Google Drive is Now Available: 5 Cool Things To Do

June 28, 2012

I had a nice 8GB USB thumb drive a few weeks ago. It had some large files on it that were impractical to email, some photos I was going to use on a web site, and a few other miscellaneous items. The little memory stick was a convenient way of moving information because it was small enough to fit in my pocket, and I could plug it in to any computer I happened to be in front of.

You’ll notice I wrote that sentence in the “past-tense,” because I lost it. I also had a portable USB hard drive that I carted around in my travel bag for the same reason…which died after I dropped it.

Two problems with storing information on a piece of hardware is if your hardware malfunctions or you don’t have it with you, your information is at best inaccessible and at worst lost forever.

Google Drive was recently released to everyone, Google’s new cloud storage product that gives you 5GB of free storage. Sundar Pichai, a lead Google Apps developer, describes Google drive as “a place where you can create, share, collaborate, and keep all of your stuff. Whether you’re working with a friend on a joint research project, planning a wedding with your fiancé or tracking a budget with roommates, you can do it in Drive. You can upload and access all of your files, including videos, photos, Google Docs, PDFs and beyond.”

He’s not kidding either. Google Drive is integrated into your email system (Click the Documents or Drive link at the top of your mail screen), and can be set up to work just like a virtual hard drive on your computer, smartphone, or tablet. Once logged into your Drive, you can upload files, create and share documents , and manage the accessibility of your files. Photos and information I frequently use are now in a central location that can’t be lost or victimized by my butterfingers, and I can access these files from any Internet connection.

To sweeten the deal, here’s 5 things you can do with Google Drive to make it even better:

1. Google Drive on your desktop

PC and Mac users can download the Google Drive app to their computer. This places an icon on your desktop to instantly synchronize local files to your Google Drive. Have a 50MB file you need to send to someone? Drag it to your Google Drive icon and share it with anyone you wish. You can actually use it to replace your My Documents folder, providing you with automatic backups and accessibility of your documents from any Internet connection.

2. Get Google Drive on your smartphone or tablet

This is one of those phone apps that I’m not sure how I ever got along without. The Google Drive app is available in the Play Store (free) and should be available for Apple devices in the coming weeks. Photos, notes, documents…pretty much anything I have on my phone or tablet can be sent to my Google Drive with tap of an icon. I recently spoke with a real-estate agent that is using Drive to find houses for clients: she goes on site, takes photos, and then shares them with potential buyers — all from her phone.

3. Send large attachments

Nobody likes huge email attachments. They take a long time to download if you’re on a slow connection, and they take up a lot of mailbox space. Placing your files on your Google Drive allows you to send a link to any files you wish. That way recipients can download attachments when convenient and their mailbox doesn’t get clogged up.

4. Fax Documents

Some places are stuck in the 1980’s and are still into faxing. Google Drive has this covered as well…Google partnered with Hello Fax to add faxing capability to your Drive documents. You’ll want to sign in to your email account first, then go to the Hello Fax website and log in with your account. Once signed in you’ll have the option to fax any documents on your Drive. (*note this feature seems to work best with the Google Chrome or Firefox web browsers. I was able to get it to work with Internet Explorer, but the sign-in process is a bit cumbersome).

5. Add a “Send To Google Drive” command to Windows

If you right-click on a file in Windows, you’ll see a menu showing the Send To: command. Normally this command allows you to copy a file to another hard drive, a printer, a CD, etc. If you install the Google Drive app for your PC, you can actually add an option to send the file to your Google Drive:

Right Click the Google Drive icon on your Desktop and select Copy .
Click the Start button and type %appdata% into the search window.
Open the Microsoft/Windows/SendTo folder.
Right click on a blank area of the in the SendTo folder and select Paste .

Now you can right-click any file and select Send To -> Google Drive .

< Older Post Newer Post >

New Business Broadband Plans!

By Mike Pawlecki • March 31, 2021

TOAST.net is excited to offer 4 new Business Broadband plans

New Fiber for Business Plans!

By Mike Pawlecki • March 11, 2021

TOAST.net is excited to announce 3 new Business Fiber Plans

New Residential Fiber Plans!

By Mike Pawlecki • January 12, 2021

TOAST.net has added two new residential Fiber Internet plans!

Switch to Universal Pricing

By Mike Pawlecki • August 14, 2020

This coming Monday, Aug. 17th, we will be switching to universal pricing -- one price for all DSL speeds (around $65) and one price for Fiber (around $90). So if anyone is thinking they could use one of our basic service plans, now's the time to order. For example: DSL - 12 Mbps for $43.95/month - Great for seniors on a fixed income. Plenty of speed for surfing the web, checking email, and streaming for 1 or 2 TVs. Fiber - 60 Mbps for $45.00/month - Awesome solution for just about any household. Note that fiber is a new technology and only about 20% of the country can get it. Check your address to see what service you qualify for and order by Sunday, 8/16/20! This is your last chance to lock in the speed and price of a great DSL or Fiber plan before they are grandfathered!

Google Meet

By Mike Pawlecki • May 20, 2020

Google Meet is now free for everyone. Check out TOAST.net's blog that tells you more about Google Meet usage at your home or office.

Work from Home (part 2)

By Mike Pawlecki • May 1, 2020

Google - Meet Meet is video conference software, similar to Zoom. To help businesses, schools, and people around the world navigate remote life, Google is making Meet free for everyone with availability rolling out over the coming weeks. See Google's blog post for details. SolarWinds - Take Control You may need to run applications off your PC or server at the office. In that case, SolarWinds makes makes an easy-to-use application that allows home users to remote desktop to their PC in the office. It's secure and doesn't require special hardware, a static IP, or VPN. We're offering this software free of charge for 90 days. Please contact us if interested.

Work from Home

By Mike Pawlecki • March 20, 2020

This week we've taken quite a few calls from companies asking how their employees and staff can work from home (WFH). We're happy to offer several WFH solutions to help organizations mitigate health risks to employees and customers. TOAST.net understands how important it is to keep your employees connected, productive, and safe during this unprecedented pandemic. Here are the services we have to help your business through this difficult time : Business Portal is a 'home page' for your browser that improves communication and efficiencies within your organization. It's a private Intranet that features company news, announcements, links to vendors and cloud apps, an employee schedule, and more! We offer this at no charge to our customers. Visit https://start.toast.net Google's G Suite - TOAST.net is an authorized reseller of G Suite, a cloud-based collaboration tool featuring Email, Calendar, Chat, Hangouts (video conferencing), and Drive. You can create files, documents, spreadsheets, and presentations with just your browser (no software to install) and share these with fellow workers, customers, and vendors. More info Remote Desktop - an easy-to-use application that allows home users to connect to PCs in the office. It's secure and doesn't require special hardware or a static IP. We're offering this free of charge for 90 days. High-speed Internet for Home - We provide residential Cable, DSL, and Fiber Internet service . So you can pay for your employee's Internet connection on your business invoice. Please contact us if you're interested in any of these services. B est wishes to everyone to stay healthy, safe, and upbeat as we socially distance ourselves for a quick end to this situation. Note: Our customer support team continues to work their regular hours. We operate support teams in multiple locations and, while there may be some disruption at certain locations for a limited time, overall we do not expect any significant change in access to support.

Cut The Cord With Unlimited Data

By TOAST.net Internet • January 28, 2019

In the month after Christmas, we’ve seen a high demand for our Internet service with unlimited data. Much of it is from people wanting to use their new streaming device (Fire Stick, Roku, Chromecast, Apple TV, etc.) to cancel their expensive cable TV service. This is commonly referred to as “cutting the cord.”

Fiber Expansion

By TOAST.net Internet • December 17, 2018

TOAST.net is pleased to announce fiber Internet service in 12 new metro areas:

Start Page Updates

By TOAST.net Internet • December 12, 2018

Moved Facebook link from top bar to the Popular Sites section. Added Yahoo Finance to the Personal Finance section. Yahoo Finance is one of the largest business news web sites in the United States by monthly traffic.