The IT Department at CBS Interactive turned on Google Drive last year and I have been using it ever since for all of my writing and editing for TechRepublic. Whether I am writing or editing something in Word, Excel, SnagIT, or one of the other numerous tools I use on a weekly basis, I know that storing those files on Google Drive on my local hard drive means they automatically get copied to the cloud where I can get to them later from just about anywhere.

One way to access Google Drive in a convenient manner is to add it to your Documents Library. This tip shows how to do it in Windows 7, but it works much the same way in Windows 8 – you just have to be in Desktop mode.

Add to documents

Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the Documents Library as shown in Figure A.

Figure A

Windows Explorer

Right-click Documents in the left navigation bar and click on the Properties menu item as you can see in Figure B.

Figure B

Right-click and navigate to properties

When you get to Document Properties (Figure C), click on the Include a folder button (In Windows 8, the button says Add).

Figure C

Include a folder button

Find Google Drive and then click the Include Folder button to add it to your Documents Library and then Apply and OK. (Figure D)

Figure D

Google Drive now included in Documents Library

If you notice, I have not adopted Google’s search methodology for finding documents – I like to do it the old fashioned way with hierarchical folders. Only now, those hierarchical folders are in the cloud.

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