Since launching in 2012, Google Drive has evolved into one of the biggest file storage services in the world. Today, it hosts several terabytes of data and has an estimated 1.5 billion users globally.
Are you a new Google Drive user looking to learn more about its usage? Or are you an existing user who wants to improve your Google Drive skills? Below, we provide eight tips that will help you use Google Drive more efficiently.
Let’s start!
Locate all Google Drive shortcuts
Google Drive has several keyboard shortcuts that will help you navigate the platform with ease. The best part is, all Google Drive shortcuts are available on a single page which you can access through a shortcut: Pressing “Command” and “/” if you use a MacBook or “Ctrl” and “/” if you are on Windows.
Use Google Translate
Google Translate is integrated into Google Drive. As a result, you can easily translate a Google Drive document from one language to another.
To do this:
- Open a Google Doc file and proceed to the menu bar
- Click on “Tools”
- Click on “Translate Document”
- Select the language you want to translate the document to
After, you will immediately get the translated version of the document.
Convert image text into a document text
Google Drive features optical character recognition (OCR), which enables you to select and edit the text in an image.
To use this feature:
- Right-click the image with the text
- Select “Open with”
- Click on “Google Docs”
Google Drive will automatically create a new Doc containing the image and the extracted text.
Search for links on your Google Doc through URL Search
Like Microsoft Word, Google Docs enables you to select text and create a hyperlink. Moreover, it helps you to search for suitable websites to link your document to, if you don’t know where to link it to.
To do this:
- Open the document you want to insert a hyperlink into in your Google Docs
- Highlight the text you want to hyperlink
- Proceed to your toolbar and click on the hyperlink icon
- Google will automatically generate specific links, based on the highlighted text
- Go through these links and select the best fit for your document
Manage multiple versions of important files
Google Drive helps you to keep all the important versions of a file in progress.
To do this:
- Right-click on a file – PDF, image, or MS document
- Click on “Manage versions”
- Click “Upload New Version” in the pop-up window
- Repeat this process every time you want to create a new version.
Work in Google’s native format to optimize storage
Google’s native format is stored directly to the cloud, so it doesn’t take up any storage space. As a result, you should work on Google’s native format, like Google Sheets, Google Docs, and Google Drawing.
Convert Office and PDF files to Google Drive files
Google Drive enables you to convert Office and PDF files to Google’s native format.
To do this:
- Right-click on the Microsoft or PDF file you want to convert
- Click on “Open with”
- Select the appropriate document to open it
Optimize your search
Google Drive allows you to locate files easily through its search feature. But that’s not all.
Like Gmail search, Google Drive search supports Boolean operators, which help you to streamline your search. These Boolean operators include “to,” “from,” “title,” “and,” “or,” and “before.”