9 Google Drive Features for Android You Should Know About

Google Drive on Android is more than just cloud storage. It not only stores your documents, photos and videos, but also provides advanced features that make your life easier and more efficient. Let’s dive in.

Create shortcuts for easy access

Have you ever flipped through countless folders looking for a specific document? Try creating shortcuts for frequently used files and folders. With shortcuts, you can access the same file from multiple locations without duplicating it, saving valuable storage space.

To set up a shortcut, navigate to the file or folder, click the three-dot menu and select the “Add shortcut to disk” option. Then select the preferred location where you want your shortcut to appear.

You can also add shortcuts to your Home screen for quick access to your most frequently used files and folders without having to open the Drive app. To create a desktop shortcut, find a file or folder, tap the three-dot menu, and select Add to Home Screen.

Make sure you give the Drive app permission to create shortcuts; otherwise, you won’t be able to add them to your home screen.

Use Drive to Backup Your Phone

Losing or damaging your phone can be a painful experience, especially if you haven’t backed up your data. Google Drive makes it incredibly easy to back up your phone’s data, ensuring that your precious photos, contacts, and other important files remain safe.

If you’re using Google’s Android Files file manager, moving files from local storage to Google Drive is easy. Open the Files app on your Android device, select the files you want to back up, tap the three-dot context menu, and select Backup to Google Drive.

Another way is to back up your phone directly from the Drive app. Open Drive, tap the menu icon, and select Backup. From here, choose which photos, videos, and documents you want to back up and let Drive do the rest.

Convert files to PDF

Whether it’s a Word document, spreadsheet, or image file, you can convert it to PDF without the need for additional software.

To convert a file to PDF, open the Google Drive app, select the file you want to convert, tap the three vertical dots next to it, and select Upload. The file will be downloaded in PDF format to the internal memory.

Another option is to select “Open With” from the menu and then select the “View PDF” option to view the file as a PDF.

Once the file is open in your viewing app, go to the menu, select File, then Download.

Quickly search files using filters

New Google Drive filtering options help you quickly refine your search results. This feature allows you to find files by keywords, file type, date, and other parameters.

For example, the Type filter lets you search by file type, such as documents, presentations, spreadsheets, or photos. The People filter allows you to search by contact name, including the owners of the file or people associated with the file. Finally, the Modified filter lets you select files by when they were last modified, such as today, in the last 7 days, or this year.

Just tap the search bar at the top of the Drive app to see filter options.

Search operators such as “type:pdf” can help you find specific file types or “owner:me” to see only files you own.

Scan photos and documents

Google Drive also has a document scanning feature that allows you to scan documents and upload them to your Drive. It provides you with a number of tools to help you achieve the perfect scan. For example, you can apply filters like Auto, Color, or Grayscale, and even crop and rotate the image.

To scan a document or image, open the Google Drive app and tap the scan camera icon. Alternatively, you can click the plus icon, select Scan, and use the camera to capture the image.

Once you’re satisfied with your scan, you can upload the document in JPEG or PDF format to a specific folder in Google Drive.

You can also scan multiple pages into a single PDF file, ideal for multi-page contracts or documents. Plus, Drive OCR (optical character recognition) recognizes text on your scans, making it searchable later.

Make your file available offline

Google Drive lets you make files available offline, so you can access them anytime, anywhere without an Internet connection. This feature allows you to edit a presentation or view a spreadsheet even if you are in airplane mode or in an area with poor reception.

To enable offline access, open the Google Drive app, navigate to the file or folder you want, and tap the three vertical dots next to it. Then click “Make available offline” and the file will be downloaded to your internal storage.

Share large files in Gmail using Google Drive

Email attachments may be limited, especially when sharing large files. Luckily, you can now integrate with the Gmail Drive app to easily share large files. When you attach a file from Google Drive to Gmail, it sends a link instead of the file itself, making it easier to share large files.

For example, when composing an email in Gmail, click the attachment icon and select Insert from Drive. Then select the file you want to share, and Gmail will insert a link to the file instead of downloading it directly.

Keep in mind that when sending an email from a mobile phone, you can only attach individual files, not entire folders, and you cannot select multiple files at once. To send multiple files, you will need to select and attach one file at a time.

Open files in another application

Sometimes you may need to open a file in a different application than the default application. For example, if you have a PDF file, you can open it in Adobe Acrobat or another PDF reader directly from Google Drive. This integration eliminates the need for you to manually download and re-upload files after editing.

Simply select the file you want to open, tap the three vertical dots next to it, select “Open with” and select your preferred compatible app.

Set up files and folders on the disk

While the Android Drive app doesn’t offer as many customization options as the web version, it still includes several useful features. You can rename files and folders, change folder colors, enable dark mode, mark important files, and even add a Drive widget to your home screen.

To change the color of a folder, tap the three dots and select the Change Color option. This quick setup can make it easier to recognize different projects at a glance. Likewise, you can rename files and folders by clicking on their names.

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Whether you’re scanning documents, backing up your phone, or organizing files, Google Drive has a solution for every situation.