Google Drive is where all your documents are stored and can be accessed by Google’s office applications. The document management system offers several features to perform on a document without opening it.

First click on a desired document. Once you do this the bar across the top gives options that can be performed on a document. If you click the right button on your mouse when the cursor is over the highlighted document, the same options appear in the menu that appears.

The items are as follows:

Get shareable link

Clicking this automatically copies the link to your computer’s clipboard. It also opens a dialog titled Link sharing on. There is a toggle switch at the top, right that is set to on. Clicking on it will turn it on or off.

The URL link is in the middle. You can highlight it and copy and paste it.

The default setting is typically Anyone with a link can view. Clicking the Sharing settings link opens another dialog, titled Share with others.

There is a drop-down menu that allows you to change this from Anyone with the link can view to several other choices. These are:

OFF – only specific people can access
Anyone with this link can edit.
Anyone with this link can comment
More: This changes the dialog to a link sharing dialog. Here are the options in it:
- On – Public On the Web: Anyone on the Internet can find and access. No sign-in required.
- On – Anyone with the link: Anyone with this link can find and access. No sign-in required.
- Off – Specific people. Shared with specific people.

Next there is an Access drop-down menu that gives you the following choices

Can edit
Can comment
Can view

These labels will be in blue. Click the one that is visible to open the drop-down menu that reveals the three of them.

After making the selections, click the Save button. This will return to you to the Share with others dialog.

The next step is to enter names and email addresses in the text boxes under People. This will send a link for the document to those people. Then click the drop-down menu Can edit, Can comment, or Can view.

Share “(document name)”

This is similar to the Get Shareable Link Clicking icon. It opens the Share with others dialog with only the People section.

Enter names and email addresses in the text boxes under People. This will send a link for the document to those people. Then click the drop-down menu Can edit, Can comment, or Can view.

If you have shared other documents before, the names of those who you have shared with appear below the text box.

Clicking one of the names or Advanced link at the bottom right of the dialog, replaces the dialog with a Share settings.

This gives a link for the document that can be emailed or shared on social media. The dialog also lists names of other accounts associated with your own account. It also gives the same text box mentioned above, where names and email addresses can be entered.

There are also two check boxes:

Prevent editors from changing access and adding new people.
Disable options to download, print, and copy for commenters and viewers.

If you have made changes, be sure to click the Save Changes button. When you are finished making changes, press the Done button.

Preview

The Preview icon will show the contents of the document. This will appear over the Drive, document management system. The black bar above the image of the document has the document’s name, an open icon with drop-down menu, a Download button, Share, and More Actions:

Open: This icon is for a Google application that can open the document. For example, if a Microsoft Word document is being previewed, the icon would be of Google Docs. Clicking the icon opens the document with that application.
The drop-down menu lists other applications that can open the document. Click the arrow to the right of the icon to see the list. For Microsoft Office documents, the list will include an icon that links to the Connect more apps. This allows you to select applications to add to the list of applications you can use.
Print: This button opens the document in PDF format and opens the Web browser’s print dialog. Each browser has its own print dialog and may not have the same features as another browser’s print dialog.
Download: This will download the document through the browser’s download feature. Documents that are in Google formats will be converted to a corresponding Microsoft format. For example, a Google Docs document (gdoc) will be converted to docx.
Share: This is the same as the Share icon in the bar in Drive. It opens the Share with others dialog with only the People section.
After the Share icon, there is three dots, called More actions. Clicking these reveals four choices:
Move to: This opens My Drive dialog, which lists all the folders in your Drive account. Click the arrow to the right of the folder to view the items in it. If there is a folder inside a folder where you want to move the document to, click the arrow to the right of the desired sub-folder.
Add star: The purpose of adding a star to a document is to mark it so it is easily accessible for opening again. It adds a star next to the document’s name, so it will stand out in the list of documents. It also places it in the Starred top-level folder that is found in the column to the left of the document list. Simply click on the folder, and you will see the document you just marked along with other documents you added a star to.
Rename: This opens a Rename document. The text box in it has the current name of the document in it that is highlighted. Type in a new name. Then click the OK button.
Report Abuse: Clicking this item opens a form in a new tab. It has five radio buttons to choose from. After you are done, click the Submit Abuse Report.

To the right of the three dots there are four more choices.

Zoom In: Clicking this item zooms in on the document view and reveals a meter to the left of the item. Slide the meter to the left or right. Moving it to the left zooms out. Moving it to the right zooms in. Clicking it again restores the document view to its original size.
Details: Clicking this opens a panel to the right of document preview with information about the document, a description field where you can add information where you can add information, and a section where you can change the sharing settings. The panel has four sections.
- General info: This gives basic details about the document.
  - Type
  - Location
  - Modified (date and time)
  - Created (date and time)
  - Opened by me (date and time)
- Description: Clicking the writing tool to the right of the section title reveals a text box where you can write words about the document. Press the Enter or Return key on your keyboard to save the description.
- Sharing
- Download Permission
Pop-out: This opens the document in a new tab.
Close: Click the X to get out of Preview and return to the list of documents.

Remove

This is the trash or recycling bin in an operating system. Clicking on this moves the document to the Trash folder, which is located in the left column.

Open with

This menu item is the first one in the three-dot list. It has a sub-menu that reveals the applications that open the selected document. Highlight this menu item and another list will be revealed with the list of applications.

The following three items are identical to the corresponding items in Preview

Move to

This opens My Drive dialog, which lists all the folders in your Drive account. Click the arrow to the right of the folder to view the items in it. If there is a folder inside a folder where you want to move the document to, click the arrow to the right of the desired sub-folder.

Add star

The purpose of adding a star to a document is to mark it so it is easily accessible for opening again. It adds a star next to the document’s name, so it will stand out in the list of documents. It also places it in the Starred top-level folder that is found in the column to the left of the document list. Simply click on the folder, and you will see the document you just marked along with other documents you added a star to.

Rename

This opens a Rename document. The text box in it has the current name of the document in it that is highlighted. Type in a new name. Then click the OK button.

View details

This has the same information as Details in Preview, but it also has some additional information. It also opens as a pane to the right of the document , but this pane has two tabs. The Details tab is identical to the Details item in Preview. It has the same four sections.

General info: This gives basic details about the document.
- Type
- Location
- Modified (date and time)
- Created (date and time)
- Opened by me (date and time)
Description: Clicking the writing tool to the right of the section title reveals a text box where you can write words about the document. Press the Enter or Return key on your keyboard to save the description.
Sharing
Download Permission

The Activity tab shows the editing history of the document. Each item in the list represents a major revision in the document. Each item shows who made the revision and the date and time the revision was made.

Click the document name in each revision to open the document as it is currently. Highlight the document name in each item, and a magnifying glass icon is revealed. Clicking it moves to the selected document in the list.

Make a copy

This is like the Save As feature in a desktop application. Clicking this item will create an identical copy of the selected document. It will be named “Copy of (original document’s name).” Use the rename item to change its name.

Download

This is the same as the download item in Preview. It will download the document through the browser’s download feature. Documents that are in Google formats will be converted to a corresponding Microsoft format. For example, a Google Docs document (gdoc) will be converted to docx.

Links

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