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How to Set Up Google Drive for Business

So you’ve been running your own system for your business’s file storage and sharing for a while now and perhaps you’re looking for a much better system. Perhaps you already have a file server service in place, either on-premises like a Windows server or a Network Attached Server (NAS). Or you could be using cloud solutions for your file storage like Dropbox, SharePoint, etc. One way or another, you’ve heard about Google Drive and how it can help you and your business. If you want to know more about Google Workspace and how to set up Google Drive for your business, you’ve come to the right place.

Google Drive and Google Workspace are Google’s answers to keeping your whole business organized. The system of collaboration and seamless file sharing makes Google Workspace and Google Drive the ideal tools for growing your business.

Onsite Helper provides you with everything you need to know about using Google Drive for your business and how to set it up once you’ve signed up for Google Workspace.

Recommended Google Drive setup steps to follow

Signing up for a Google Workspace plan includes the use of Gmail, Google Drive, Meet, Calendar, Chat, Currents, Jamboard, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Keep, Sites, and Google Forms.

Not only that, signing up for Google Workspace allows you to enjoy the benefits that Google Drive has in store for admins and/or business owners. But of course, before we can start, you need to make sure that you’ve already added your team to the Admin console. Once that’s done, you can start to follow the list of steps that we have prepared for you here:

1. Upload company files to Google

You and your team can upload any type of file to Google Drive. If your business has been using Microsoft Office files before migrating to Google Workspace, you can still upload those files. You have the option to convert your Microsoft Office files to the Google format or just use Google Drive to open and edit your Microsoft Office files.

Moving forward, however, to enjoy the seamless collaborative features of Google Drive, it is recommended that you use Google’s document editors such as Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

Google Drive file storage

The storage for every user is shared between that user’s Google Drive, Gmail, and other Google Products.

The storage size that each user can get depends on the type of account that they’re a part of. For example, if you’ve subscribed to a Business Starter plan, each user gets to use up to 30 GB of free storage; for Enterprise plans, each user can use as much storage as they need.

Want to know more about the corresponding storage size for every type of account? Click here.

Google Drive security

You can upload any file type to Google Drive. All files, uploaded or converted, are all subject to the same content policy.

Before files from your Google Drive can be downloaded or shared, Google automatically scans the file for viruses and malware. This is applicable for files that are smaller than 100 MB.

If Google detects a problem with a particular file in your Google Drive, Google will immediately inform you and access to that file will automatically be blocked for the protection of the users. However, users can still download it after acknowledging the potential dangers of downloading the file.

2. Configure each users’ or the team’s sharing permissions

Administrators are able to configure how users can share different files and folders in Google Drive. This is useful if there are some files and folders that you’d only like to share with a certain person or group of people from the business.

To put it simply, you can have the same set of sharing permissions for everyone and you can have it set up differently for every department in your company.

This feature is very helpful in keeping the privacy of the business and sensitive information such as client details safe from someone who shouldn’t see it or someone who might accidentally send the files to someone else. The configurations that Google allows you to do are as follows:

Allow users to share files outside of your business – users can share files to any emails, including the ones that aren’t using the company email.
Allow file sharing to certain domains – this feature allows your company to share files with another Google Workspace domain, and prevents users from sharing files with their personal accounts.
Restrict all external file sharing – this configuration restricts users from sharing or receiving files to and from outside of your organization.
Restrict the access levels users can give to files
Control who can access files that are stored on shared drives

These configurations can be set up by going to your Admin console homepage. Go to Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs. Once there, click on Sharing settings, then Sharing Options. It is best for organizations to practice setting proper Drive file sharing regulations to avoid any minor and major complications.

3. Synchronise the files on your Google Drive to your devices or computers

Google Workspace offers 2 different ways to easily access your files from Google Drive and keep them all updated and synced across all of your devices.

Backup and Sync – Google’s default consumer sync client. With this feature, all the contents of your Drive are stored locally. Organizations can use this too, the next one might be more useful;
Google Drive for desktop – this is best and highly recommended for organizations. With Google Drive for desktop, you can sync your Drive and shared drives from the cloud. This option also allows you to make the files on your Drive available for offline access.

4. Install Google Apps on your phones or tablets

Try and utilise all of the tools that are available with Google Workspace. Being flexible and aware of your options allow you to upgrade your work and the way your organization can work.

No longer do you have to always be facing a desktop to be working. Download the mobile apps for Google Drive, Docs editors, and other Google Apps. These apps are available for Android and iOS.

5. Train your team on how to use Google Drive correctly

Make sure that your team is able to properly utilise the features that Google Workspace offers for businesses. Once people have familiarized themselves with how easy it is to work on projects, organize, synchronize tasks, and see each others’ progress, you’ll be able to see significant improvements in your company’s productivity and output.

There are training materials available online on using Google Drive or the best practices on Google Drive for organizations. You can also watch Onsite Helper’s Google Workspace Mini-Course. It will help you to be able to easily cover the basics and intermediate know-hows of Google Workspace.