
This strategy is for shared files and folders that you need to access frequently for a short period of time. Strategy 2: Star files & folders in Google Drive Here’s some strategies for dealing with the chaos of Google Drive’s Shared with me. If you’re using list view to display your files, you can see which ones are in Shared Drives by the little padlock icon shown on the right of the file name. Shared Drive files cannot be added to My Drive. However, note that this method does not work for files that are stored in Shared Drives (Team Drives), even if you see them in Shared with me. This means you will no longer have to visit Shared with me to access it. Choose a location in My Drive to add the file or folder too.Īfter you do this, the file/folder will remain in Shared with me but also be in your My Drive. This will open the Add-to dialog box (notice the terminology here, add – not move).ģ. Select it in the Shared with me list (by clicking on it).Ģ. The best and safest way to add a file or folder to your My Drive is:ġ. In doing so, you can organise them within your own folder structure.īut before you get too excited, please be very careful about how you do this!! If you don’t do it the right way, you risk removing other people’s access (which, I might add, would require you to ignore the big warning that Google Drive will display, so make sure you pay attention to warnings!). So, one of the easiest ways to avoid spending too much time in Shared with me is by adding the shared files and folders you use regularly to your My Drive. Unlike Shared with me, you can organise your My Drive. This strategy is for shared files and folders that you need to access frequently on an ongoing basis. The key to dealing with this is actually not to organise it (because, as we know, you can’t!), but to spend the least amount of time there as possible.īut how you ask? Strategy 1: Add shared files & folders to My Drive I agree with you, Shared with me is chaotic and stressful for those of us that like things ordered and neatly filed away. Now some of you might be feeling a sense of despair at this point, but just stick with me and read on! You can’t create folders in it, you can’t move items around. There is no way to organise Shared with me. Whenever I facilitate training sessions for people who are already using Google Drive, I know for sure that I’ll always be asked how do I organise Shared with me? Typically this is accompanied by comments about how messy and confusing Shared with me is. In this post you’ll find my strategies for dealing with your Shared with me frustration.īefore we start, there is one important thing to understand.
