Top 9 Google Drive Tips for Productivity!
About this video
Jeff Su walks through nine Google Drive productivity tips framed as everyday scenarios. First, instead of moving or copying a file into a shared folder, hold Option and drag to create a shortcut — teammates’ edits reflect in the original, and deleting the shortcut leaves the original untouched. He shows searching Drive directly from Chrome’s address bar by typing ‘drive,’ pressing Tab and searching, after adding Drive as a custom search engine if needed, and using ‘Search within’ on a folder to disambiguate files with the same name. Advanced search filters by type, owner and title when memory is fuzzy. He extracts text from PDFs and photos or screenshots by right-clicking and opening with Google Docs, which creates a doc with the image on top and editable text below. He enables offline sync in Settings for working on planes or in cars, and highlights shortcuts: N to rename, G+N and G+L to move between navigation and file list, and Command+/ to open the shortcut cheat sheet. Mobile tips cover changing default apps for browser, email, maps and calendar inside the Drive app, and starring only files actually used on the go — he says he stars only two items and suggests unstarring anything unused for over a week.
Key takeaways
- Share via shortcut, not copy or move: hold Option and drag into a shared folder so edits sync to the original and deleting the shortcut does not delete the file.
- Search faster with Chrome’s address bar (drive + Tab), ‘Search within this folder’ for duplicate names, and Advanced Search filters for type, owner and partial title.
- Extract text from images and PDFs by right-clicking and choosing Open with Google Docs, which returns the image plus editable text below it.
- Enable offline sync in Settings before travel so files update automatically when reconnected, and learn shortcuts N to rename, G+N/G+L to navigate panes, and Command+/ for the cheat sheet.
- Be intentional with stars: star only files needed on mobile, review usage, and unstar anything not used in over a week — if everything is starred, nothing is.
Episode details: published March 16, 2021 · 8:47 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Jeff Su’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.
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