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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.