by Google Drive—formerly Google Docs—has come quite a way in nearly a decade of existence. Originally launched as Writely, a startup’s clever collaborative word processor, Google quickly acquired the app, changed the name to Google Docs, and released it as a new way to help people work together more efficiently using little more than a browser.
Google changed the name again to Google Drive in April 2012, reflecting the ever-expanding goals and capabilities of the suite. Google Drive’s many and varied capabilities—from chat with collaborators in a document to the ability to automate your entire Drive—can sometime be surprising. I rounded up a few tips to help you get even more out of this online productivity platform.
1. Search by person
One of Google Drive’s best features is its ability to let you collaborate with other people on a document in real time. With so many comments going back and forth, however, it can sometimes be a challenge to find the right one. Recently Google added the ability to search not just your documents, but by the name of people who share documents with you. This is perfect if you can’t remember a document’s name, but you do remember who shared it. To use this feature, navigate to your drive in a Web browser, click the Shared with Me link to the left, and then enter a person’s name in the search field. All documents owned by them (or shared with the two of you) will appear.
When you can’t remember a document’s name, but you do remember who shared it, search by the person’s name.
2. Search Google Docs and Gmail
If you use Google Drive, it’s probably a safe bet you also use Gmail. If you want to save time and use Gmail’s search box to search both places, navigate to Gmail, click the Gear icon, and then choose Settings from the menu. Click the Labs tab and enable the Apps Search option. Now when you use Gmail’s search box, any relevant Google Drive documents will appear beneath Gmail results.
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