Windows Help & Advice - USA (2019-08)

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alkof‘thecloud’canbeconfusing
if you’reunfamiliarwiththeterm,
butit is reallyjusta wayof
referringtostoringfilesonline.Youmay
wanttostorea secondcopyofimportant
files onlinetoserveasa backup,oryou
may want toaccessyourfilesfromany
computerconnectedtotheinternet.

Storingfilesinthecloudalsomakesit

easiertosharethem.

Therearenumerouscloudstorage

servicestochoosefrom,butperhapsthe

mostwell-knownis GoogleDrive.Youcan

useit ina coupleofways,thefirstbeing

usingyourwebbrowser tobrowse,create

andeditfilesonline.Perhapsmoreuseful

is todownloadthe desktop software –

called‘Backupand Sync’ – as this enables

youtoselecta folder on your computer’s

harddrivethatwill be synchronised to

GoogleDriveonline, and you can sync

withmultiplecomputers so the same files

areavailableeverywhere.

Here’showto get started.

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Start using Google Drive

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Step-by-step <RXU ILUVW *RRJOH'ULYH HQFRXQWHU

1 Signupforanaccount
Pay avisittotheGoogleDrivewebsiteathttps://drive.
google.comandclicktheGotoGoogleDrivebutton.If you
already havea Googleaccount,youcansignintoit andstart
using GoogleDrive,butif notyoucanclickthe‘Createaccount’
link to getstarted.You’llbeguidedthroughtheprocessof
choosing aGmailemailaddressandsecuringit witha password.

2 DownloadBackupandSync

WhenyouaresignedintoGoogle Drive, look to the lower

leftofthepageandclickthebuttonlabelled Get Backup and Sync

forWindows.Youwillbetakentothedownload page, and you

needtoclicktheDownloadbuttoninthe Personal section. Save

thefile,andthenrunthroughtheinstallation. Launch the

programandyouwillbeinvitedtosign into your Google account.

3 ConfiguringBackupandSync
Choosewhichfoldersyouwouldliketosynchronise
between yourcomputerandGoogleDrive.BackupandSync
automaticallyselectsyourDesktop,DocumentsandPictures
folders, butyoucandeselectthese.Youcanalsoaddmorefolders
with the ChooseFolderbutton.There’snolimittothenumberof
folders youcansync,otherthantheamountofspaceavailable.

4 Fileandphotooptions

Bydefault,allfilesinyourselected folders will be backed

up,butyoucanadjustthiswiththeChange button. You can opt

toonlybackuptheimagefilesinthose folders, or click Advanced

Settingstospecifyfiletypestoignore.To avoid filling all your

storagewithphotosandvideos,youcan opt to drop their quality

toHighandyouwillbegivenfree,unlimited storage for them.

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August 2019 | |^27

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Get started with Google Drive