G OOG LE D R I V E , DO C S & S H E E TS

BASI C S GU I D E

In this Google Drive Basics Guide you will learn how to navigate and use Google Drive, Docs
and Sheets.

Above: the Google Drive logo

Google Drive may be a brand new concept to you, but don’t be too overwhelmed, because it’s
very similar to Microsoft Word and Excel, only it’s online in a cloud based system. Using Google
Drive is a fantastic resource, because the user can access their documents from anywhere in the
world, on any device. All you need is an internet connection. Businesses are increasingly using
Google Drive for storing company files and documents as they can be shared and accessed
easily by everyone in the team, no matter where they are located.

alffie uses Google Drive, Docs and Sheets in our courses because not everyone has access
to Microsoft Word and Excel. Yet if you have an internet connection, you can have access to
Google Drive. This way you can use the templates that we provide you in order to complete
your assessment activities.
Accessing Google Drive
In the Welcome Pack we asked you to sign up to get a Google account. This account gives you
access to Google Drive and you will need a Google account to access assessment templates
given to you in your assessment activities.

Once you create an account you can access Google Drive in the following ways:

Option 1
To access Google Drive, go to http://drive.google.com

Option 2
In your assessment activities you will see blue boxes like this that will send your straight to
google Docs or Sheets to access a template that we have provided for you to use. Once there,
you can add your document to your drive and access it that way. We will show you how to do
this a little further on.
Option 3
If you already use a Gmail account for your emails you can access Google Drive from there.
Click on the icon that looks like 9 squares in the top right hand corner of your page and
selecting the ‘Drive’ option.

My Drive
My Drive is the area that holds the files and folders that you create. It’s your Drive dashboard.
Here you can also create new documents using Google Docs, Sheets and Slides.

alffie

Alfred Trainor

alffie

alffie
Once added, all the documents/templates you work on from your alffie course will be stored
in your Drive. We’ll tell you how to do this a little further down. The reason we recommend you
add your documents to your Drive is because if you need to re-edit your document due to your
question being sent back to you in revision, you will find it in your list here to re-edit it, instead
of having to create the document from scratch again.

Create a new document

If you want to create a brand new document (Docs, Sheets or Slides) or make a new folder to
store your documents in, click on the ‘New’ box on top left hand side.

YouTube tutorial for Drive

Check out these YouTube tutorials for more indepth information and navigation tips about
Google Drive. The beauty of watching tutorial videos is that you can watch them at your own
pace, and pause and rewind when you need.

Introduction to Google Drive 2016 - https://goo.gl/KuQS1N

Drive Explained | Drive | The Apps Show - https://goo.gl/ajijdC

Google Docs basics
Google Docs is exactly like Microsoft Word. It is used to create any document that you need to
write words into, such as: letters, reports, lists or general word based documents.
yourname

By clicking on the blue menu icon in the very top left hand corner you can access the Google
Docs menu.

This it will take you to the Google Docs home menu, where you can find options such as a new
blank document, or choose from other template options.
In your assessment activities there will be questions which require you to upload a document as
your answer. You will be given links to the template you will need for that document in blue
boxes like this:

Once you click on the link, it will direct you to a page that looks like this:

Click on the box ‘Use this template’ which will then open the template we provided you in order
to upload as your answer to complete your question.

yourname
Open the template by clicking on the ‘Grey Folder Icon’ in top left hand corner, then click ‘My
Drive’. This will add the document to your Drive Dashboard where you can access the document
again if you need to revise the document. Clicking on the ‘My Drive’ option here is also another
way of accessing your Drive Dashboard.

You can rename your file by clicking into the document’s name box located on the top left hand
corner of the page. Then type in your new document name.

Sharing documents
An awesome feature of using Google Drive is that you can share your documents with other
people. By clicking the blue ‘Share’ button in the top right hand corner you will be able to enter
the email address of the person you are sharing the document with. If you are working on your
document during a coaching call with an alffie Assessor you have the option of sharing the
document with them, so they can view your work as you work on it in real time.
Features in Google Docs
Once you have your template open, you can begin to edit it, like you would a Microsoft Word
document.

The top menu contains all features that Word offers. Such as:
• an undo button
• font name
• font size
• bold and italics
• text alignment options
• bullet list options.

Help
If you need help with any function in Google Docs/Sheets then you can use the inbuilt help
function.

Alternatively you can access help for google Drive/Docs/Sheets on the Google Drive Help Page
- https://support.google.com/drive

Downloading and uploading

Once you have completed your document you will be ready to download it from Google Drive
and upload it into your alffie assessment. We recommend that you download your documents
as PDFs (Portable Document Format). This way all your originally intended formatting will remain
intact during the uploading process and we will be able to view your document without any
formatting being compromised.
Here are the steps to follow for this process:

Click on ‘File.’

2) Click ‘Download as.’

3) A side menu will appear and you can choose ‘PDF document.’
4) The downloaded PDF will appear in the bottom left hand corner of your page where you can
select to open it.

5) Once you are looking at your opened PDF hold your mouse anywhere inside the PDF and
Right Click, you will be given an option to ‘Save As …’
6) Here you can choose an appropriate filename and file location for the file to be stored. We
recommend you save it in your alffie folder that you will have created on your desktop. Or just
save it to your desktop, so you know where you can find it when you upload it.

7) In your assessment question you will see an option to click on ‘Choose File.’

8) Select the document that you want to upload from the options your computer gives you.
Remember, you should be able to find your document where you saved it (Desktop or alffie
Folder).

9) Click ‘Open.’

10) Click ‘Upload.’

If you have accidentally submitted the incorrect file, or you need to make some last minute
changes, you may resubmit again by selecting ‘Re-upload file’ and repeating the steps 8-10.

That’s it, you have just uploaded your document into alffie!

YouTube tutorial for Google Docs

Check out these YouTube tutorials for more indepth information and navigation tips about
Google Docs.

Google Docs - Tutorial 01 - Basics - https://goo.gl/bZ3zwx

Google Sheets basics

Google Sheets is just like Microsoft Excel. It is used to create spreadsheets that contain numbers
and data, where you can also convert the data into charts and graphs making it more visually
appealing and easier to understand.

Formulas
The great thing about Google Sheets is that you can use the inbuilt formulas function. When you
open Sheets template that we give you:

1. Click in the cell where you want your total number to appear.

2. Click on the ‘Functions’ tab (which looks like a sideways M) and choose the type of formula
you would like to use.
You will see the formula being added to that cell.

3) Click on the first cell of your data, hold your mouse down and highlight the column that you
want to add together.
4) Then press ‘enter’ or ‘return’ on your keyboard, the total will be added up for you.

Charts
Turning your data into charts or graphs is a great way to make your spreadsheets more visually
appealing and helps the reader to digest the data more easily.

1) Highlight the data you want to turn into a chart/graph by clicking on the first cell, holding
down your mouse button and dragging your cursor over all the data.

2. Click on ‘Insert’ and choose the ‘Chart’ option.

3) Then you can choose your chart type and press ‘Insert.’

Once you have added your chart/graph to your spreadsheet, you can move it around the
spreadsheet to the position you want. To do this, click inside the chart so that it is highlighted,
hold your left mouse button down and drag the chart around you spreadsheet. You can resize
your chart by clicking on the corners, holding the button down and dragging your mouse in and
out. You can rename your chart by double clicking on the chart name and typing your prefered
title.

YouTube tutorial for sheets

Check out these YouTube tutorials for more indepth information and navigation tips about
Google Sheets.

Google Sheets - Tutorial 01 - Creating and Basic Formatting - https://goo.gl/EDvMMq

Google Sheets - Tutorial 02 - Insert a Chart or Image - https://goo.gl/iM9AFo