Open Google Drive documents fast with the desktop Google Drive app

Here is the absolute most fastest way to open up files from your Google Drive, especially files like Google docs, Google sheets, etc.

The Google Drive app

There are two ways to access Google Drive, through the browser or through the app. A lot of people only interact with Google drive through the browser, but there is the Google Drive app you can use to access the your files directly on your local machine This is a great way to back up the files from your local machine. The Google Drive app has a quick launcher that lets you open up Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc. directly.

The Google Drive app keyboard shortcut

I was helping somebody with the Google Drive app, and I needed to go into the preferences. That’s where I noticed that there was a Google Drive keyboard shortcut. I had never used it, so I tried it out. A quick launcher appeared, which allowed me to search through my Google Drive. When I hit enter on a file the default browser opened up that file! I love how fast I can now open up files from Google drive the web Google drive from my local machine.

Setting it up

To to try it out, you’ll have to install the Google Drive app on your machine. This all depends on whether you have administrative rights machine, or if your IT department has already installed it.

Once installed, open it up and sign into your Google Drive. You will now have a new drive mounted. Under windows it defaults to the G: drive and on the Mac it’ll pop up on the desktop with an icon that says Google drive.

Now you can hit control-alt G (command-option G on the Mac) and see the launcher pop up. Do a search. Hit enter and watch the magic happen!