Day 6 of Google: Google Drive – Location of Files

Google Drive (drive.google.com) is the hub of where all your documents live. You are able to create folders and have documents be located in those folders. You are also able to share these files very easily with other colleagues to streamline collaboration.

Sure you might have been using this product for some time, but did you know the following:

File ‘Living’ in Multiple Folders

You do have the ability for files to live in multiple places in your Google Drive. However, note that by using this feature you are not ‘making a copy’ of a document. Instead you are allowing Google to place a file in two different spots. This will mean that if you make a change to the file from one folder, it will make the change in both places.

To place the file in two different locations,

Select the file that you want to be located in two different places (only click once – don’t double click)
Hit the keys “Shift” and “z”
Pop up window will then ask you to determine what folder you want the file to also live in (note – you can create a folder right on the spot as well if you don’t have one already made to add it to)
Select the green “Add” button

The Green add button is something completely different from what you are used to seeing. Normally we are used to seeing a blue move button. This is so that you clearly know that you are doing something different – you are adding the file to another location.

File Location While in a Document

Next to the tile of a file, you will notice that there is a folder icon. If I know that I have not moved this file into a particular folder ahead of time, I could click on the folder icon and actually move it to a particular folder (while inside of the document).

Recently, Google made it even easier for you to locate where in Drive a particular file can be found. Whenever you select the tile of the document, Google will let you know where that file is located right next to the folder icon. This is new! You can still move the file if you want to. Just click the folder icon and determine where you want to move it.