Tips & Tricks to Organize Your Google Drive

One of the biggest time-savers in my toolbox is making sure everything is organized. I do the majority of my work in Google Apps meaning that it is vital that my Google Drive is organized.

Google Drive can become overwhelming and cluttered if you don't have a system set up. While it may take a while to initially set up your system and organize your documents, once you have a system in place you will save more than enough time to make the upfront work worth it.

Forget about the Shared With Me Folder - One of the biggest questions I see about Google Drive is how to organize your Shared with Me folder. It is pretty simple, you don't! It is a battle you cannot win. However, I do have a couple tips on how to make sure you can find those documents that have been shared with you that you know you will need again.

Starred - If you want to save important documents to your Starred folder, click the star to the right of the document title. This will send those documents to your Starred folder where they will be easier to find later.
Short-Cut to Drive - Next to the star option is the shortcut to drive button. This is my preferred way to save something sent to me. That way I can put it into whatever folder it best fits in. You can also create a shortcut with a folder by right-clicking on the folder.

2. Utilizing Folders - I am a big believer in folders (and folders in folders). It may take a few extra clicks, but I always know where to find what I need.

By Skill/Topic - One way I organize my resources is by skill, topic, or genre. This makes it easy to find what resources I need when I am planning units.
Week-by-Week - Something I started doing this school year is creating a folder for each week of lesson plans. I label it with the name of that week's story and the date. I then put all the resources I used in that week's folder. If I am using something in another folder, I use the shortcut feature to place it in this folder too. Next year when I am lesson planning, I can easily find and everything I used this year which will save me time.

3. The Power of Numbering - This is my newest trick and is probably my favorite one. Google Drive organizes your folders in alphabetical order, but that can mean a lot of scrolling to find the folder you need. However, you can number your most-used folders to put them at the top of your Drive getting rid of the annoying scrolling.

What tricks or suggestions do you have for keeping your Google Drive organized? Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments below.

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