Whether or not you employ Google Drive for work, faculty, or something in between, it may be an actual problem to maintain it organized and clutter-free. Nonetheless, should you’re up for some occasional preventative upkeep, we expect the following tips may also help you keep up to the mark.
Not everybody realizes how strong Google Drive is, both. You need to use it to deal with any paperwork you create, like spreadsheets, phrase paperwork, slideshows, and varieties. It additionally offers you the power to add and retailer your individual recordsdata and share them with different customers (or entry recordsdata others have shared with you). However should you’re not diligent, these recordsdata can get tremendous disorganized and chaotic very quickly, leaving you standing atop a digital junk heap.
Listed here are the most effective methods to maintain your Google Drive organized, clutter-free, and straightforward to entry, navigate, and use:
Create Cleanup Reminders
Don’t wait till Google sends you an e mail alerting you that there’s solely a gig or so left in your storage plan—arrange recurring notifications once in a while that may remind you regularly to wash out your Google Drive.
When you use Drive each single day (or at the least a number of instances per week), we advocate establishing a month-to-month or quarterly reminder. When you use it only a few instances each month or two, you most likely don’t want reminders as usually; you’ll be able to suffice with cleansing your Google Drive out a few times a yr.
Delete Any Undesirable Recordsdata
We expect this one’s apparent, however we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out it anyway. When you see any massive or undesirable recordsdata, Gmail attachments, or media recordsdata, contemplate giving ’em the boot … or at the least transferring them to a different cloud storage service or external storage device.
We created a complete information for liberating up more room in Google Drive, and it’ll assist you establish which recordsdata are taking over essentially the most house and tips on how to discover (after which delete) your oldest recordsdata that you simply most likely aren’t even utilizing anymore. An excellent rule of thumb is that if it’s been a number of years because you final accessed the file (and it’s not something too vital, like a tax doc), you’ll be able to most likely delete it.
Use Folders
It’s straightforward for any file storage system to get these chaotic Wild West vibes, however you don’t should reside that approach. Creating and utilizing Folders in Google Drive is a incredible (and straightforward!) solution to hold your recordsdata organized and straightforward to entry.
You’re free to label and set up your Folders nevertheless you need, after all, however we advocate protecting issues easy, brief, and logical. Attempt to stick to labeling Folders by challenge, date, or some other related metric, like “January_Reports” or “2022_TuitionPayments.”
To create a folder, both click on the “+ New” button on the left sidebar in Google Drive and choose “Folder.” Alternatively, you’ll be able to right-click wherever in this system (besides on one other current file or Folder), and a menu will seem with the choice to create a brand new Folder or doc. From there, a smaller field will pop up that permits you to title that Folder.
When you’ve got a number of recordsdata inside a selected Folder, we advise creating extra Folders inside that unique Folder. Google doesn’t put a restrict on this, so go forward and create some for photographs, phrase paperwork, stories, spreadsheets, or the rest.
Do a Higher Job Naming Recordsdata & Folders
Everybody will get lazy with naming recordsdata every now and then. Who amongst us doesn’t have a file named “asdfsfdsdf?” And whereas that’s, um, a technically useful title, it doesn’t inform you what that file is about, and it makes it troublesome to seek for. It simply appears like junk.
By taking 5 additional seconds to provide every file or Folder a correct and at the least semi-functional title, like “Q1_Finances2022” and even “May_ToDoList,” you’ll be able to keep way more organized and approach much less burdened. Belief us on that.
Additionally, hold any naming conventions you create constant throughout your entire paperwork. For instance, if it’s important to ship a weekly report back to your boss, you could possibly do that by placing the kind of doc first, then the date, like “WeeklyReport_050122” or “WeeklyReport_050822.”
Get Rid of Duplicate Recordsdata
Generally you create a file, overlook the place you saved it, then begin creating it once more elsewhere in Google Drive. Generally you desire a duplicate copy of your unique file in a special, but nonetheless related, folder. We aren’t right here to evaluate you, however these can take up house and trigger muddle.
We advocate, wherever attainable, solely having one model of any given file. Not solely will it most likely prevent some confusion, it is going to additionally assist you release some house in Drive, which is difficult to argue with!
Google lately applied a brand new function that “deletes” duplicate recordsdata and leaves a shortcut in its place, in an effort to help users streamline and optimize their storage. This feature lets you choose where the original file lives (like what specific Folder to file it under, if any) and replaces any other instances with a shortcut.
Get within the Behavior of Organizing All New Recordsdata
Did you simply create a brand new doc? Go forward and put it the place it belongs earlier than you go any additional! It’s one factor to arrange your Google Drive, however should you don’t actively preserve it, it’ll get cluttered and chaotic once more, and no one desires that!
Be at liberty to additionally create a Miscellaneous folder for any recordsdata that don’t appear to have a house elsewhere. That is higher than simply leaving your recordsdata unorganized in your Google Drive homepage, and can assist you really feel such as you’re sustaining your group, as properly.
Use Folder Colours
Do you know you’ll be able to color-code your Folders in Google Drive? For some people, colours may also help you keep organized and prioritize Folders (like utilizing inexperienced for funds, for instance). Google offers you 24 colours to select from, which needs to be sufficient to cowl your wants there.
Star Essential Paperwork
Some recordsdata are extra vital or well timed than others, and fortunately, Google makes it straightforward to differentiate these by Starring them. Any recordsdata you Star are then added to the devoted “Starred” tab in Google Drive’s sidebar (between “Current” and “Trash”). You possibly can nonetheless discover and entry any Starred recordsdata wherever you had them initially positioned; nevertheless, the Starred tab solely lists out these recordsdata, making the method of discovering them a bit of simpler.
To Star a file from any web page in Google Drive, right-click it and choose “Add to Starred.” If you’re already in a doc, click on the Star icon subsequent to the title field. Likewise, should you want to un-Star a file, click on on its Star icon in both of these conditions.