How to SYNC Google Drive files on a Mac used daily. Important



HowtoSYNCGoogleDrivefilesonaMacuseddaily. 1



ImportantNote:

OnlysyncyourfilesonaLHScomputeryouusedailybecauseitcauses

yourfilestoliveonthesyncedcomputeraswellasinyourGoogleDrive.



Objectives:

1. HowtosyncGoogleDrivetoaMac(Pages15).

2. HowtoorganizefilesinGoogleDrive(Pages58).

3. HowtoretrievefilesfromGoogleDrive(Page8).

4. HowtosavefilessothattheysynctoGoogleDrive(Page9).

5. HowtouseadvancedGoogleDrivesyncsettings(Page912).



1.SyncingGoogleDrivetoaMac:

FirstchecktoseeifGoogleDriveisinstalledonyourcomputer.Lookfor

theGoogleDriveiconintheupperrightofyourdesktop.



IfyoudonotseetheGoogleDriveiconinthisplace,thenusespotlight

searchtofindit.Followthestepsinthepicturetoguideyou.



NOTE:

IfyourGoogleDriveisalreadyinstalled,skiptopage3:“GoogleDrive

AlreadyInstalledDirections:”



SyncingGoogleDrivefilesonaMacbyMalindaPiresislicensedunderaCreativeCommons

AttributionNonCommercial4.0InternationalLicense.



HowtoSYNCGoogleDrivefilesonaMacuseddaily. 2



InstallingGoogleDrive:

OnlyfollowthesedirectionsifyoudonothaveGoogleDriveinstalled.If

youhaveapersonalMacathomeoramobiledeviceyoucaninstall

GoogleDrivefromthewebhttps://www.google.com/drive/download/ 



OncetheSelfServicewindowisopenclickontheApplicationsCategory.



LocateGoogleDriveandclickinstall.Aprogressbarwillappearatthe

topoftheSelfServicewindow.



SyncingGoogleDrivefilesonaMacbyMalindaPiresislicensedunderaCreativeCommons

AttributionNonCommercial4.0InternationalLicense.



HowtoSYNCGoogleDrivefilesonaMacuseddaily. 3



GoogleDriveAlreadyInstalledDirections:

OnceGoogleDriveisinstalled,openitandsignintwice.Seepage1if

youneedhelplocatingthenewlyinstalledprogram.



Signin2times:



SyncingGoogleDrivefilesonaMacbyMalindaPiresislicensedunderaCreativeCommons

AttributionNonCommercial4.0InternationalLicense.



HowtoSYNCGoogleDrivefilesonaMacuseddaily. 4



Readthroughthe4welcomewindowstolearnaboutGoogleDrive.



Welcomewindows:



Onceyoufeelready,click“Done”andyourGoogleDrivewillopenin

Finder.YourMacisnowsyncingtoyourGoogleDrive.Thismeansyour

filesintheGoogleDrivefolderlivein2places;onyourMacandinthe

Googlecloud.Filesthathaveagreencheckmark(✔)havefinished

syncingandfilesthathavebluearrowsareintheprocessofsyncing.

Theamountoftimethistakeswilldependonthenumberandsizeoffiles

thatneedtosync.



SyncingGoogleDrivefilesonaMacbyMalindaPiresislicensedunderaCreativeCommons

AttributionNonCommercial4.0InternationalLicense.



HowtoSYNCGoogleDrivefilesonaMacuseddaily. 5



YoucaneasilyaccessGoogleDriveusingtheiconlocatedinupperright

ofyourdesktop.Hoveryourmouseovertheicontoseesyncstatus. 



ClickontheicontoopenamenufortheGoogleDriveProgram.



2.OrganizingfilesinGoogleDrive:

CreatingfoldersinFinderallowsyoutoeasilyorganizeyourGoogle

Drive.Let’scompareyourGoogleDrivetoabook.Thefirstsetoffolders

isthebook’stableofcontents.Eachfolderrepresentsonechapterof

yourGoogleDrive.



SyncingGoogleDrivefilesonaMacbyMalindaPiresislicensedunderaCreativeCommons

AttributionNonCommercial4.0InternationalLicense.



HowtoSYNCGoogleDrivefilesonaMacuseddaily. 6



Herearesomenotestohelpyouunderstandwhatyouareseeing.



TocreateanewfolderinFinderclickonthegearandchoosenewfolder.



Anuntitledfolderwillappear,giveitaname.Youcaneasilymovefiles

andfoldersbydragginganddroppingthemwhereyouwant.



SyncingGoogleDrivefilesonaMacbyMalindaPiresislicensedunderaCreativeCommons

AttributionNonCommercial4.0InternationalLicense.



HowtoSYNCGoogleDrivefilesonaMacuseddaily. 7



ChangetheFinderviewtoeasilydraganddropfileswhereyouwant

them.



Differentwaystoselectfiles:

● Tomove1fileatatimeclickonitonce,drag,anddrop

● Tomovemanyfilesthatareinorderclickonthefirstfile,hold

downtheshiftkey,clickonthelastfileinthesetandallthefilesin

betweenthese2willhighlight.Releasetheshiftkeyandusethe

mousetodraganddropthegroupofselectedfilestothedesired

location.

● Tomovemultiplefilesthatareoutofsequenceclickonthefirst

file,holddownthecommandkey,selectthedesiredfilesoneata

timetohighlightthem.Releasethecommandkeyandusethe

mousetodraganddropthefilestothedesiredlocation.

● Toselectallthefilesintheactivewindowpressthe“control”and

“A”keysatthesametime.Usethemousetodraganddropthefiles

tothedesiredlocation.



TimeSavingTips:

Don’tworryaboutcleaningupthemassiveamountofdatainyourGoogle

Drive.Createfoldersasyoudiscoverthecategoriesyouusemost.For



SyncingGoogleDrivefilesonaMacbyMalindaPiresislicensedunderaCreativeCommons

AttributionNonCommercial4.0InternationalLicense.



HowtoSYNCGoogleDrivefilesonaMacuseddaily. 8



example,youmightwanttostoreclassrelatedfilesforeachclassin

separatefolders.ThesewouldbecomechaptersinyourGoogle“ebook”.

Don’tspendhourstryingtodecidewhatbelongsinthenewfolder.

Instead,placematerialsintothefoldersasyouuseorcreatethem.You

canplacefoldersinsideotherfolderstofurtherorganizeyourclass

materialsbyunit,chapter,ortopic(etc). 



3.RetrievingfilesfromGoogleDrive:

Toensurethatyouarealwaysworkingonafilethatwillsyncproperly,

onlyopenfilesfromtheGoogleDrivefolder!Syncedfileswill

automaticallyopenintheprogramthatcreatedthemandallchangesyou

makewillautomaticallysynctoyourgoogledrive.



Expandfolderstolocatethefilethatyouwantanddoubleclicktoopenit.



SyncingGoogleDrivefilesonaMacbyMalindaPiresislicensedunderaCreativeCommons

AttributionNonCommercial4.0InternationalLicense.



HowtoSYNCGoogleDrivefilesonaMacuseddaily. 9



4.SavingfilessothattheysynctoGoogleDrive:

AfileopenedthroughtheGoogleDrivefolderonthecomputerwill

automaticallysynctoGoogleDrivewhenyouclicksave.Toensureanew

filesavesinawaythatitwillsynctoyourGoogleDrivebesuretoselect

theGoogleDrivefolderwhensaving.



5.AdvancedSyncsettings:

ChancesareyouhavelotsoffilesinyourGoogleDrivethatyoudonot

useanymore(chaptersyounolongerneedtoread).Youdon’twant

theseunuseditemstotakeupspaceonyourcomputer.Usingsettings,



SyncingGoogleDrivefilesonaMacbyMalindaPiresislicensedunderaCreativeCommons

AttributionNonCommercial4.0InternationalLicense.



HowtoSYNCGoogleDrivefilesonaMacuseddaily. 10



thereisawaytotellyourGoogleDriveapplicationtoonlysynccertain

folders(chapters)fromyourGoogleDrivetoyourcomputer.Ifyouneeda

folderthatyoudidn’tsyncyoucanalwaysgobackandchangethe

settings.Here’show:



Studentshareditems:

Doyouhavestudentsturninginassignmentsbysharingthem

toyourGoogleDrive?ConsiderusingGoogleClassroom

becauseitwillorganizeallthefilesforyouandgiveyouan

easywaytodistribute,collect,review,grade,comment,and

returnassignments.Nomorejugglingfilesbetweenfolders

andtryingtofigureoutwhichonesyougradedorwhereyou

placedthatspreadsheetofgrades.

Endsidenote.



SyncingGoogleDrivefilesonaMacbyMalindaPiresislicensedunderaCreativeCommons

AttributionNonCommercial4.0InternationalLicense.



HowtoSYNCGoogleDrivefilesonaMacuseddaily. 11



Tocontroltheitemsyousyncclickon“Onlythesefolders…”Youwillsee

the“tableofContents”foryourGoogleDrive.Theitemsyoucheckoffwill

synctoyourcomputerandtheotherswillremainupinthecloud.



YoushouldcontrolwhatyousyncbecauseyourGoogleDrive

storageisunlimitedbutyourMacisnot!



SyncingGoogleDrivefilesonaMacbyMalindaPiresislicensedunderaCreativeCommons

AttributionNonCommercial4.0InternationalLicense.



HowtoSYNCGoogleDrivefilesonaMacuseddaily. 12



WARNING:

FORTHERESTOFTHESCHOOLYEAR,PLEASEDONOTSAVE

FILESTOYOURT:DRIVE(MYDOCUMENTS).ALSO,DONOTUSE

YOURDESKTOPORFLASHDRIVEBECAUSETHESELOCATIONS

CANBEVERYUNSAFEFORYOURFILES!Thinkaboutwhatwould

happenifyoulostyourflashdrive,oryourcomputerdecidednotto

workanymore.Desktopandflashdriveitemswouldbelostforever,

butitemsstoredintheGoogleDriveFolder,areupinthecloud,on

somecomputer,atsomeDataLocationCenter,somewhereinthe

US,guardedbysecurity,tighterthanFortKnox,andarestillsafe

andretrievable.Asecondissue,desktopandflashdriveitemsdo

notsyncautomatically,andrequireextraworktokeepthefiles

updatedeverywhereyouneedaccesstothem.Checkoutthis5

minuteyoutubevideothatexploresoneofthesecenters:

https://youtu.be/PBx7rgqeGG8

Note:YoumightneedtheBarracudatricktoviewthisvideoinschool.



SyncingGoogleDrivefilesonaMacbyMalindaPiresislicensedunderaCreativeCommons

AttributionNonCommercial4.0InternationalLicense.