If you're anything like me - by this point in the year, your Google Drive is a giant mess of documents - many of which were just quick tests, so they are still named "Untitled Document." 🤦🏻♀️ Just like a cluttered house or a messy desk, this can become overwhelming, frustrating, and stressful. This spring, let's focus on how you can take some time to clean up a messy Google Drive!
Use Folders (and Subfolders!)
This really is the simplest and most effective way to keep things organized. To create a new folder in your Drive, click the "New" button and then choose "Folder". You can make as many levels of folders as you want! Once you have them, you can quickly access them all on the left side of your Drive using the drop down arrow.
File & Folder Descriptions
Did you know that you can add descriptions to your files & folders to help you remember what they are for? Hit the little "i" icon on the top right of your Drive (or the "i" key on your keyboard) to see the "Details" window. At the bottom, you can add a description! The cool part about this is that when you search for files, it will also search the descriptions. Just one more way to help you find folders and documents later.
Color Code
If you are the type of person who uses different notebook or pen colors to organize yourself, you will love the color coding feature of Google Drive. This only works with folders, but you simply right click on a folder and select "Change Color". There are 24 colors to choose from!
Manage Files Shared With You
The "Shared With Me" section of Google Drive is a messy melting pot of everything that other people have shared with you since the beginning of time. If you want to be able to quickly access these documents later, you should right click on them and select "Add shortcut to Drive" (to do it while the document is open, click "File" and then choose "Add shortcut to Drive". Now you should find it in "My Drive" where you can move it into any folder you want!
(Please note that this is just a shortcut to the shared document, which means if the original owner deletes it or unshares it or leaves the district...you will lose access. If you want your OWN version of the document, you should make a copy.)
Add Emojis
This one is less about organization and more about a little bit of fun. The website Emojipedia has copy and paste-able emojis that you can include in your file names. You might also consider adding them to assignments in Google Classroom. These can be pasted anywhere...have some fun!
Happy Spring Cleaning!
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