Google Drive

Overview

Google Drive is an essential tool for remote access and storage of important information and for creating a collaborative workspace between team members. This article will discuss common practices to enhance your Google Drive experience and guidelines for troubleshooting common issues.


Access & File Stream

You can access Google Drive as part of your University of Maryland (UMD) email account. Faculty and staff use Google Workspace for Education (@umd.edu), and students use TERPmail (@terpmail.umd.edu). Although both use Google applications such as Google Drive, they are separate domains.

Google Drive is included as part of your UMD Google Workspace for Education account. To access Google Drive

  1. Go to Google Drive.
  2. Click Go To Drive.
  3. Enter your UMD email address when prompted.
  4. Log in through the Central Authentication Service (CAS) using your University Credentials.

File stream PC

File stream is a great way to ensure local files remain backed up; enabling this option is crucial for transferring data between devices. To access file stream and ensure it is on:

  1. Click on the arrow on the bottom right to reveal the PC's hidden icons
  2. This should open up a menu of background applications, select the Google Drive Icon as shown below.
How to access Google Drive via hidden icons
  1. If prompted, sign in with your UMD credentials.
  2. Once done, the icon should indicate that the files are up to date and show any errors.

  1. If error messages appear, please ensure that the file sync option is via Settings and that you are connected to the Internet.
  2. If these options do not resolve the issue, please contact Athletics IT and create a ticket explaining your issue.

File stream Mac

  1. Click on the Launchpad icon on your application bar at the bottom.

  1. Find the google drive application icon and open it.

  1. You will be prompted to log in using your browser if you aren't logged in already. Please log in using your UMD credentials.

  1. Once you have logged in, you should see this screen.

  1. Now go back to your home desktop and click on the google drive logo in the top right menu bar.

  1. You should see this pop-up once you click on the google drive logo.



File Sharing & Permissions


These guidelines are best practices for storing and sharing items in Google Drive but do not guarantee your items' security or imply compliance with any specific regulations or laws. Consult with the appropriate IT administrators and the Division of Information Technology Compliance team when handling sensitive data.


Securely store an item in Google Drive.

The most secure way to store an item in Google Drive is by first ensuring you are logged into your UMD Google account. To access your account, log in with your University credentials and complete multi-factor authentication via Duo.

Your file uploads to My Drive are automatically set to private. This means that only you can access them unless you choose to share them.


Share Google Drive files with other UMD collaborators

Faculty and staff use Google Workspace for Education (@umd.edu email account), and students use TERPmail. Although both use Google applications like Google Drive, these are separate domains.

For a faculty and staff, @umd.edu account to share a Drive file with a TERPmail account (and vice versa), you must either share the file with the specific person or make the file accessible to anyone with the link.

Screenshot showing the Get Link sharing feature with Anyone with the link selected


Secure your shared file or folder.

Suppose you’re sharing a sensitive Google Drive file or folder you own. In that case, you can stop Editors from re-sharing the content and prevent Viewers and Commenters from downloading, printing, or copying the file by permissions settings:


  1. Select one or more files that you want to limit access to.

  1. Click Share 
  2. At the top, click Settings 
  3. Uncheck Editors Can Change Permissions and Share.

  1. Uncheck Viewers and Commenters can see the option to download, print, and copy.
  2. Click Save, then Done.

Editors will now need to send a request to you when attempting to share the content, and Viewers and Commenters will have limited options to disseminate the content further. Sharing requests from Editors are received via email, and you can decide whether to share the file and which permissions to provide. Viewers and Commenters will have limited ability to disseminate the content further. 

Select the appropriate role for the user you add to the file or folder. The options are ViewerCommenter, and Editor.


Secure your shared file or folder with non-UMD Collaborators who have Google accounts.

If you need to share a file or folder with a non-UMD collaborator, you can share the file with them using their Google account. If you need to send a direct link to your file, you should set the link permissions to Viewer. When you share a link to a file, your name will be visible as the file's owner.

  1. Select the file that you want to share.
  2. Click Share or Share
  3. Under Get Link, click the Down arrow.
  4. Choose who to share the file with. Your options will be RestrictedUniversity of Maryland College Park, or Anyone with the link. If the collaborators are outside of UMD, you will need to choose Anyone with the link. 
  5. You should choose Viewer for link sharing and provide higher permissions only when sharing with specific people. 
How to access the "Anyone with a link" option

Share a file or folder with someone who doesn’t have a Google account

If a collaborator does not have a Google Drive account, a file can still be shared with them; however, you should exercise extreme caution when sharing files with users without Google Drive accounts.

  1. Under Share with people and groups, enter the email address you want to share with and set their Permission level to Viewer. 
  2. Reopen the sharing settings.
  3. Next to the outside collaborator, select the permissions drop-down and choose Give Temporary Access. Select an appropriate date to remove access. This will help mitigate risks associated with this type of file sharing. 

Permissions


Editor

With this permission, users can edit all file contents. They can also share files with others, add or remove specific people from the files, and copy, print, or download the files.

Editors can organize and add folders, in addition to the ability to add, edit, delete, and move files.


Commenter

Commenters can add comments and suggestions to documents but cannot edit or change sharing settings. 


Viewer

Viewers can open and view the files. They cannot edit or share.


Notifications

You can choose to be notified if:

  • Someone shares a new file or folder with you.
  • You are mentioned in a comment or action item.
  • Someone requests access to a file you own.

To change notification settings:

  1. Go to drive.google.com.
  2. In the top right, click Settings
  3. In the left panel, click Notifications.
  4. Check or uncheck the box next to the settings you want to change.

Troubleshooting


Not Receiving Notifications

You are not receiving notifications about documents being shared with you. Other colleagues receive email notifications when duplicate files are shared with them.


Environment

Google Drive.


Resolution

Use Google's Get Google Drive notifications article to change the notifications settings. https://support.google.com/drive/answer/6318501?hl=en

  1. Go to drive.google.com.
  2. In the top right, click the Gear icon (settings).
  3. Select Settings from the drop-down menu.
  4. In the left panel, click Notifications.
  5. Check the box to the right of the Email to enable email notifications. 

If there are still any issues, contact the Service Desk.


File Not Opening

If you're having trouble viewing a file in Google Drive, here’s how you can try to fix the issue. 

Wait and try opening your files again later.

  • Wait a few moments: If you see a “Temporary Error (502)” message when you try to open files in Drive, it means that your documents are temporarily unavailable. This issue is usually temporary, so wait and try to open them again.
  • Check the Google Workspace Status Dashboard: If there's a known outage for Drive or Google servers, it will appear on the Google Workspace Status Dashboard as a red dot next to the product. Click the drop for details about what’s wrong.

Basic Troubleshooting

Step 1: Check your Internet connection

Check your Internet connection if you see a  “Trying to connect” error message, or if your documents are prolonged to load in Drive for the Web. A weak link is a common cause of many connection errors. Try to connect to another network to see if your files load correctly.
You can use offline mode while your connection is weak or unavailable. Read more about  offline mode and how to set it up.

Step 2: Check your browser version

  1. Check the system requirements and supported browsers to ensure you use a supported browser and operating system.
  2. Make sure cookies and JavaScript® are turned on for your browser.
  3. We recommend using Chrome for Drive. But you can try opening Drive in another browser, such as Mozilla® Firefox®, Microsoft® Internet Explorer®, or Apple® Safari®.

Step 3: Clear your browser cache

Clear your browser cache and cookies, and then try to load your Drive files again. 

Step 4: Reduce the size of your file

You can put large files in Drive, but if you exceed the  size limits, they might not load properly. If your file is too big or close to the limit, divide the information into multiple files. 

Step 5: Turn Offline Access on and off

If your current internet connection is poor,  set up offline access. With offline access, you can view and edit your documents without the Internet. When you have internet access again, your documents will sync the latest changes. 

If you turned on offline access and you're still having trouble opening files, try turning it off and on again to resolve the issue. Go to Settings and next to Offline, uncheck or check the Sync to edit offline box to turn it on or off. 


Did this answer your question? Thanks for the feedback There was a problem submitting your feedback. Please try again later.