Google is adding a shortcuts option to Drive so users can reference and organise files outside of a shared account, the company revealed last week.
Google announced the changes in a blog post on Thursday and it actually sounds pretty handy. The update will allow users to create up to date shortcuts of files and documents across multiple drives and folders by creating links that point users in the right direction.
As it is, if you want to share a document in one drive with a group of users in another drive, you will need to save the file as a copy. While this does the job to an extent, the second file can easily become outdated and any changes done in the second drive will not copy over to the original document. With the shortcuts option, users can ditch outdated copies by simply adding a shortcut in the second drive pointing users toward the original document in the first drive.
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Once the feature has been enabled, Drive users will be able to spot an ‘Add a shortcut to this file in Drive’ button in Docs, Sheets or Slides. Clicking this will allow you to pinpoint the exact location you want to shortcut to appear. Alternatively, if your drive is a mess and you just want to create a couple shortcuts to better organise it, you can simply right click the file you wish to link to from within the drive and select ‘Add shortcut to Drive’ or drag and drop the item into another folder to create the shortcut.
Drive shortcuts will be available for files created in Google Docs, Slides and Sheets, JPGs, PDFs, Microsoft Office files and Google Drive folders. The ‘Add to My Drive’ option will also be replaced with ‘Add shortcut to Drive’ to reflect these changes.
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Any files you’ve previously copied over to a second drive will continue to function as copies so be sure to switch them out for a shortcut if you want your shared files to stay synced up and totally up to date.
If you’re an admin and would like to get your hands on these new features first, you can sign up for the Google Drive shortcuts beta now.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
