When you install Drive File Stream on your computer, it creates a drive in Microsoft® Windows® Explorer or a device in Apple® Mac® Finder® named Google.

You can now select which folders you want to sync to a computer with Google Drive. Image: Google Google has rolled out a new syncing feature in Google Drive that can help free up space on a computer. Until now, syncing on Google Drive meant duplicating everything in the cloud on your computer, taxing precious local storage. Personal finance software for mac. Even if you're using a chunk of Google's lower-tier 1TB storage, syncing everything isn't ideal for many computers.

An update for Google Drive for Mac and Windows changes that situation by allowing which folders and subfolders are to be synced and the ones that shouldn't be. This change makes sense given it would be impossible for the vast majority of computers to sync everything from Google's 30TB Drive plan. To select which folders are available for syncing, click the Google Drive icon and open Preferences and then go to Sync Options. There's now one option to, 'Sync everything from My Drive' and another to 'Sync only these folders'. Each folder displays the amount of storage it uses, so the individual knows how much is being freed up or consumed when deselecting or selecting a folder for syncing.

Once a folder has been deselected, it will be removed from the hard drive but remain stored in Drive. Google has also created a new alert in Drive to warn users when they move or delete shared files. Google wants to make it easier to move and delete files from a computer, but now flags up when deleting or moving a shared file will cause others to lose access. By registering you become a member of the CBS Interactive family of sites and you have read and agree to the,.

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Many organizations that rely on Google Apps also use Microsoft Office applications. Mass conversion of highly formatted documents, complex spreadsheets, or animated presentations may not always be practical. As a result, people still open and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents after a move to Google Apps. Microsoft Office files, however, no longer need to be stored on your local computer, server, or even on MIcrosoft's OneDrive. Google Drive stores Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files much like any file server. And Google encrypts the files when you upload them to Drive, and it stores the files in an encrypted state, too. Google also offers several ways to edit Microsoft Office files stored on Google Drive.

Edit capabilities vary by operating system. Here's a look at the options as of August 2015. Edit with Microsoft Office The most full-featured way to edit a Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file stored on Google Drive is with Microsoft Office, of course. People who use Office on Windows may open Office files from Google Drive with a plug-in. Simply install the, and Google Drive will display as a file storage location in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint ( Figure A).

From within your Office app, open a file on Google Drive, make your changes, then save the file back to Google Drive. Figure A Open Microsoft Office files stored on Google Drive with a Google-created plug-in. You can also open an Office file stored on Google Drive from your Chrome browser—on either Windows or a Mac. First, install the Google Drive app for your system.

Next, start Chrome and browse to your file on Google Drive (). Right-click (or, [Ctrl]+click) on a Word, Excel, or PowerPoint document, then choose 'Open in.' And select the corresponding Office app ( Figure B). When you're done with your edits, the file saves to Google Drive.