Make Your Downloads Uploads with Google Drive for Desktop (formerly File Stream)

"Make your downloads uploads? Huh??"

Hear me out; it's actually not as complicated as it sounds, and learning this trick will save you a lot of time.

So, you have decided to use Google Workspace; you like the idea of storing your files in Google Drive where they always remain accessible, and safe from a poorly timed computer hard drive crash.

Great. But what about those files that you download from the web? What do you do with those? Those will have to sit on your hard drive until you can carve out enough time to upload them into a folder in Google Drive that you haven't yet created… And so these downloads accumulate.

Well, not if you have downloaded Google Drive for desktop. This is a small program from Google that creates a bridge to Google Drive and allows you to save your downloaded file directly to Google Drive.

Here is how it goes:

Install Google Drive for desktop:

1. Download and install Google Drive for desktop from here (ignore the other tools mentioned on the page).

Set your Chrome Settings in a way that Chrome will always ask you where you want to save your downloads:

2. To make it easy finding that setting, copy-paste the below into your Chrome address bar, and it will take you right to that setting:

chrome://settings/downloads

3. Turn on the toggle Ask where to save each file before downloading. This ensures that you get a prompt to decide where to save each file you download.

At the time you start a download:

4. When you get that prompt to choose a location for a file you are downloading, navigate to your Google Drive and select the folder (or create one) in the Google Drive location of your choice.

5. When you hit Save, your file will automatically upload itself to the Google Drive folder location you chose; no extra action required.

How cool is that? Two birds with one stone. Such a great time saver!

Other Google Drive for desktop (aka. File Stream) posts you may be interested in:

https://blog.kloudgem.com/2020/05/file-stream-bridge-between-google-microsoft.html 

https://blog.kloudgem.com/2021/02/seamless-bridge-google-drive-for-desktop.html 

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  

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