What Is Google Drive And How Does It Work

Google Drive does more than store your files; Google Drive allows you to create, share, and manage documents through their proprietary productivity apps. For consumers, Google Drive is a free way to keep your files backed up in the cloud, and easy to access from any device.

Google Drive is a hugely popular cloud storage service that lets you store a variety of files in the cloud, and then access them from a smartphone, tablet, or computer. If you have not used a cloud-based storage service such as Google Drive before, take some time to think about the benefits of keeping your files on the web.

You cannot discuss the advantages and drawbacks of Google Docs without also talking about how easy it is to access files saved to the cloud. Another one of the advantages offered by Google Drive is the ease with which you can download Microsoft Office files and keep editing them, online, in the cloud. If you are using Google Drive for Desktop, everything that you upload can be copied to any other folder on your computer, like any other file.

Files that you create using Google Docs, Sheets, and other apps within Drive (in Googles proprietary, online-only format) are not counted against your Google Drive storage limits, nor are files that are shared with you. Google uses Drive for storage in Google Photos, and it also stores your Gmail attachments and G Suite documents, which can eat up a good chunk of this space (read our guide to how to delete Google Photos duplicates, if you discover that you have uploaded more than one copy). You need a Google account to use Google Drive, and, for starters, Google gives you 15GB of storage space for free, so you can store photos, stories, drawings, recordings, videos, pretty much everything, in confidence.

Google Drive Googles cloud-based file-storage service, which gives users personal storage, called My Drive, and an option to access shared folders for collaboration, called Shared Drive. You will see My Drive, where your uploaded files and folders are stored, or synced, including any Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, and Google Forms that you create. On mobile devices, it may be more convenient to keep files in the cloud and simply open them up whenever you need them, but there are a few situations when you need to look for that download button for Google Drive.

Otherwise, read on to learn more about how Google Drive works, and how you can use it to back up your files and keep your computer free from clutter. Google Drive is cloud-based storage that allows users to store files online and access them on whichever device they choose, including smartphones, tablets, PCs, iPhones, and iPads. Files on Demand features can also be useful for consumers, as the Files on Demand features in OneDrive demonstrate, which is why I would love to see Google Drive add this functionality into its Backup and Sync; a service offered by Microsofts OneDrive; All OneDrive users, by contrast, are eligible for the Files on Demand feature.