There are lots of ways to view your files, folders, and Google documents in Google Drive on the web. Let’s take a quick look around.
Note: Not seeing the new Drive? Click the gear icon and select Experience the new Drive!
My Drive
When you first get Google Drive on the web, all the files and folders you’ve uploaded and Google Docs that you own are in the section called My Drive:
New button to upload more files and folders to My Drive.Other navigation options:
Incoming
Incoming is where you’ll find the files, folders, and Google documents that have been shared with you.
Incoming only shows items that were shared with you explicitly. You won’t find items here that were shared with the “Public” or “Anyone with the link.” (You can find those items using the search box.) If you’ll be referencing a shared document often, you can drag it into My Drive (or a specific folder in your Drive) so that it appears there as well.
Incoming only shows items that were shared with you explicitly. You won’t find items here that were shared with the “Public” or “Anyone with the link.” (You can find those items using the search box.) If you’ll be referencing a shared document often, you can drag it into My Drive (or a specific folder in your Drive) so that it appears there as well.
Starred
Click Starred to see all the items you’ve marked with a star. Just click the star to the left of an item to mark it. Stars are like “bookmarks” or “favorites” in a browser to mark web sites you want to access frequently.
Recent
Use the Recent view to see all the private and shared files that you've opened, in reverse chronological order. This is a great way to quickly find your most current stuff.
Trash
Trash contains everything you’ve deleted. To delete an item, click the item and click the trash icon that appears:
Note: You can only trash items that you own. Trashing an item you don’t own will take it out of your Google Drive, but not remove them for everyone else.
Note: You can only trash items that you own. Trashing an item you don’t own will take it out of your Google Drive, but not remove them for everyone else.
Your trash is never automatically emptied, so you’ll probably want to clean it out once in a while. Items in your Trash still count toward your storage quota, so this helps free up some space.
To clean it out:
- In the Trash view, click the Trash drop-down menu and select Empty trash to permanently delete everything:
- Or, select individual items and click Delete forever:
Notice that after you select items in the trash, you can also choose to Restore them.
Add files and folders to Drive
When you’re ready to create new documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and more, just click the red New button and select an app from the list to get started.
Upload files and folders to Google Drive
It’s also easy to upload existing files and folders to Google Drive on the web. Here’s how to upload a file (folders work the same way):
- In Google Drive on the web, click the red New button and then select File upload.
That’s all you need to do. As soon as the upload completes, you’ll see the file in My Drive:
Click here to read more information on Google Drive.
This post was adapted from Google DN:GA-GSGD_103.00
