Google Drive is one of the handiest cloud storage services around, giving you 15GB of free space, which you can access from just about any device with an internet connection. The age of USB thumb drives is over.

While everyone knows that Google can be used as an invaluable search tool, not everyone is aware of the other amazing things that can be done with it.

Bob Milliken

Check out these lesser known but awesome abilities.

1: Drawing. That’s right…you can create art right on your screen. Well, it’s not exactly for crafting a masterpiece, but you can draw quick illustrations for a presentation or tutoring session, or scribble out a signature for a contract. When using Google docs, just insert a picture and change the line tool to scribble to draw any freeform object you want.

2: Converting text. Google can scan your documents (even written ones) and translate the picture into searchable content with OCR—optical character recognition. This is a great way to declutter the “Paper Mountain” of receipts, invoices, and bills in your home or office. Just snap some pictures, upload them to the drive, and even search for items you’ll need again—a helpful tool for saving money.

3: Providing stock imagery. If you’ve tried to find legally reusable imagery from the advanced search function on Google, you may have realized that some things can be mislabeled, and are actually protected. Google is trying to get around this problem by presenting a set of searchable stock photos. On your document, go to insert image, and then in the sidebar, hit stock to view thousands of photos you can legally reuse.

4: Research. Highlight your text and hit research. Google will pull up a search in a sidebar that will allow you access to information in the same window…precluding the need to open up a new window and get distracted. This tool is especially great for students who don’t want to interrupt the flow of their writing with some necessary research.

5: Organizing old photos. Google has the ability to learn facial features, which means that your thousands of family photos can be categorized and organized by person. Google will also make slideshows, collages, and GIFs of your photos, which is a fun little perk to saving them in the drive.

Takeaways

Five awesome things you can do with Google Drive that you may not have known about. Don’t wait – try them out right now. You’ll be amazed.

While there are other equally impressive solutions similar to Google Drive, more demanding shared file storage business requirements (for example – the need to keep your data in Canada), for most small businesses, Google Drive is a good choice.

Bob Milliken is a master marketer specializing in helping businesses achieve outrageous levels of success. Bob can be reached by phone at 604.270.1730 or by email at thenaughtymarketer@rfmholdings.com