Project management tool in Google Workspace

Tired of paying for a project management tool you barely use? Learn how Google Sheets can be your cost-effective alternative.

Is your current Project Management tool actually just a place where tasks go to die, because people have a hard time using it—and it's costly to maintain?

💎 Watch the video to see how you can use Google Sheets for project management without having to subscribe to and pay for yet another tool.

Google Sheets isn't just for numbers. It can be formatted to give you a clear Task View, a dynamic Timeline View, and even send Push Notifications to specific team members based on your criteria..

❓ Have you tried this? What do you think?

Need help with Google Workspace? Schedule a Discovery Session:

https://www.kloudgem.com/contact-us 

KloudGem tips: 

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

Send conditional notifications to your team members from Google Sheets tables

While each person can set notifications for themselves in Google Sheets, the more powerful notifications are the newer Conditional notifications in Google Sheets tables, because they allow you to set up email notifications to be sent to your team members when a cell has specific data in it, for example if their name is entered.

💎 Watch the video to see how to set this up.

❓ Have you tried this? What do you think?

Need help with Google Workspace? Schedule a Discovery Session:

https://www.kloudgem.com/contact-us 

KloudGem tips: 

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

Put AI Avatars to work in Google Vids

Do you spend countless hours re-recording videos, or are you camera shy? Maybe you just don't feel like getting camera-ready today? Let Google's friendly AI avatars help you out!

While showing your face in business videos can foster a stronger connection with your audience, clients, and prospects—especially for small business owners who are often the face of their brand—I understand that it's not for everyone.

Today, I want to talk about how to put AI avatars to work for you in Google Vids.

💎 Watch the video to see how to get your AI avatars to speak the words you wrote.

❓ What do you think?

Need help with Google Workspace? Schedule a Discovery Session:

https://www.kloudgem.com/contact-us 

KloudGem tips: 

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

Don't waste time checking files, get notified!

You are working with a team and you are waiting for your team members to update the status of their tasks or 

you keep looking in the project files to see if they have been filled out. 

Now, especially if you are a project manager, you likely do this daily, or even multiple times a day.

Did you know that you can save all that time by getting notified by email when updates are made to your files?

💎 Watch the video to see how to set this up.

❓ Have you tried this? What do you think?

Need help with Google Workspace? Schedule a Discovery Session:

https://www.kloudgem.com/contact-us 

KloudGem tips: 

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

Infinite version history in Google files

Has it ever happened to you that a file got changed (either by you or someone else) and now you wish you could go back to the version from a week ago?

You can do that in Google files. Today, we dive into the wonderful world of detailed version history in Google files.

💎 Watch the video to see how you can find what was changed in a Google file, and/or revert to an earlier version.

❓ Have you tried this? 🔎

Need help with Google Workspace? Schedule a Discovery Session:

https://www.kloudgem.com/contact-us 

KloudGem tips: 

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

Be a detective in Google Drive

If you need to find out details about a file in Google Drive, like who it's shared with, who created it, when and who modified it last, how big it is, etc. Do you know where to look for that info?

In this video, I'll show you a tiny but mighty little icon in Google Drive that holds all the info about a file. This is another tool for Sherlock Holmes when it's needed.

💎 Watch the video to see how you can find out about the history and activities that happened to a Google Drive file.

❓ Have you tried this? 🔎

Need help with Google Workspace? Schedule a Discovery Session:

https://www.kloudgem.com/contact-us 

KloudGem tips: 

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

Where to store files in Google Drive so you company doesn't lose track of key files

It's not enough to designate Google Drive as your main file storage at your company. Pay close attention to how your users understand and use this storage space.

When users are not trained, we have seen:

• Lost or inaccessible files
• Unnecessary downloads and uploads, leading to:
• Storage increase 
• Version control issues 
• Lack of accuracy 
• Non-collaborative work 
• Wasted time 

So here is a quick overview of the main differences and pros and cons of the two sections of Google Drive

My Drive

and

Shared drives 

If any of the issues look familiar, we are here to help with your document management strategy.

Common pitfalls in Google Drive

Google Drive is the built-in file storage system in Google Workspace, and seemingly there is not much else to say about it, one would think especially because a lot of employees are familiar with it from their private usage through their Gmail accounts — but time and time again, we work with companies who have run into operational dead-ends with it when they didn't pay close attention to how their users understood and used this storage space specifically in the work environment.

💎 Watch the video to see a comparison of the two sections of Google Drive: My Drive and Shared drives — and common pitfalls.

❓ Which part of Google Drive do you use?

Fun fact: 

In this video, you'll also see first hand a couple of new features in Google Workspace in action: 

• The illustrative image on the Common pitfalls slide and on the thumbnail of the video was generated using Gemini in Google Slides. 
• This video was created with the help of Google Vids; drop us a line if you would like to learn how. 😀

Need help with Google Workspace? Schedule a Discovery Session:

https://www.kloudgem.com/contact-us 

KloudGem tips: 

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

The cost of a download, a cautionary tale

 

Did you know that users not knowing how to use #googledrive effectively can actually cost your company in storage? 💵 (And in person hours.) 

❓ What does your company's storage cost look like?

When employees treat Google Drive files as if they were offline and upload/download them, and send them by email, they create version control issues and generate unnecessary storage costs. 

📂 Version control issues: When multiple employees upload different versions of the same file, it can be difficult to track which version is the most up-to-date. This can lead to errors and rework, which can cost your company time and money. 

🌩️ Storage costs: Every time a file is uploaded to Google Drive, it takes up storage space. And when employees send files as attachments instead of sharing them, they're using up even more storage space in Gmail.

These costs can add up quickly. 

So, what can you do to reduce the cost of ineffective Google Drive usage?

🤝 Offer information management consultation and training. 

☁️ Once your employees are trained, encourage them to use Google Drive for most of their file storage and collaboration needs.

By following these tips, you can reduce the cost of ineffective Google Drive usage and improve the productivity of your employees. 😀

KloudGem is happy to help: 💎 https://www.kloudgem.com/

Blocking spam in Google Drive

This week's video was actually inspired by a spam file that was shared to me the other day in Google Drive, and I thought I would create a video about how I dealt with it. If you ever received files from a random stranger in Google Drive, this video walks you through exactly what you need to do to block a share:

💎 Watch the video.

❓ Have you tried this life hack?

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 

Who is this file shared with anyway? (cont'd)

Last time we talked about labeling files within the filename field to indicate the level of sharing. This is great for people who use the gmail.com version of Google files or if they are on the Google Workspace Business Starter edition.

But from Business Standard Edition up, you have the ability to use a more robust feature called Labels in Google Drive to fulfill the need to mark files that are shared externally.

💎 Watch the video to see how to set up the ability to Label file in Drive.

❓ Have you tried the badge labels or the standard labels? Which kind of labels do you like more. What do you use them for?

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 

Who is this file shared with anyway?

"Wait, did I share this file with the client or is this the file with my internal-only scribblings?" Do you ever ask yourself this question? I used to… All. The. Time.

It's not immediately obvious from Google Drive or even from inside a file whether it's shared with people outside of your company, for example with clients – or whether it was meant for internal eyes only. And there is not even an option to search for externally shared files from the user interface of Drive. 🤔

In this week's video, I share a tip for how to make your life easier in this department.

💎 Watch the video to see the tip.

Next time, we'll talk about a new feature that's available in select Google Workspace editions that address this need, but in a bit of a different way.

❓ Have you tried this or a similar method? What works for you?

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 

Sometimes It's the Little Things...

Sometimes it's those little things that make a BIG difference, isn't it? This week, Google released the ability to use the trusty old CTRL C for copying, CTRL X for cutting, and CTRL V for pasting keyboard shortcuts in Google Drive. So you will be able to manage and organize your files so much more easily. For Macs, of course, you use the Command key instead of the CTRL key with these shortcuts.

💎 Watch the video to see the keyboard shortcuts in action. 

The description of the video also contains a full list of shortcuts.

❓ Have you tried these keyboard shortcuts?

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 

Do You Need a Final Approval on Your File?

One of the superpowers Google files have is their collaborative aspect: you can make suggestions, or you can comment on a file back-and-forth with colleagues, fine-tuning it until the file becomes finalized. But sometimes you need a bit more formal approval. Google recently introduced a new feature called Approvals to help with this. 

(This feature is available in certain Google Workspace editions: https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2021/11/request-and-review-formal-document.html)

💎Let me show how the Approvals feature works in this week's video.

❓ Have you tried this Approvals feature yet? What do you think about it? Drop me a Comment to 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 

Scanning Multiple Pages Without a Scanner (Android)

Scanning is one of my least favorite activities, especially when it comes to multipage documents. Blech... If you are like me, I am sure you'll be equally excited to learn that the Google Drive app on Android phones has the scanner built in!

💎 Watch the video about how to scan multiple pages with your Google Drive app on Android.

❓ Did you try this method of scanning? What do you think? Let me know in the Comments here or over on YouTube.

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: Leave Yourself a Comment

Keeping track of your to-do list and action items can be tricky. Even if you write down what you need to do, you often actually have to go into your files, and figure out where you left off or what changes you were going to make and exactly where.

Tips for end-users and small businesses:

💎 Leaving a Comment for yourself in a Google file can actually help you achieve a number of things all in one:

• Setting an action item.

• Keeping track of action items/to-do list: action items can be searched for in Google Drive easily from the Search options.

• You will know exactly where and what needs to be done, down to the letter.

• You can even add reference materials to your Comments so you have everything in a single place.

💎💎 If you @ or + mention yourself, you can get an email that can then be sent to your Google Tasks list and even allocated on your Google Calendar on a specific day. And this way, you have a workflow!

So don't be shy about leaving Comments and conversing with yourself in Google files.

Tips for mid-size companies and large enterprises:

💎 Commenting can come in handy even in larger organizations the same way as above. 

💎 This is  a powerful tool to get work done collectively, as a team -- ideal for teams who are remote and/or distributed geographically and have to work across time zones.

❓ Do you use the Comment functionality?

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