10 Ways to Organize Your Digital Life with Google Drive

Google Drive is the best cloud storage space that allows you to safely store different files in folders of various formats and access them from anywhere you want. These are easier to access and work. Undeniably, Google Drive is an effective tool to store digital assets. It is a quick way to access and share digital files with others. Even the people with whom you share the files can work with you. It is ideal to back up your documents. You can reap the benefits of the Drive only when you use ways to organize digital life with Google Drive.

The Drive will have many unlabeled files and folders that you can save with the names of your choice to help you search for the files you want.

10 Ways to Organize Your Digital Life with Google Drive

Here are a few ways in which you can embrace digital life with Google Drive take a look:

1. Use the Same type of Naming Conventions for all Digital Assets

Many people will archive the documents in Google Drive. It is the best way to categorize and sort the records. When saving the document, ensure to add the type of document it is. It can be a business plan, operating instructions, or financial statements.

The second element you choose will be sorting principles like departments in the company, projects, employee names, and product names. If there are hundreds of files, you can add hashtags. It is good to add the date and version to the document.

For instance, you can save the document named Digital marketing article- For review- 18/1/2024.

2. Create Folders and Subfolders

It is one of the ways to organize digital life with Google Drive. When there are a lot of repositories with many digital assets, more than naming the file is required. It becomes challenging for you to search by name.

There comes the role of folders and sub-folders. You can create the project folder and then create the sub-folders with the tasks done by each team. Therefore, each sub-folder will have all the documents related to a particular task. Whenever you want this document, you can directly open the sub-folder and view the documents.

You can have the structure of the folder like this in the Google Drive:

• Base folder – Marketing team.
• Subfolder- Campaigns.
• Sub-folder- Email templates.
• Sub-folder – Review completed documents.

3. Create Docs and File Priority

One of the effective ways to organize digital life with Google Drive is to create docs and assign priorities. If you want to manage the files related to business and education, you can use the priority option in the Drive.

You can follow these steps to set the priority of documents:

• Click the priority option.
• Find the Workspace section and create a Workspace.
• Find the name of your workspace and click Create.
• Click Add Files and select the workspace to add these files. Add the top-priority files in this space to keep them organized.
• Click Insert and then Done.

4. Use Description for Files and Folders

It is one of the ways to organize digital life with Google Drive. Many people need to know how this feature can help organize files in Google Drive. You can use this by following these steps:

• Find the file to which you want to add the description, then click the hamburger icon.
• Select the File Information Section and then select Details. You can view detailed information about the file on the right.
• Scroll to the bottom, where you can see the Description field, to add a description.
• Fill in the information related to the file in a few words with hashtags. You can use this description to search for the file you want. People can find the files by hashtags or with appropriate keywords in seconds.

5. Give Color Coding to the Folder

One of yet another best ways to organize digital life with Google Drive is to give color coding. The solutions offered to manage the files will be straightforward with color coding. Why do you want to create millions of keywords, descriptions, and hashtags if you can use color coding to distinguish between the documents visually?

The best answer is to use color coding. Using this, you can organize the folders in the color you want. To change the folder icon color, search for the folder, click three dots, then select Organize and select the color you want.

6. Add Some Docs to Different Folders

It is one of the ways to organize digital life with Google Drive. You will use the same document in different phases of the workflow. For instance, you have prepared a financial plan that should be utilized by other teams in the company, like accountants, marketers, managers, and auditors.

To quickly access the file, you can simultaneously add a link in different folders. So, the document space won’t be occupied, and you will have enough space to fill the disk. This way, you can organize your files effortlessly on Google Drive.

7. Use Advanced Search

Though you have the best document naming system yet, going through the files and folders will take time and effort, especially if the files and folders have the same names. It is highly challenging for you to select with the help of a search bar. Use Advanced search capabilities if you are wondering how to search for what you want.

It is one of the ways to organize digital life with Google Drive. You can access this feature easily by clicking the Settings button on the search bar. You will get the dialog box to select the digital assets by type, access rights, location, and modification date.

Following are some examples of how you can use the advanced search to organize Google Drive:

• Type – xls. It allows you to select the spreadsheets of different versions.
• Before: February 2024. This will fetch the files before February 2024
• Owner: Richard. It will work with files that are owned by a person named Richard.

8. Use Labels

You can easily organize files in Google Drive by label, which is one of the most powerful ways to organize digital life with Google Drive. The following is the process you can follow to organize files by labels:

• Open the settings and find the labels section.
• Choose the available standard labels or click Create New to create labels from scratch. You can find available labels readily by typing the name in the label field.
• Provide the name and description of the label.
• Select this box if you would like the label to be attached while copying the file.
• Provide additional information.
• Click Save settings.

The best thing about labels is that they not only mark digital assets but will provide you with access rules. For instance, you can use the labels and share only with a specific group of users in the company or use a particular role on Google Drive.

You can also add a custom label to the file, open the file and click the file, select labels, and then click Apply a label. Another best way to automatically organize Google Drive is to click the hamburger menu and click Apply a label.

9. Use the Star Feature to Access Essential Files Quickly

If you use the accessible version of Google Drive, you can use the Starred section. It is found to be one of the ways to organize digital life with Google Drive. Shortcuts can be added in a few seconds, too. Click the three dots corresponding to the file or a folder, select Organize, and click the Add to Starred button to add a star to the file.

The best thing is that you can put stars on any file you share with others. Working on different projects without being confused in the same company makes it simple.

10. Use Numbering System

Numbering the files and folders can help you keep the critical folders on the top no matter what name you have provided to the folder. The numbering lets you get the most important folders on the top and quickly access them. Undeniably, it is one of the ways to organize digital life with Google Drive.

Benefits of Google Drive

Alongside the ways to organize digital life with Google Drive, the following are the benefits offered by Google Drive:

• Free to use: Google Drive will offer you a certain amount of storage space for free. If you are an organization, you can increase the subscription to increase storage space.
• Rich Interface: The Google Drive interface is similar to the Office Drive interface you worked with. It is also easy for users to learn.
• Excellent collaboration capabilities: Google Drive offers excellent collaboration capabilities with other team members. The best thing is that multiple people can work on the same document without losing the changes.

Conclusion

When you organize the files in Google Drive, it will boost your productivity. For personal users, it will save a lot of their time and effort, while for business users, it will reduce costs. Having the Drive organized will let you retrieve the file, clear the workspace clutter, and improve the digital experience.

You have to keep on organizing. If you organize the Drive well, it saves hours of your frustration. It is highly recommended that files be moved from a chaotic way of keeping them to an organized way of storing them in the Drive. The ways to organize digital life with Google Drive we listed are cost-effective, simple, and boost productivity.

FAQs – Ways to Organize Digital Life with Google Drive

What is a Google Drive? Why should I organize files in it?

Google Drive is a cloud-based storage system that lets you store files and organize them perfectly so you can access them on smartphones, tablets, and computers. When you keep the files organized, it boosts productivity and lets you locate files faster.

What type of files can I upload onto Google Drive?

There are different types of files that you can upload onto Google Drive, such as drawings, recordings, videos, designs, photos, and so on.

How do you decide which folders to create?

You have to first think of files that you mostly access. These could be your personal or professional projects or other documents. Once you identify, then you create categories of folders. From there, you can create sub-folders.

How frequently should I review and organize the files on my Google Drive?

Set aside some time in the week or at the end of the month to organize the files in Google Drive. This way, you can keep the Drive tidy and organized. We have suggested ways to organize digital life with Google Drive.

How much storage is offered on Google Drive?

If the company has a G suite, you can have a storage space of around 30GB for your Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos. If you have unlimited Google Apps, you can store as many files as you want without any limits. You can check with your administrator about the edition of Google Drive your company is using.