Google My Drive
With Google Workspace at PSU, you have two Google Drive options: My Drive and shared drives (formerly known as Team Drives). For information about shared drives, see Google shared drives.
On this page
About My Drive
To use Google Drive on your computer, go to drive.google.com. On your Android device, iPhone, or iPad, open the Google Drive app.
In My Drive you’ll see:
Files and folders you upload or sync.
Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms you create.
You can use My Drive to edit and manage your files online, or to download files onto your device in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel formats. For more information on how to download files, visit the Google Drive Help article Download a file.
Set Visibility and Access to Files and Folders
My Drive allows you to share your files with others, while controlling their visibility and access levels. You can control these settings for each individual file or for an entire folder. To learn more about visibility and access settings and how to control them, visit the Google Drive Help article Share files from Google Drive.
By sharing a My Drive folder you can share all of its contents, including any items added to the folder in the future. To share a folder with a group of people, we recommend that you use a Google Group. You can request a Google Group on the PSU Help Center to get started.
Once you have a Google Group, follow these steps to create and share a folder:
Go to drive.pdx.edu.
Select New, then select Folder.
Name your folder, then select Create.
Share the folder with your Google Group (see the Google article Share files from Google Drive).
Send an email to your group with a link to the folder and let them know they should use it to access your group files.
If you have an existing folder on your computer that you'd like to share, you also have the option of dragging and dropping that into your Drive. Google Drive will upload the folder and its contents, after which you can share it with your group like any other folder.
Transfer File Ownership
Google My Drive contents are tied to their owner, so before you leave the University, you should transfer any departmental documents that you own to someone else in the department. For instructions, see the Google Help article Make someone else the owner of your file.
PSU employees (Faculty and Staff) who prefer to transfer all of their My Drive contents, rather than specific documents, can submit a Google Drive or Calendar transfer request on the PSU Help Center to have their entire Drive transferred.
Google Drive vs. non-PSU cloud storage
Security
The content you store in Google Drive at PSU is protected to a greater degree than files saved in consumer Google Drive or other non-PSU services. Your data is protected under the Oregon University System's (OUS) contract with Google, which ensures that it won't be scanned for advertising or other purposes. For more information on data security in Google Workspace at PSU, see the Google Workspace for Education agreement.
When you use other cloud storage providers, you agree to their End User License Agreement (EULA), which may not offer data protection similar to OUS's agreement with Google. For this reason, you should keep University-related material stored in Google Drive at PSU. For more information on when to use your PSU Google account, see Google accounts at PSU.
Space
Google Drive at PSU offers unlimited storage space (5TB is the limit for a single file), so you have plenty of room to store your documents, images, and other files. For more information about Google shared drive limitations, refer to Google's Shared drive limits. Other providers, such as Dropbox, offer limited space for free but charge for allotments comparable to Google Drive at PSU.
Integration
Google Drive at PSU ties directly into other Google Workspace apps, such as Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Calendar. The documents, spreadsheets, and presentations you store in Google Drive can be quickly linked to emails or calendar events, and shared with other PSU students, faculty, or staff. Additionally, you can work collaboratively as a team or department on Google Docs stored in Google Drive.
Further Resources
Google maintains its own support resources for Google Drive, found at the following locations: