Part 2: My Drive section - Are You Constantly Looking for Files in Your Google Drive?

Next up is the My Drive section in this multi-part series that is designed to help you orient yourself and/or your users in Google Drive.

The My Drive section of Google Drive

Tips for end-users and small businesses:

If there is one phrase that describes Google Drive's My Drive file storage space, it is: highly customizable. You decide what goes into your My Drive section. This means that your folder structure in your My Drive may look very different from mine, even if we collaborate on the same content as a team; this is because Google lets me organize content the way I want and you the way you want. Each user decides what to put into their My Drive and what not to put in there.

In the My Drive section you can have 2 kinds of content:

• Content that you created: folders, or Google native files, or files you uploaded (such as PDFs or Microsoft Office files, etc.).

👉If you go to Google Drive and just create (or upload) a file, it will get created (or uploaded) directly under the top-level My Drive.

👉If you go to Google Drive and access a folder and then create a file, the file will get created (or uploaded) in that particular folder.

 

Pro Tip 1: If you ever get confused about your My Drive folder structure, you can see it in its entirety if you click the tiny triangle/arrow next to My Drive on the left (see screenshot above).

Pro Tip 2: If you are inside a particular folder in My Drive and your head is spinning, wondering where exactly you are in a larger folder structure, you can look at the folder path at the top of your screen (directly under the search bar).

Pro Tip 3: When you see a small gray triangle/arrow, like the one next to My Drive, it invariably hides more content. Click it; open it up. It is likely to help you. (You will see a similar triangle/arrow in the right-hand side of the search box, too, facing down. That one will help you with your Google Drive searches. We'll talk about that in another post.)

• Content that got shared with you AND that you chose to add or shortcut into your My Drive.

Remember the Shared with me section we talked about last time? If there are files or folders you received in the Shared with me section that you use all the time, I recommend you adding a shortcut to them in your My Drive using the right-click menu. That should make it easier to access those files or folders on a regular basis.

Only accessing a file once or twice? Don't bother to add/shortcut it to your My Drive. That way you can avoid clutter.

So this is what I mean by "highly customizable." It is only your files/folders AND the files/folders belonging to others that you choose to show in the My Drive section that you will see there.

Pro Tip 4: If you are shortcutting a folder structure that you collaborate on into your My Drive, shortcut the top-most folder you have access to. This will help you keep your shortcuts to the minimum and see a more holistic structure.

For example, if you have a team folder structure like:

Team folder

|_ Project folder

|_ Project ABC collaborative work

|_ Project DEF collaborative work

avoid shortcutting the lower level Project ABC collaborative work or Project folder or loose files within; instead, shortcut Team folder (highest) so you can see the entire structure and contents.

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:

Pro Tip 5: Consider training your users on folder sharing best practices, such as:

Users who are new to the world of Google Drive often create files directly under their My Drive section and as time passes, they accumulate more and more files to a point where they feel that everything is cluttered and they are constantly looking for files.

Rather than sharing each file, they could consider sharing folders. OR

Sharing the top-most folder to the smallest audience and the deepest folder with the largest. (If they try the reverse, they may find themselves, needing to take away access rights at certain levels from those who are not privy to certain information. This is not only cumbersome, but also error-prone!)

For example, if you have a team folder structure like:

Management folder (share with management only)

|_ Team folder (from this folder down, share extra with internal working team)

|_ Project folder

|_ Project ABC collaborative work (from this folder down, share extra with a vendor if needed)

|_ Project DEF collaborative work (from this folder down, share extra with a vendor if needed)

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

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