be prompted to also install and enable the Google Docs Offline Chrome extension for this to work. For easy access to your extensions, click this icon in Chrome's top bar:  After that, just go to your Google Drive in Chrome and access your files as normal.

💎 KloudGem 2:

Be aware that not all file types can be edited offline. To check which ones are available offline, go to your Google Drive and the icon Ready for offline  and select Offline preview. Any files that are grayed out will not be editable offline (examples are Microsoft Office files, PDFs, Google Forms, Jamboard files, Google Sites.)

💎 KloudGem 3:

If you need to put non-Google files offline, you can do that with Google Drive Files Stream, which is a utility available to G Suite users.

• You will be able to adjust the look of your Google Drive in the Density settings. 
• In the Suggestions area, you can adjust whether you would like to turn on a bit of help from Google: to show files you might need (because you recently accessed it or that Google magically determines you might need to access soon). This is where you can turn on/off Quick Access or make the Priority section your landing area in Google Drive. We will talk more about the Priority section in an upcoming post.

In the Notifications section on the left, you'll see:

• Options to get emails and /or browser notifications about sharing and other events happening in Google Drive.

In the Manage Apps section on the left, you will see:

• What Google tools or 3rd-party apps have been connected to your Google Drive, and you can set some basic behavior for the apps, or even remove the apps you no longer need.

❓ Is there anything else that keeps you scratching your head in Google Drive? Let me know in the Comments below.

Tips for mid-size companies and large enterprises:

There is a fair amount of confusion and misconceptions among end-users about Google Drive. Two of the most common ones are the offline functionality and the conversion of uploaded files. Make sure that your users have a clear picture about what these behaviors look like in Google Drive and what controls they have at their disposal to change the behaviors. In a large collaborative environment also share the pros and cons of putting files offline.

❓ Need help taming your Google tools or training your users? Contact me for a free first consult: https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

Do you know someone who could use these KloudGem tips? Feel free to send them this link:

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KloudGem website: https://www.KloudGem.com