Online Storage: Google Drive for @usu.edu email (Student, Staff, Faculty)

• Data should be stored in one of the preferred University storage systems: Box or OneDrive
• Drive.usu.edu is an unsupported, limited cloud-based storage option available for Staff and Faculty provided by Google
  
• Please review the data classifications to see what type of data is appropriate to store on Google Drive
  

Table of contents

1. Setting Up Your Account
2. Navigating in Drive
3. Upload or Create Files
4. Sync Folders to the Desktop with File Stream
5. Collaborating and Sharing File
6. Folder sharing, Security, Permissions
7. Creating Shared Drives for Departments

1. Setting Up Your Account

1. Go to drive.usu.edu or download the Drive app from the Apple App store or Google Play store
2. Enter your USU email address
3. You will be redirected to the USU login where you can log in with a#@aggies.usu.edu and your strong password
4. Your account will automatically be created using your first.last@usu.edu email address
5. Once logged in, you’ll see the USU logo in the upper right corner and if you click the logo, you’ll see the following:
   
   

2. Navigating in Drive

There are 4 main areas in Google Drive to become familiar with:

1. New (Upload or Create Files)
2. File and Folder Navigation Pane (Browse to specific file or folder sections)
3. Quick Access (Most recent files opened or uploaded)
4. Main Content Area (File and folder selection)
   
   

3. Upload or Create Files

You can upload files from your computer or create files in Google Drive.

• Upload files and folders to Google Drive
• Work with Office files
• Create, edit, and format Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides
• File types and maximum file sizes

4. Syncing Folders to Desktop

Learn how to back up and sync files from your Mac or PC with Share with specific people

5. Collaborating and Sharing Files

1. Under "People," enter the email address you want to share with.
   Note: If you share with an email address that isn’t a Google Account, they’ll only be able to view the file.
2. To choose what someone can do with your file, click the Down arrow.
   Learn more about how others view, comment, or edit files.
3. If you don’t want to send an email to people, click Advanced and uncheck the Notify people box. If you notify people, each email address you enter will be included in the email.
4. Click Send.

6. Folder Sharing, Security, and Permissions

Share Drive Folders or, Create and share with a Shared Drive instead of using folders, better for departments or organizations (see below)

Here’s what people can do with folders after you share it with them:

• Can organize, add, & edit: If they're signed into a Google account, people can open, edit, delete, or move any files within the folder. People can also add files to the folder.
• Can view only: People can see the folder and they can open all files within the folder.

More about folder sharing:

• If you share or unshare folders with a lot of files or subfolders, it might take time before all permissions change. If you change a lot of edit or view permissions at once, it might take time before you see the changes.
• Storage is counted against the person who uploaded the file, not the owner of the folder.

7. Create or Access Shared Drives

A shared drive is a shared space where:

• Members of a shared drive share ownership of any files and folders.
• If someone leaves the University or is removed from the shared drive, any files or folders they added will stay.
• You can still share files with a link or invite.
• Once the main shared drive is created, folders inside the main department folder can be created and shared with the appropriate groups within the department.

See these links for more information:

Store & Share Files with Shared Drives
Shared Drives Cheat Sheet

Naming Shared Drives and Folders

• Use your department code or class number as the Shared Drive name.
• For example, the IT department would name the Shared Drive “DPINFT”.
• For a class, use the class code

Naming Shared Drive Sub Folders

• Use your department code or class number as a prefix to folders
• For a department, use your department code "DPINFT Staff Meeting Notes 2020-10-15"
• For a class, use the class code "USU-1330 Midterm Prep Fall 2020"

Types of Shared Drive Members and Collaboration Permissions

• Manager: Can manage members, and upload, edit, move, or delete all files.
• Content manager: By default, can upload, edit, move, or delete all files.
• Contributor: Edit all files and upload new files, but can’t move or delete files.
• Commenter: Can only comment on all files.
• Viewer: Can only view all files

For further assistance, please contact your Department IT Support or the IT Service Desk