5 Things You Might Not Know Google Drive Can Do.
Google Drive is a free set of software tools that can save you hundreds of
dollars. Google Drive means your documents, spreadsheets, presentations and
forms are available on any internet-connected computer, tablet or smartphone
you use. And it’s got more than a few nifty features you might not realize are
available to you. Here’s a look at five of them.
1. Mass Collaboration
With Google Drive, up to 50 (!) people can collaborate
on a document in real time. No more emailing files back and forth, or coping
with version-control headaches,
You can be working on the intro paragraph while
someone else tweaks the summary, and another person checks and corrects the
figures in the middle of the document. You can be logged in and collaborating
on your tablet, while someone else chips in on their computer. The options are
practically endless.
To collaborate on a document, the doc’s owner just
needs to choose Share from the File menu on a computer. People can drop in
and out of the editing process. All changes are shown and saved as they happen,
in real time. There’s even a dedicated in-document chat.
2. Revision History
With Google Drive, you can see every change you or
anyone else has made to a document. Changes are color-coded so, for example,
one person’s edits might appear in green and another’s in blue. Need to go
back to the drawing board, or a time before the most recent set of tweaks? You
can revert back to a previous iteration of a document in one easy click.
In Google Drive on your computer, just click See revision history in the File menu. You’ll see all revisions
– listed chronologically – in the panel on the right. Click a revision to
see what was changed, and then click Restore
this revision to revert
to that version of the document.
3. Picture Perfect
Google Drive is the perfect place to store your
photos. If you've installed the Photos app on your smartphone, you’re already
backing up every photo you take to your Google Drive, anyway. On your computer,
go to photos.google.com, log in with your
Google account and you can edit your images, too. Just click on a picture, then
choose Edit, and gain access to some pretty
powerful (and yet very easy to use) image-editing options, including trendy
filters and the surprisingly un-cheesy frames.
4. Email Ninja
G-mail, part of Google Drive, is a powerful email
option. If you’re just looking for a simple, free email inbox, you've got it.
If you want to dig a little deeper, though, and uncover some Gmail keyboard
shortcuts, you’ll find you’re well-covered.
First, turn on keyboard
shortcuts by logging in
to your G-mail account, going in to Settings and turning Keyboard Shortcuts on. Here are just a few handy
favorites. Visit the Google knowledge base for the full list.
c = Compose a new message
CTRL + Enter = Send a composed message
e = Archive a conversation
+ or – = Mark a conversation as important (+) or
unimportant (-)
# = Move a conversation to the trash
! = Report a message as spam
j and k = In the main inbox, move down (j) or up
(k) one message
x = In the main inbox, toggle the checkbox on a
selected message
5. Offline Access
For all its benefits, the cloud has an Achilles heel:
an internet connection is required. With Google Drive, though, going offline
doesn't mean all your stuff becomes suddenly inaccessible. Even if you’re
flying across the Atlantic with no online access, you can still get stuff done.
How? Simple.
In the Docs app on your smartphone or tablet, long
press on a file name in your main document list and select Keep on this device in the context menu that appears. That
document is now accessible on your device if you go offline.
Or, on drive.google.com in the Chrome browser, click More on the left-hand side of the screen,
select Offline and follow the steps to install the
Google Drive Web app for Chrome. Among this app’s benefits is, likewise,
offline access to your documents.
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