Google Tries to Play Catch Up To OfficeDrop’s Document Management
Google Docs has just launched a “folder share” option, something OfficeDrop document management customers have enjoyed since August. While I’m sure Google isn’t actually trying to catch OfficeDrop, they have added a great piece of functionality for the Doc’s customers - a product the team at OfficeDrop uses and enjoys. Folder share makes a lot of sense for small businesses looking to collaborate internally, with customers, and with partners.
How Google Doc’s Folder Share Works
Google Doc’s folder share works a lot like OfficeDrop’s folder share. To share folders in Google:
Step 1 is creating folders; you do this in Google Docs by clicking on the “create new” button on the left, and selecting “Folder.” You’ll get a dialog box, into which you need to type the name of the folder. You can also enter a description. You’ll see the empty folder space below; once you’ve put files into the folder you’ll see them below, much like you see them when you log into Google Docs. Actually, totally like that :).
Step 2 is to put files into folder share. To get back to the general list of your files, click on “All items” on the left, below the button you just clicked for “Create New.” At this point you should be back at the list of files you see when you first get into Docs. Now, select the files you want to put into the folder. Click the check boxes on the ones you want to put into the folder - these little boxes are to the left of the file names. Once you’ve checked some or all of the files you want to put into the folder, click “Folder”, which you’ll see toward the upper-left-middle of your screen, just below the “All Items” banner. You’ll see a tree of the folders that you have created; click on the one where you want to move the documents. Note that the files WON’T disappear out of your general all documents in box - they will just also now be in the folder. A little box with the name of the folder will appear next to the actual name of the file - this tells you the folder that you’ve put the file into.
Step 3 is to share the file. You’ll see a list of your folders on the left, under the navigation pane that says things like “all items,” “owned by me” and more. Click on the folder that you want to share. Now only the files in that folder will be shown in the center of your screen. Go back to that folder name on the left and left click. You’ll see several options, including “share.” Select “share” and invite people to view the folder! This part now looks just like the dialog box you’d see when sharing an individual file.
Google’s Folder Share is Pretty Similar to OfficeDrop’s Folder Share
It’s both cool and interesting that Google’s functionality is similar to OfficeDrop’s. One of the added benefits of using OfficeDrop’s share is that you can restrict the amount of time that the person you are sharing with has to view the document. So, if you only want to let them view the document for a week or a day the link can expire and the person will no longer be able to access the information in the folder.
To learn how to share a folder in OfficeDrop click here!
