The great thing about Google is that they are constantly innovating and updating their products. As a result, there are often features that roll out that go undiscovered by users. Here are 5 hidden gems for individuals who use Google Drive to be aware of:
Insert Drive documents in a Gmail message – Rather than attaching documents to emails (which you still can do if preferred), consider providing a link to these documents already stored in Drive by simply selecting the drive icon on the compose window. If you send Drive links to recipients that do not have visibility to those documents because of your sharing permissions, then Google will notify you and allow you to update the sharing (to likely “Share Via Link” before sending the email.
Dedicated apps for Android and iOS – These apps allow you to view and edit Google Docs and Google Spreadsheets. The iOS app also allows you to use the camera or upload existing photos directly to Drive. The Android goes one step further and will scan docs to pdf. This is very handy for receipts or any other document you want to quickly capture and prevents you from having to fight with your old scanner and desktop software.
30 GB of unified Drive space – For Google Apps for business accounts, the 25 GB allocated for Gmail and the 5 GB originally allocated for Drive has been combined for 30GB of total free space with every account. Regular Google accounts are now 15 GB combined. Most people fill up their Drive space much quicker so now you don’t have to worry about buying more space right away if you have a lot of files to upload.
Drive documents available offline – With the offline capabilities of Google Apps (also refer to Google Apps Offline – Tips & Tricks), you can easily make Drive documents available to be viewed offline like on a plane or remote location. Using Chrome on a PC, Mac or Chromebook you can simply use the Drive app from the Chrome Webstore. On an iOS device (iPhone/iPad), use the Drive app. On an Android device, use the Drive app.
One click group chat in Drive – Take advantage of the collaborative features in Drive. I can’t emphasize that enough. The real-time chat and collaboration on documents is what sets Google apart from the competition. For more information about Google Drive’s updated chat functionality, check out Google’s blog post about this topic.
Do you have questions about Google Apps for Business?
Perpetual West is a Certified Google Apps Consultant and a Google Apps Authorized Reseller. Call us today at 1 (877) 388-6400 to learn more about how we can help your company get started with Google Apps for Business.
