INQUISITR.COM / Science & Tech

New Google Drive Features Help You Organize Your Messy Files

By Andrew Galbreath
Published on: 17:14 PST, Jan 23, 2016

Let’s face facts: our cloud drives are frequently a mess. Never fear though – Google Drive’s new update provides new ways to clean up messy file organization.

These days, Google Drive is not just another cloud storage device. As the Inquisitr has said before, it can have a wide variety of uses.

Since its hyped 2012 release covered here by endgadget, Google Drive has been one of the cheapest, quickest and easiest ways to store your files on the internet, with 15GB of free storage space and an additional 100GB of storage for $2 per month, going all the way up to 30 terabytes. Google Drive functions as your own private cloud storage space connected to your personal Gmail account.

Much like its contemporaries SkyDrive, Dropbox and OneDrive, it allows you to upload, share and store documents online. Coupled with Google Docs, which allows you to create and edit documents, a perfect team is created. Now, thanks to some brand new features rolled out by Google, it’s easier than ever to search and de-clutter your drive, as demonstrated by the gifs below from the Google Drive blog.

For starters, the entire process of moving has been streamlined. Arguably the most useful of the new features is the ability to move files that you search for within the drive into any specific folder you want. All you do is search for the file you want to move, then click, drag and drop the item into a particular folder from the search results. This works regardless of where the files are located.

Easy copying is another new feature now available in Google’s new set of tools. If you are browsing shared files that are not stored on your personal drive yet, there’s a new “Add to Drive” button for that in the file preview. This lets you save it and move it to whichever folder you want.

Alternatively, if you are browsing files already located on your drive, the new “Move to” icon allows you to place an item in a particular folder.

The new update marks a change in the thinking of Google Drive. The new house-cleaning features make Google Drive much easier and quicker to use, and encourage you to de-clutter your drive quickly and easily. This comes in handy if you’ve got a large amount of files or need a quick way to sort them.

“Saving lots of files in Google Drive is a great way to keep them safe,” said Google Drive software engineer Lior Biran, according to Newsfactor. “But as you put more and more files there, keeping things organized can be a bit of a challenge.”

In addition to new ways to move files, there are also new privacy features. One of the advantages of Google Drive has always been its ability to both keep your files secure and private, or if you wish, share them with your friends and colleagues. Now, the advanced sharing menu allows you to add additional security protection to your files by disabling downloading, printing, and copying, even if you’ve shared the files with other users.

These new improvements will help you get your files where they belong quicker and easier. If you’re like this writer and you live for the digital age, you’ll greatly appreciate Google Drive’s small, but useful updates.

Personally, I’m hoping they’ll also include a tag function and an ability to sort by file size in the next update. Stay tuned.

With the wide variety of cloud storage available today, does anyone miss the days when we actually stored our files on our computer? When we wasted valuable disk space storing our endless videos, photos, and files? When we couldn’t access them remotely using a mobile device? Yeah, me either.

[Photo by NuOilSuwannar/Shutterstock.com]

Share this article: New Google Drive Features Help You Organize Your Messy Files
More from Inquisitr