Productivity: Is Your Google Drive Flooded by Files That Seem to Be... Everywhere?

This week's Productivity tips are about Google Drive and your files and folders within.

Tips for end-users and small businesses:

💎💎 If there is one thing you want to remember about Google Drive it's being observant about where you are (which folder you are in), especially when you want to upload or create files. This can help you avoid headaches like "Where is that file I created yesterday?! I swear I put it in this folder!" You see, the +New button in Google Drive will create/upload a file in the location where you are at the moment that you click that button. So if you happen to be in your My Drive, then your file will be created there, but if you are inside a folder within Drive, then you might inadvertently create your file in that folder.

💎💎 Next, you will want to have a sense of the lay of the land: 

• Know that you can shape your My Drive space and folder structure the way you want it. 

• If you work in Google Workspace and use Shared drives, Know that everyone who is a member will see the same structure so you need to decide what structure supports all members' activities.

💎 Use the i con on the right to learn more about a file or folder, including its location and who modified it last.

💎 Fear not, if a file has been modified by accident since you last saw it, you can revert back to a previous version. Easy-peasy!

💎 Finding the link to most Google files is easy: grab it from the address bar. For non-Drive-editable files (like PDFs) though, you may need to go into the 3 dots menu in the preview under Share or from the right-click in Drive. Now you can link to those files directly, from anywhere.

💎 Use the Search options in the Search bar's dropdown at the right side of the box to find your content more efficiently.

💎 Create Shortcuts for easy access to files you don't own.

💎 Color code your folders.

💎 Put an emoji in a folder or file name for a visual cue. 💡

❓ Do you have a favorite tip among these? Leave a Comment for me. Or is there a tip you have that's not listed here? Do share.

Tips for mid-size companies and large enterprises:

💎 Use Shared drives for collaboration. Know the benefits of using it.

💎 Ensure that your users know how to be conscious about where they are creating files in Google drive.

💎 Make sure your employees are familiar with the best practices and tips above.

Need help with Google Workspace? Contact me for a free first consult: 

https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

KloudGem tips: 

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

Productivity: Harness Your Time!

"If it's not scheduled, it's not real." 

-- Marie Forleo

This week in our Productivity series we are tackling Google Calendar.

Harness your time, take charge of the hours in the day: Block time on your Calendar. Here are some tips for getting the most out of your Google Calendar. You don't have to use them all by any means; try them out and see which ones move the needle for you in getting things done.

Tips for end-users and small businesses:

💎 Use Reminders:

Set Reminders for activities.

💎 Use the integrated Google Tasks:

Use the Google Tasks overlay in Google Calendar to schedule to-do list items for certain days or times.

💎 Use colors for visual cues for yourself:

Color code your calendars and events: use different colors for different types of events to prioritize or categorize your events. This is set individually by each user. (For example: make work events one color and family events another.)

💎 Public holidays and other useful calendars:

Use the Other calendars section to look for and add, for example, calendars for public holidays.

💎 Joint or group Calendar:

Use a joint secondary calendar with your family or with people you work with to create a joint schedule and indicate common activities.

💎💎 View all your Calendars in one view:

If you use a personal Gmail Calendar alongside your Google Workspace Calendar, access your Gmail Calendar, and in the Settings and sharing, allow View access to your Google Workspace account. (View access is enough for starters.) This will allow you to see your two schedules in one view. (However, when you add events, develop the habit of always putting events on the relevant calendar to keep work and life separate.)

💎💎 Automatic Google Meet link:

Never forget to add a video conference link: set up your Google Calendar so that Google Meet links are automatically added.

💎 Appointment scheduler:

If you use Calendly (3rd party appointment scheduling system), you can get it to look at more than one Google Calendar schedule when determining open spots. Also set the automatic Google Meet link here, too.

💎 Show another time zone in your Calendar:

Do you work with people in other time zones? Add the one you work with most frequently into your Calendar view to make it easy to schedule meetings without the math. You can set this in the Settings.

💎 Select the day that you prefer to start your week in the Settings.

💎 Block fun time, down time, focused work time to make most of your day.

Tips for mid-size companies and large enterprises:

💎 Calendar visibility:

In the Settings of your Calendar, enable some level of visibility into calendars for colleagues to make it simple to schedule.

💎 Working hours:

Set working hours and days.

💎 Out of office:

Mark out of office time to make sure people know you are OOO.

💎 Appointments:

Setting up Appointment slots within the organization can reduce the time for coordinating meetings.

💎 Enable Room Bookings:

Give the ability for users to be able to book rooms in your buildings through Google Calendar.

❓ Do you have a favorite tip among these? Leave a Comment for me. Or is there a tip you have that's not listed here? Do share.

Need help with Google Workspace? Contact me for a free first consult: 

https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

KloudGem tips: 

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

Productivity: Heeelp! Email overload!

Heeelp! Email overload! Does anyone else feel like emails come in at a faster rate than you could ever read them? And while Gmail's spam filter is pretty good about catching the spam, I still get So. Much. Other. Email. Newsletters (not all of which are as helpful as this one! ;)), invitations, automatic updates, and of course emails from actual people that I care to respond to -- which become hard to find among the aforegoing.

This week I want to look at all the features that Gmail has that can support you spending more time on productive things and less in your inbox.

💎 Automatic sorting and filtering:

Behind the scenes of the simple-looking search box of your Gmail inbox, there are advanced Search options that can turn your search query into an automatic cleaner-upper. Let's say you want to compartmentalize newsletters: apply a label to them and skip the Inbox. This way, they won't clutter up your inbox, but get directly filed away under a label. (You can set aside regular time on your Google Calendar to read these newsletters.)

Now, before you go ahead and create that filter, keep in mind that the basis of every good filter is a good search query. So find some unique information in the newsletters that you can search for that's common across those particular newsletters, drop down the Search options and input your search criteria with the common information. Check the search results to make sure the search is picking up the correct emails before you go back into the Search options to create the filter. You can set up more than one filter that applies the same label. Filters by default apply going forward (that will keep your inbox organized), but don't forget to check the box to apply them to already existing conversations (that's the cleaner-upper feature!).

💎 Follow-up label(s):

In addition to filtering, I also like to flag my emails with my label "Follow-up." I color it red so it stands out in the sea of emails. In fact, I have two kinds of "Follow-up" labels: one for time-sensitive follow-ups (red) and one for less urgent ones (green).

💎 Stars and symbols:

For occasions when I find myself with too many Follow-ups, I might also add colorful stars to the ones I need to tackle first. You can customize your stars and symbols in the Settings area.

💎 Priority Inbox:

Some people prefer the Priority Inbox, where they define the categories they want to see. Personally, I like the idea of a Priority Inbox, but the space limit for each pane has me prefer the Default view instead and I manage my email with filters, labels, and stars.

💎 Right-side chat:

Because I use many labels to automatically and manually organize my Inbox, I prefer to have my Chat appear on the right-hand side, enabling me to see more of my lovely labels on the left. :)

💎 Reading pane:

If you prefer zipping through your emails à la Outlook format, you can turn on vertical or horizontal split for a reading pane.

💎 Snooze:

When I don't have enough information or time to reply to an email right away, I like using the Snooze functionality. This takes the email out of my Inbox clutter and brings it back at the day and time of my choice.

💎 Send to Tasks:

Alternatively, I can Send an email to my Tasks list, put a date and time on when i need to do it, and archive the email to take it out of my Inbox. Tasks also have the ability to surface in Google Calendar, making it easier to more visually allocate one's to-do list items.

💎 Scheduled send:

Finally, when I feel self-conscious about sending an email at 1am :P, or if I don't want to flood someone's inbox while they are asleep, I can schedule an email to be sent at a particular time.

💎 Bonus tip:

One of the biggest helpers in keeping my sanity with emails is using a separate email address for shopping. :) Shopping online often generates sales emails, and I don't want those cluttering my non-shopping email address.

❓ Do you have a favorite tip among these? Leave a Comment for me. Or is there a tip you have that's not listed here? Do share.

Need help with Google Workspace? Contact me for a free first consult: 

https://www.kloudgem.com/get-in-touch/contact  

KloudGem tips: 

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