Documents stored in Google apps formats, such as documents in Google Docs format or presentations in Google Slides format, do not count against your storage usage. But if you export such a document to a non-Google format and save the exported document in Google Drive, it will count against your storage.
Any media files you store in Google Photos on the Original Quality setting will also use Google Drive storage.
The Google Workspace apps are built on the Google Drive platform and automatically use Google Drive for storing files. Google Drive is the backbone for sharing and collaborating on Google Workspace documents with people both inside and outside your Google Workspace organization.
If you need to work with files on Google Drive as if they were on your Windows PC or Mac, you can use Google Drive for Desktop to integrate Google Drive into File Explorer on Windows or the Finder on macOS. See the section “Using Google Drive for Desktop” in Chapter 6, “Share and Collaborate on Files,” for information on Google Drive for Desktop.
The shared drives appear.
Click Expand (
Note: You can also double-click the shared drive (
The top-level folders in the shared drive appear.
The Shared with Me category appears, showing folders and documents that others have shared with you.
The Recent category appears, showing files that have been saved recently.
The Starred category appears, showing the files you have marked as Starred.
The file opens in the default app for that file type. For example, if you double-click a Google Docs document, it opens in the Google Docs app.
TIP
What does the Storage category on Google Drive do?
Click Storage (
Create a Folder and Add Files
To organize your files on Google Drive, you will likely want to create various folders and subfolders. For example, you might choose to create a folder for each major project and, inside that folder, a subfolder for each of the project’s components. If needed, you could then create subfolders inside those subfolders.
Once you have created the folders you need, you can copy or move existing files into the folders or create new files in them.
Create a Folder and Add Files
In Google Drive, navigate to the category in which you want to create a folder.
Note: If you do not currently have Google Drive open, click Google apps (
If you want to create the new folder inside an existing folder, click that folder.
The folder’s contents appear.
Click New (
The New pop-up menu opens.