Technology for working with the "cloud" Google Drive. Google cloud or how to keep your photos and precious files for a lifetime google cloud
The majority of users, unfortunately, still have not been able to resolve the issue with the correct storage of files, in particular, ensuring their security. Most of the largest services have long been offering cloud storage, which can ensure the safety of your files even as a result of unforeseen circumstances (breakdown, hacking or loss of your computer). This article will review the cloud service offered by by Google.
The development of the largest company received a rather unpretentious name - Google Drive. The service is quite interesting, so it is worth taking a closer look at it. Google allows you to store up to 5 GB of files for free, as well as upload files up to 10 GB in size (of course, in the paid version).
Key features of Google Drive
- File creation. The program allows you to create files, for example, pdf format, various text files and presentations. And besides that, the service has the ability to jointly edit files with your friends and colleagues who have a Google account.
- Providing access to files from various devices... Files in Google Drive can be viewed both from a computer and from a tablet or smartphone, provided that you can access the Internet.
- The ability to recognize scanned pages or photographs with text and convert written text into speech.
For active cloud users, free storage may not be enough, so storage space can be expanded with a monthly subscription.
How to use Google Drive
In order to start using the cloud from Google, you need to have a Google mail account. If this is not available, you need to go to the official Google page and go through the simple registration steps.
Now we go under our account and click at the very top of the web page the icon with the image of tiles and select "Disk".
We will be redirected to another page where we will be asked to download the Google Drive program. In addition, you can find a link to download this program for Windows at the end of the article. 
By clicking on the "Download Drive" button, the download of the program installer will begin. 
As soon as the download is complete, run the installer and agree to the warning. The program will start downloading from the network, followed by its installation.
After the installation is complete, a welcome window will open in front of you. By clicking the "Next" button, you will need to log into your account google entry.
This will be followed by a short course on the main features of the program. After reviewing the course, click the Finish button.
Next, the Google Drive folder and an explorer window will open. On the right side of File Explorer, you will see a Google Drive icon appear. 
Now let's move on to working with Google Drive. Many cloud storage creators consider it their duty to add demo files. The Google Drive folder will greet you with a dreary void. To send your first file to the repository, you just need to copy it to this folder in the same way as you do in other folders. 
A blue sync icon will appear next to the transferred file, indicating that the file is currently being sent to Google servers. If the blue icon has been replaced by a green checkmark, it means that the synchronization has been successfully completed and now the file can be viewed from any other device. 
Now let's go to the desktop. We see that our desktop has been replenished with three new icons, including our Google Drive folder, and new google Docs, Google Slides and Google Sheets. These three programs represent office suitethat works on the Internet. 
That is, for example, you want to write a new text. Launch the blue icon and your browser launches, which redirects you to a web page with a full-fledged office editor, where you can type text and format without any problems. 
While you are typing or editing text, an imperceptible sync will take place, and all changes will be added to your Google Drive. This feature can be especially useful in situations where the computer freezes, power outages, or the laptop runs out of battery power. 
We will not dwell on the rest of the programs. Google Sheets is similar to Excel, and Google Slides is PowerPoint. The main difference from Microsoft's office suite is that Google distributes its online suite absolutely free.
Output.
Google's goal is not just to create another cloud storage, which is already in abundance today, but to release its own unique product that will be useful to all users. A large amount of space for storing personal files and folders, an office suite for service users, fast synchronization, cross-platform and other useful features make this service one of the best today.
Hello, dear readers and visitors of my blog, I am very glad that you took a moment to visit me. Continuing the topic of computer literacy, today I want to talk about ways of storing information in our age of insane technological progress. Do you know the Google cloud? You will probably agree with me that, despite the abundance of gadgets and sophisticated technology, we suffer from a lack of memory. Moreover, in every sense.
Remember how it was before: a family photo involved a trip to a photo studio, all smart, smart, exciting atmosphere and all that. There were few photographs, but when each of them was taken, the owner of the album could tell with accuracy even after many years.
Now the situation is the opposite: you can take pictures not only with a camera, which (and not one!) Is in every family, but also with a tablet, mobile phone, video camera. The pictures have lost their meaning, they are digitized and put in computer folders, they are rarely viewed and even less often printed. Ultimately, they all take up space on your computer's hard drive.
Please note that you need to download a version for a computer (if you are installing google cloud on a PC).
That's all, actually. The program will start itself, if not, then run it manually:
To work, just click the "Start" button and click "Next" after specifying the username and password in the required window. You can work!
Synchronized swimming
For convenient use, the online storage will create special folder to store files on your computer and synchronizes its work with the cloud. Synchronization with android occurs in the same way, only you should install special program to your phone and press the "sync" button.
If you wish, you can dig deeper into the advanced settings, but, to be honest, you are unlikely to find something interesting there for yourself.
How to use the program becomes clear after installation: the desktop pleases with a fresh icon - a google drive folder. With its help, you can manage the content of the cloud. The storage will be accessible from any device with the appropriate software.
Thus, it is much easier to transfer photos or videos from one device to another: you just need to upload the contents to the Google Drive folder, and then go from another gadget and copy the necessary to memory. The 15 gigabyte volume is large enough to allow yourself not to limit your imagination, and provides data storage.
Google Drive is good not only because it allows other users to view your documents, but also the ability to adjust access levels, from viewing to making edits, comments, editing documents.
The service assumes the following degrees of "trust", which can be changed at any time at will:
- Reading assumes only third-party viewing without the right to change anything.
- Commenting - accordingly, people who have received admission can express their opinion about what they saw, but they have no right to change anything.
- And finally highest degree trust - editing with the right to change settings, including access.
Computer
If you demolish all the files to which you want to open access to one folder on the Drive and click on it right click mouse, then a menu will open in which you need to select the item "share" - this way you will open the folder for other users.
Who it will be - you decide, just enter their email addresses in the appropriate line and indicate the level of access. The signal about the end of work will be a click on the button "Done"... For each of these email addresses a notification will come.
Android
In the Google Drive app, select the file you want to send to someone.
Click menu icon next to a file or folder. It looks like three dots stacked vertically on top of each other. In the drop-down menu, select the item "Access", just like on a computer, specify the addresses email those to whom you open the documents and click "Send".
It should be noted that even with open access to the shared folder, only authorized users can edit documents.
Protect yourself, sir!
We are all adults, so we must be aware that files placed on the Internet storage can become property outsiders, so it's worth taking care of protection:
- Password-protect important folders and files. Even if the account is hacked, attackers will have to find additional passwords for documents;
- If you know how to work with archives, this will greatly facilitate the task: create an encrypted archive, choose a strong password and sleep peacefully;
- You can install the BoxCryptor application and use it to create a secret folder for storing files.
I note that Google provides all the utilities for working with Disk for free, just use it.
I want to make a reservation right away: mobile office - this is the main difference between the Google service and other similar ones. With its help, you get access and the ability to work with your documents anywhere in the world, wherever there is Internet. To work, not just store. Those. - edit, insert documents into sites and blogs, create new ones and provide access to friends.
Google Cloud this is one of best services on the Internet, which is convenient to use for storing, processing and managing digital photos. It has two independent services on the basis of which it can be done on high level - Google Drive and Google+ Photos.
Google drive Goggle is one of the largest digital cloud storage facilities on the Internet. It was first introduced to users in April 2012 as an independent 5 GB service for free storage 30 different types files.
Google+ Photos it is a worldwide service social network Google+, which was created along with the network in 2011. This service is not only a place to conveniently store photos in the Google cloud, but also a very handy photo editor that has many automatic functions.
What is the volume of the Google cloud
Following a change in disk space allocation policy, three separate Google Drive, Google+ and Gmail services were merged into a single cloud on May 13, 2013. Now, when you register an account in the Google cloud, you will forever receive 15 GB of free disk space for storing data from these three services (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1 Google cloud storage capacity.
If the amount of dedicated cloud space is not enough, you can purchase from 100 GB to 30 TB, but for an additional fee. Google cloud storage space monthly price for January 2015 is:
100 GB - $ 2
1 TB - $ 10
10 TB - $ 100
20 TB - 200 $
30 TB - 300 $
In the Google cloud, you can simultaneously store mail, photos, and other types of files in a way that suits you best. For example, you can store all these files in different volumes, or you can store only one photo or some other type of file.
The peculiarity of storing files of Google cloud services is that when calculating the occupied disk space, some files are not taken into account. For the user, this means that he can store an unlimited number of such files in the Google cloud.
Google Drive does not include files saved in Google format, for Gmail the contents of the Spam and Trash folders, and Google+ Photos, all photos are smaller than 2048 x 2048 pix and videos are less than 15 minutes.
Sign up in the Google cloud
In order to purchase part of your space in the Google cloud and get access to all of its services, you first need to register. On the page http://www.google.ru/ in the right upper corner you need to click on the "Login" button.
After that, a window for logging into a Google cloud account and registering a new account will appear (Fig. 2). Under the data entry panel, click the "Create an account" link and start registration.
In the registration window, you must correctly indicate your personal data. They will form the basis of your Google Cloud profile. After that, in the lower right corner, you need to click the "Next" button to go to the next window (Fig. 3). The button is not shown in the figure.
Fig. 3 Google cloud registration panel.
But first, Google will check that the data is correct. If you made a mistake, you will be prompted to fix it; if everything was done correctly, a window for creating a Google+ profile in the cloud will open (Fig. 4).
Fig.4 Window for creating a Google+ profile in the cloud.
In this window, you can add your photo, which will be visible in all Google cloud services, but you can do this after you log into your account. To complete registration in the Google cloud, you need to click on the "Create a profile" button, after which a final window will open, in which your email address will be indicated (Fig. 5).
Fig. 5 The window for completing registration in the Google cloud.
After that, all Google cloud services will be available, including Google Drive and Google+ Photos. In order to open them, you need to press the "Services" button in the upper right corner and select from the list (Fig. 6).
Fig. 6 List of selection of Google cloud services.
To select the Google Drive service in the Google cloud, you need to select the "Drive" service, after which a window of this service will open (Fig. 7).
Fig. 7 Google Cloud - Google Drive service window.
To select the Google+ Photos service in the Google cloud, you need to find the “Photos” service in the list, after which a window of this service will open (Fig. 8).
Fig. 8 Google Cloud - Google+ Photos service window.
How to remove Google Cloud
There are situations when you may need to remove any services from the Google cloud or completely all data and your entire account. To do this, in the upper right corner of the screen, click on the profile avatar and follow the link "Account" (Fig. 9).
Fig. 9 Window for entering Google Cloud Account settings.
This will immediately open the Google Cloud Account Settings page. You need to scroll down to the bottom and select an item from the list that suits your purposes (Fig. 10), and then do everything according to the instructions.
Figure 10 Google Cloud Account Settings.
Google cloud capabilities
The Google cloud differs from most similar services on the Internet in its ability to work with photos. In it you can not only store a large amount of digital photos for free, but also do a lot with them, which cannot be done in other services.
This is possible because Google cloud services are closely related to each other, with google browser Chrome and Picasa. Each of them significantly increases the capabilities of Google cloud services and, in addition, they allow the photographer to do without installing many specialized programs on the computer.
Read about the main features of photo services in the Google cloud and their integration with other programs in the following chapters of the article:
Other cloud services and cloud storage principles are described in the following articles:
Google Drive is one of the best solutions for storing and working with files in the cloud. Moreover, it is also a complete online office suite.
If you are not yet a user this decision from Google but wish to become one, this article is for you. We will tell you how to create a Google Drive and properly organize work in it.
To start using cloud storage from the "Corporation of Good", you just need to have your own account Google We have already described how to create it.
Here we will consider extending access to Google Drive beyond the web browser - desktop and mobile platforms.
Google Drive for PC
More convenient way synchronization of local files with the Google cloud on a computer - a special application for Windows and macOS.
Google Disk allows you to organize work with deleted files using a folder on your PC. All changes in the corresponding directory on the computer are automatically synchronized with the web version. For example, deleting a file in the Disk folder will entail its disappearance from the cloud storage. Agree, it's very convenient.
So how do you install this program on your computer?
Installing the Google Drive app
Like most applications of the Dobra Corporation, installation and initial setup The drive takes a matter of minutes.
How to use the Google Drive PC app
Now we can synchronize our files with the "cloud" by placing them in a special folder. You can go to it both from the menu quick access at Windows Explorer, and using the tray icon. 
This icon opens a window from which you can quickly access the Google Drive folder on your PC or the web version of the service.
Here you can also go to one of the recently opened documents in the cloud.
Actually, from now on, all you need to upload a file to cloud storage is to place it in a folder Google Drive on your computer.
You can also work with documents that are in this directory without problems. When you finish editing the file, its updated version will be automatically uploaded to the cloud.
We've covered installation and getting started google programs Disk on the example of a computer with Windows OS. As mentioned earlier, there is a version of the application for devices running macOS. How to work with Disk in operating system from Apple is completely similar to the above.
Google Drive for Android
In addition to the desktop version of the program for synchronizing files with Google cloud storage, there is, of course, a corresponding application for mobile devices.
You can download and install Google Drive on your smartphone or tablet from Google Play.
Unlike the PC app, mobile version Google allows you to do everything the cloud storage web interface does. In general, the design is very similar.
You can add file (s) to the cloud using the button + .
Here, the pop-up menu provides options to create a folder, scan, text document, spreadsheet, presentation, or download a file from a device.
The file menu can be called by clicking the icon with a vertical ellipsis next to the name of the required document.
A wide range of functions is available here: from transferring a file to another directory to saving it in the device's memory.
Of side menu you can go to the collection of pictures in google service Photos, documents of other users available to you and other categories of files.
As for working with documents, only the ability to view them is available by default.
If you need to edit something, you need an appropriate solution from the Google package: Documents, Sheets and Presentations. If necessary, the file can be downloaded and opened in a third-party program.
In general work with mobile application The disk is convenient and very simple. Well, it makes no sense to talk about the iOS version of the program separately - its functionality is absolutely the same.
Applications for PCs and mobile devices, as well as the web version of Google Drive, represent a whole ecosystem for working with documents and their remote storage. Its use can completely replace a full-fledged office suite.
Greetings friends! Cloud storage are now very popular. Their main purpose is storage and access to information from any device at any time, as well as the ability to share this information with other people (documents, photographs, and other files). In addition, popular cloud services provide a number of other useful functions for users - creating and working with documents online, sharing and more.
On my blog, I have already laid out instructions for two large cloud services - and. And I dedicate today's article to one more - Google Drive (Google Drive). Until recently, I did not use it so actively - I mainly relied on Yandex.Disk. But, in connection with the recent ones, I thought about fallbacks.
I propose to understand the interface and main functions of Google Drive. Let's talk about how to use it - upload and provide access to files and folders, perform other actions on files, work with documents and applications online.
If you prefer video format, then you can view my detailed tutorial below:
How do I sign in to Google Drive?
The drive is tied to your Google account, and to get inside the cloud, you need to log into your account - enter your login (gmail mail) and password from it.
You can access Drive from this page www.google.com/intl/en/drive/
Or go from mail by clicking on the "Google Apps" icon at the top right.
How much disk space?
They provide 15 GB for free. This space is divided into files on the disk itself, files and letters in Gmail, as well as Google Photos. By the way, the latter automatically includes images that you upload to posts on the Google Plus social network. You can remove them from Google Photos so that they do not take up space, while they remain in posts.
If you need more space, money can purchase it. There are some tariff plans billed monthly or annually up to 30 TB of storage.
Also, you can have several Google accounts and each will have its own disk with free space.
Cloud storage interface
Let's go over the main sections, buttons and google settings Disk.
Through the "Create" button in the upper left corner, you can upload files and folders from your computer to your disk. And also create folders and documents directly in the cloud. You can create text documents, tables, presentations with slides, Google Forms (for surveys, questionnaires, skype consultations), drawings, maps and websites.
Below this button is located panel with the main sections of the Disk.
In the "My Drive" section contains all files and folders uploaded to the cloud, as well as documents and folders that you created in the cloud.
By selecting this or that file / folder with the mouse, you can perform various actions on them, I will talk about this further. To select multiple files at once, hold ctrl key on the keyboard and click on the files you want.
You can sort the display of files on the Disk by name, by date of modification, by date of viewing.
In the section "Available to me" files from Google Drives of other users to which you have access are displayed - for example, you followed the link to this file, or you were sent an invitation with access. To open a file, double-click on it.
In the "Recent" section - files that you recently worked with are displayed (opened, downloaded, edited, etc.).
Section "Google Photos" - the images you have uploaded to the Google Photos app appear here. Also, pictures uploaded to posts in Google Plus are automatically saved here. You can get into the application itself by clicking on the icon of Google applications from disk, mail, start page Google Chrome browser.
In the application settings, you can put a useful checkbox so that photos and videos do not take up extra storage space.
To do this, go to Google Photos, click on the three vertical bars at the top left, go to settings.
And check the appropriate box:
Section "Flagged" - files and folders that you mark as important to yourself go here. Marking is very simple - select the file, right-click, select "Add Mark" in the list that opens. To remove a file from the "Marked" - again right-click and select "Unmark".
Basket - it contains files that you delete from your Google Drive. The trash can be emptied, then the files are permanently deleted. You can also restore any file from the trash can by selecting it with the mouse and clicking "Restore from Trash".
There are some other useful icons in the upper right corner of Google Drive.
You can customize the display of files in the cloud as a list or grid. By clicking on the letter "i" in the circle, you can view the history of your actions on the disk, as well as the properties of any file by selecting it with the mouse. Clicking on the gear will open additional list tabs.
In the "Settings" tab:
You can change the interface language.
Enable offline access (saving Google documents to your computer so that you can work with them without an Internet connection). On this issue, you can read a separate instruction.
Disable automatic download photos from Google Photos to a folder on disk.
Choose the interface option - spacious, regular or compact.
There are also alert settings.
And the ability to connect different google apps to your disk.
Clicking on the tab "Install disk on computer", you can download the application for PC, as well as for smartphones on Android or Iphone. Here, keep in mind that the PC application is synchronized with the cloud online and all files are on your computer, taking up space. Since this does not work for me, I prefer to use only the web interface. The only advantage of synchronization is the ability to quickly send a file big size to the cloud or save all files from the cloud to a computer at once, then turn off synchronization.
Actions on files and folders in Google Drive
To upload files and folders from your computer to the cloud the button "Create" is used. You click on it and select the appropriate menu item - a window for selecting files on your computer will open. To select multiple files at once, hold down the Ctrl key.
When the file is selected, click on the "Open" button, it will start downloading to Disk. Information about the process will appear in the lower right corner.
An alternative download option is to minimize the Google Drive tab into a smaller window and drag the files from your computer to the "My Drive" section with the mouse.
There are a number of things you can do with files, folders, and documents on disk. To do this, select with the mouse desired file (or several) and right-click. A list of available actions will appear. The same actions are duplicated on the panel above.
The content of the file can be viewedby clicking "Preview". If you want to edit the document, then select "Open with". The disk will offer you an application through which you can open the file.
To open the contents of a folder - click on it 2 times. All the same actions can be performed on files and documents in a folder.
You can give access to any file, folder or document on the disk to another person. To set up sharing, click on the corresponding menu item.
In the window that opens, you need to enter the gmail mail of the person you want to open access to. Click on the pencil icon to indicate the type of access. This can be - commenting, viewing and editing.
If you have provided access with the ability to comment or view, then the user can be prohibited from downloading, copying and printing the file. Just check the boxes you want. Remember to save your changes.
Then click "Submit". The user will receive an email stating that you have given him access to files. On his disk in the "Available to me" section, he will see this file.
To close access, you again need to right-click on this file, select "Share". In the window that opens, click on the username.
Access is denied, the user will see the following message:
You can also customize the access settings. The default is view. Also, using the link, the user can download the file or save it to his disk. In addition, you can enable commenting or editing.
If you click "More", you will see other settings. For example, you can enable access for absolutely any user on the Internet, that is, the file will be available through a search. Or disable access by the link and send an invitation about sharing specific user by email (we discussed this process above).
The next item for actions on files - "Move"... With it, files can be moved to folders. This is useful if you have a lot of files and want to organize them. You can also move files by dragging them with the mouse.
Creating folders on disk is easy. We click on the button "Create" - "New folder".
By the way, you can change the color of the folders.
Paragraph "Add a mark" useful if you want to add your favorite files to the "Marked" section for quick access to them.
Paragraph "Rename" will allow you to change the name of a file or folder.
Paragraph Show Properties - to view the properties of the file and the history of actions on it.
Paragraph "Versions" - files that you upload to Disk have it.
Let's say you downloaded an archive with materials from your computer and shared a link to it with subscribers. Then you needed to make changes to this archive, you downloaded it to your computer again and edited it. Then we re-uploaded it to Disk with the same name so that the link to the archive would not change. By the way, when you download it again, you can choose how to save this file - separately (the link to it will change), or how new versionwhich will replace the old one.
However, the previous version will not be deleted immediately (by default, it remains on disk for another 30 days). But, you can delete it manually or check the box to older versions were not deleted. This is done just through this item "Versions".
The remaining actions on the files: create a copy, download to your computer and delete to the trash. By the way, to delete the file into the trash can be dragged with the mouse to this section on Google Drive.
So, we figured out the main points of the Google Drive web interface. Now a few words, how to download or save to disk a file shared with you via a link from another Google Drive.
If you followed the link and are authorized in your Google account, then you will see the Google Drive icon at the top, by clicking on which you can save this file to your disk. Nearby is an arrow for downloading the file to your computer.
Well, I hope my Google Drive guide will help you navigate the settings and functionality of this cloud service... Well, if you still have questions, I will be happy to answer them in the comments.
Wish you luck!
Best regards, Victoria Karpova
