How to Know the Difference between the Files App, My Drive and Shared Drives

How to Know the Difference between the Files App, My Drive and Shared Drives

The Files App

When navigating using the bottom left circle on your screen, you can access Files. This is a little blue folder that syncs with Drive and Docs and also gives you access to your personal My Drive.



Although you cannot save files on your desktop, you can use the blue folder that will synchronise every few seconds with your Google Drive.

You can download documents to your My Drive and then move these documents to the correct folder in your Shared Drives.

Drag files from My Drive to Shared Drive using My Files

  1. From the Files window, you can rename files and drag them into the correct Shared Drive folder. 
  2. You can also drag files from the Files window into a Drive and Docs browser tab.

Delete and Move

  1. Most users can only Delete and Move files in your My Drive. You will most likely not be able to Delete and Move documents in your Shared Drives unless you are a manager.
  2. This is so the documents that are in the Shared Drives are secured and not accidentally or purposely deleted.
  3. The management staff in charge of the specific Shared Drives will be able to delete and move documents when necessary.
  4. To Move a document in your My Drive from Drive and Docs in a Chrome browser, simply open Drive and Docs and right click the document you wish to move into a Shared Drive.
  5. Select Move to and find the correct Shared Drive folder you wish to move the document to. 

Replacing an Existing File

  1. The main reason you don't need to delete files is because you can Replace existing files when you upload a new version to the Shared Drive.
  2. Working this way takes some time to get used to. 
  3. Don't worry if you make a mistake. 
  4. Just rename the file so management knows what's needed. 
  5. You could add [DELETE] or [MOVE TO -] to the front of the existing file name.

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