Related pages
Google Drive provides an easy way to create, edit and share documents.
Tools include word processing, spreadsheets, presentations and forms.
Drive is offered in addition to Microsoft Office, and supplements your personal and shared filestore. There may be some situations where Google Drive is not suitable - see Guidance below.
To learn more about Google Drive and how to use it, please take a look at our Practical Guide to Google Drive.
Google Drive and Google Docs are provided as standard to all members of the University as part of their account registration.
Google Drive gives you the ability to store files in the cloud and access them from a wide variety of devices.
It is also possible to share files, and folders of files, with others. Any type of file can be stored in Google Drive, or Google Docs can be used to create documents there directly…
Google Docs is Google's web-based document suite, and is integrated with Google Drive. It enables you to create and edit word processing documents, spreadsheets, slideshows (presentations) and forms.
Google provide apps for mobile devices to support viewing and/or editing of your documents.
See our Practical Guide to Google Drive for further guidance.
Your University account provides storage for Google Drive, Gmail and Google Photos. Each individual file stored on Google Drive can be up to 5TB.
Additional information on file size limits and supported file types can be found on Google's support page:
While Google Drive is an excellent tool, the following issues should be considered:
Please note: If you're using sensitive data supplied as part of a research contract, ensure that you are aware of the requirements of the data provider, who may not agree to datasets being stored or shared via Google Drive.
Emailing documents
Note that if you attach a document to an email, its default settings will make it public to anyone with the link. If that's not what you want, use the Share and Send options when prompted to restrict access.
We don't recommend Google Docs for producing a final thesis, as a thesis will often include features that are either not supported in Google Docs or are better supported in Word. See our Creating Documents: a Practical Guide for more support and information.
For more information see Essential Spreadheets: a Practical Guide.
For more information read the Getting Started Guide for Google Slides and our Practical guide for Presentations.
For more information read Google's support pages for Forms and our Forms and Surveys skills guide. See also our guide on How to send a Google Form for others to complete.
Help from IT Services
Practical Guide to Google Drive
If you're having problems using Google Drive, get in touch with the Library & IT Help Desk.
Help from Google
Service status | Live and supported service. |
---|---|
Hours of service | 24/7 |
Service support | For help and support with this service, contact the Library & IT Help Desk. |
Hours of support | Help from the Library & IT Help Desk is available 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. |
Target availability |
General IT Services targets: |
Service Level Agreement | |
Our performance |
Our service standards have been produced in consultation with our customers, and monitor the quality, timeliness and access to facilities and services: |
Complaints procedure |
If you wish to give us general feedback on this service, please see our Feedback page for ways to get in touch. If you wish to make a complaint, please see our complaints procedure. |
We expect you:
Drive for desktop (available for Windows and Mac) is an application from Google which offers:
With Drive for desktop, you stream your Drive files directly from the cloud to your Mac or PC, freeing up disk space and network bandwidth. Because Drive files are stored in the cloud, any changes you or your collaborators make are automatically updated everywhere. You’ll always have the latest version.
Drive for desktop creates a ‘Google Drive (G:)’ drive on your computer which you can then use to navigate through your Google Drive files and folders. You can also make files available for offline access. These cached files sync back to the cloud when you're online, so the latest version is available on all your devices.
Drive for desktop supports streaming your shared drives with your computer. More information on using Drive for desktop can be found on Google's Drive help page:
Google Drive for desktop can be installed on managed PCs through Software Center and will appear in the Start menu as ‘Google Drive’.
For unmanaged and personally owned computers, it can be downloaded directly from Google:
Any users of Google Backup and Sync will need to transition to Drive for Desktop before it is discontinued on Friday 1 October 2021.
We have created a knowledge base article to help with the transition from Backup and Sync: