Google Drive Tips and Tricks to Save You Time

Want to save time when using Google Drive? Want to make editing your documents easier and managing your folders simpler? In today's video, Scott Friesen shows you the best Google Drive tips to help you be the master of all your files.
0:28 Create a new file from the browser address
2:20 Add text to your docs with voice control
4:50 Find and insert links without leaving the file
6:50 Organize folders with colors
8:30 Send large files via Gmail without size limit
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Scott Friesen is a productivity specialist and founder of Simpletivity training and consulting. He is also a prolific public speaker, workshop leader, and time management coach.
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#simpletivity #googledrive #drivetips

[@swworrellsr2]

Great tips Scott! #5 was especially helpful and one I never thought of before. Thank you! As always, very well done and great presentation!

[@brysencristian988]

You prolly dont give a shit but does anybody know of a method to get back into an instagram account..? I was stupid lost my login password. I appreciate any assistance you can offer me.

[@lyndayoung8761]

All 5 tips were new to me. Thank you Scott.

[@macky2green]

*_Creating new files, linking texts and sending files via e-mail are absolutely very helpful. Thank you so much for sharing._*

[@Bittersweetirony]

I use Google Drive EVERY day in my freelance biz. Thanks so much for this video 🙏 You're gonna save me so much time!

[@JamesStrickland]

Wow, these tips were gold! The doc.new feature blew my mind. I guess you could make it a bookmark on the bookmark bar and make the process even faster. Also, I didn't know you could add multiple files into an email at one time with the drive. The other tips I use but these were great. Thanks for making drive a little more simple "Pun Intended".

[@susanfree1916]

Great help! Liked the color coding files idea best!

[@Simpletivity]

Great to hear!

[@lorihouston3292]

That inserting link search feature while in a doc was new to me. That will help a lot!

[@zualapips1638]

As a college student, Google drive is one of the most important things. Google drive is my main storage for college related stuff and also where I create documents and presentations. I never thought it could get any easier so I really appreciate all of these tips. They're actually useful. Subscriber.new

[@Simpletivity]

Thanks so much for sharing your feedback!

[@allanbray939]

Great useful tips, can't wait to put them into practice, Thanks again.

[@rsainz1296]

Very useful tips, yes, timesavers! Your presentations are clear, not rushed, easy to understand. Thank you

[@Simpletivity]

You are most welcome. Thanks for watching!

[@lesliemclaughlin1689]

Great tips - love the new way to open new docs and color coding the files! Will use immediately

[@Simpletivity]

So glad you enjoyed this one, Leslie.

[@roomiirani]

Thanks Scott for sharing these tips. I've been putting off a project which needs some thought into it and your tip to convert voice to text on docs is just what I needed to complete it. Awesome! Great videos on your channel.

[@Simpletivity]

All the best with your project!

[@gregoryunderwood4121]

Brilliant thank you!! I will definitely be using the quick access to new docs and sheets in the address line! Once again, you've saved me a LOT of time. ❤️🏆

[@Simpletivity]

You are very welcome!

[@naveendahiya144]

very helpful video. thanks

[@artpekarekiii4320]

Great job. Being productive does not mean being difficult. I love it. Great video.

[@shahabuzafarzubaer6919]

I loved the last tips extremely.

[@dominikoorosz6892]

I love all of the tips, i knew about the voice typing but didn't know about the rest . I'm very happy that i came across this video , thanks for you work :D

[@Simpletivity]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@UberHowie]

Thank you for showing these. I will definitely be using them.

[@byDsign]

Me too!

[@luckyashraf7284]

Great tips, thank you for sharing

[@jacquelinesamuda6547]

The tip about voice typing, is the best thing since sliced bread. I do a lot of video recordings on Screencast o matic, and I find scripting ensures that I cover all the necessary material unlike if I ad lib the content while capturing my screen. So this is good. It even understands and captures my Jamaican accent, which is even more marvelous. Great tip.

[@Simpletivity]

Thanks for sharing!

[@WilliamEStrawMD]

Great Tips and Tricks. I have a grammar correction. Instead of saying using LESS clicks, you should have said FEWER clicks. Thanks

[@Simpletivity]

Thanks for the feedback, William.

[@mohsinfareed1797]

Great man with great tips as usual. I never miss your videos

[@Simpletivity]

You are too kind! Thanks so much for watching and sharing.

[@Radiance70]

Love the create links and the sharing over email!

[@Simpletivity]

Glad you like them!

[@edualcantara2022md]

Thank you for the tips.

[@Simpletivity]

You bet!

[@Trusted_Advisor]

liked them all - thanks,

[@raquelvergara7369]

Thanks sir, very useful tips!

[@Simpletivity]

Most welcome!

[@vivjuly9]

All 5 tips were very helpful and can be used daily for work or personal organizing your own google drive.

[@Simpletivity]

Thanks for watching and sharing!

[@APowerfulMoment]

Brilliant video!!!! TY sir!! My favorite was the browser shortcut to start a new doc. 😱😱

[@Simpletivity]

You are most welcome. Thanks for watching!

[@tridjo8059]

all 5 tips are excelente thank you

[@bapsnarendra]

Great useful tips

[@meharabbas4154]

very informative, thank you

[@Simpletivity]

You are welcome!

[@RicheBright]

Good video, I actually didn't know or realize about most of them. The last tip was particularly interesting-- and potentially extremely useful in the future.

[@Simpletivity]

Great to hear!

[@pamelagorsuch2969]

I liked the voice to text!

[@sandeepdc1]

all your videos have been quite amazing..they are informative in a true sense..i really like the doc.new, and insert link tip here in this video

[@Simpletivity]

So glad that you liked this one!

[@davidpetersen1]

A couple of good ones. thanks

[@Simpletivity]

You bet

[@ActivityMinistry]

Some shortcuts I jotted down to save viewers time: 1:27 - shortcut to open new files 2:50 - Voice to text 7:17 Add color to folders

[@reemaawal30]

Thank you so much. My favourite on was doc.new. It's going to save so much time :)

[@Simpletivity]

Glad it helped!

[@jessejames4444]

Thank you very much, usefull tips!

[@Simpletivity]

Thanks for watching!

[@JenricAquino]

Thank you for this video! 👊💯

[@Simpletivity]

You're welcome!

[@abdazizbinmustari2402]

Good video, thank you for sharing.

[@Simpletivity]

Thanks for watching!

[@dyosente20]

Wow! Awesome tricks! I am using some of it too

[@danniephillips5193]

#1 was great, I will definitely be using that a lot!

[@Simpletivity]

Great!

[@lorenzoarodriguez6048]

My favorite tip from this video was the voice typing tip!

[@nb3140]

Great video. I learnt a lot of new things today.

[@Simpletivity]

So glad to hear that!

[@thomasattanaro5093]

Just looked at some of your videos for using Google Keep and Google Drive. They are really going to help me get the most out of these. I discovered, though, that "voice record" on Drive is only available if you are using a Chrome browser

[@feed5750]

Great video! Can you find a way to visualize Google Drive as a tree structure or top-down map?

[@ivyengee]

Tip #1 has always been my question on my mind and was wondering if there was an extension to download or buttons to add to the toolbar. But it's as easy as typing in search bar wow

[@theresaheldt4819]

The color coded folders yeah!, thank you

[@yassinehadd1835]

thank you

[@DoctorKeo]

Good tips. All help me to move closer to dumping MS 365 Office. Thanks

[@Simpletivity]

You are most welcome!

[@publicontact2578]

Great Video, as always. To: anybody. I need all of my 27 folders but struggle with the coloring (as max. is 24). Is there a way of introducing an external color palette? Thanks in advance.

[@MarvW07]

Sharing large files using Google drive was the best tip for me.

[@Simpletivity]

So glad you liked that one, Marvin.

[@bethvance1]

Loved these tips! Ijust recently discovered the voice to text feature, and was able to "write" an entire 60 page book that I could then edit, add photos, etc. One problem I had with that was when I wanted to add quote marks. I was able to say Period, comma, new paragraph, with no problem, but not quote marks. Is there a way to do that in voice to text in google docs?

[@lucioprado8609]

TY Scott!! Very clear and productive tips new learning "space".

[@Simpletivity]

Glad it was helpful!

[@mirrorreflection3479]

Just like voice typing, is there text reader so it reads everything written as text for you ?

[@orelshema911]

VOICE TYPING! :-)

[@MKTutorials4u]

Thanks Scott for your tips. Can you make a video how to sync folder on my hard drive with my google drive and how to check whether all my files and folders are copies. What actually happens is that Google Sync makes it very slow and sometimes due to slow internet all my files are not copied and I have no clue whether all my files and folders are copied or not?

[@johnmulcahy9245]

One thing I've noticed about the Voice to Text is you get better results if you speak a little slower than normal and take care to pronounce more deliberately. I find the faster I speak and/or the less deliberate I am about my pronunciation, the more errors will be made. Another thing is the microphone will shut off (turn grey) automatically if you wait too long - it's a fairly short time, maybe 2 minutesish. One final thing is once you start doing any sort of formatting (bold, italics etc, etc, etc) within the document, the microphone will automatically shut off. You might have to click things twice to use them. As for a tip, if you prefer standing up &/or moving around while using Voice to Text, open the doc on both your computer and mobile device (I use my phone). You're now free to wander or position yourself as you like without going out of mic range, and you can use the computer to do any formatting/editing afterward using a bigger screen.

[@MarianoRodriguez]

They where all spectacular. Question: when sending via gmail, can the recipient download the file? Should I change the invitation to "edit" in order for the recipient to do it? Thanks!

[@Simpletivity]

You can allow them to download the file without giving them Edit permissions. Just select the gear icon on the share screen to make sure this is enabled (it usually is by default).

[@jcusters82]

Great tips Scott! One question: does the receiver of the Google drive share link need to have a Google drive account?

[@khalidmurii]

No ...☺

[@forhadrh]

Nice! :)

[@Simpletivity]

Thanks! 😄

[@ajaypatil047]

Very useful video. Thanks👍🏻. But I'm facing a problem that I'm unable to delete some folders,option of remove is not showing in there. How should I remove such files & folders.

[@umarlatif4251]

Nice

[@ajaycan]

the last tip! inserting and sharing large files

[@chewieonthefarm9332]

Thanks for the great tips!

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Hubbell

[@kushendriyadiwahab]

Can we synchronize old account drive with new account with drive or how to transfer from old account to new account.

[@HarryOrenstein]

Google Drive share link. However my question always is, with all the plethora of "productivity apps" (if one is living in the Googlesphere) when does one decide to go outside Google - ie using Evernote?

[@urvishshah2345]

How can transfer folders containing large files from one Google drive account to another Google drive account ?

[@hp.8]

👌🏼👌🏼

[@tmpatklk]

Thank you, Scott. Another great video! I use the following extension to start a new doc, sheet or slide file: chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-docs-quick-create/bldgenmjegcnjebiongilahhcjldgmlm That way, I only have to click on the icon to do so. I use the colored folder system which you recommended in a past video. It works well for me.

[@csfontaine]

What is the fastest way to upload a folder to google drive? Should I zip the folder first? Or can I just select the folder and say upload a zip file of it to google drive?

[@carlosenafricasud]

The last tip, what about if my big files are located in my computer?

[@YINGYINGP]

How we use google Drive Backup KZbin videos. can you be very slowly share it ? as I have a youtube account, I want to backup my videos use google drive. Thank you .Yingying

[@sergebedin9448]

How safe is link sharing? It is assumed that anybody with the link will have access to the files. Do you know if there is a way to removed the sharing link?

[@Simpletivity]

Yes, you can always remove the sharing link if desired.

[@gokulnaththeboss08]

How to make them stop access to my drive files which I have sent?

[@HemingLeira]

Or use Google assistent: "OK Google . Create a new document"

[@NJ-750]

great video but it was hard of hearing. I had to be on 75% volume to hear the video. Great content.

[@willieperskin2773]

How do you add multiple emails to send on a fillable form

[@Simpletivity]

Within Google Forms, select the Send button and then you can add multiple email addresses.

[@kimcramer]

Is the microphone in tools not available to everyone? I went to tools in my google doc and I don’t see what you see

[@edualcantara2022md]

Kimberly Cramer I suggest you use Google Chrome- it's not available on Microsoft Edge.

[@modnar246]

Are you the same guy talking in khan academy?

[@Simpletivity]

No, but you're not the first to ask. :)

[@Radiance70]

create new ones does not work when you have more than one Google account

[@jjsaspo1]

I love doc.new but is anyone else having trouble naming the document? Populating the search menu doesn't keep my title.

[@jjsaspo1]

OOPS! I figured out what I was doing wrong!! Pls disregard.

[@steph291]

OMG ! lol jesus

[@ZapieL]

DO NOT USE google drive it is very slow. I tried to use it on my mobile and pc... Sync beatwen them is very slow, about 2+ minutes for 30kb 1 file. It is a shame. I need sync some files on mobile-pc but and I need fast sync, about 5-10sec.

[@Simpletivity]

That does seem very slow. Could it possibly be your connection speed?

[@JohnGibsone]

Another great video Scott - thanks. Just yesterday I finished a workshop on Drive (etc.) at my local SeniorNet. I passed a link to this to the attendees as I found it very useful and interesting - and it covered some things I wasn't aware of. You're always learning!