Quick Tip: Google Drive

I was listening to the Google EduCast on the EdReach network on my way in to school this morning, and when I heard this, though I was alone in my car, I said out loud, "No way!"

Did you know that you can include your Google Drive in your Chrome search engines so that you can quickly and easily search your Drive without having to navigate there first? Here's what you do:

1) In Chrome, go to Settings and find Search and click "Manage Search Engines."

2) Under "Other Search Engines," go down to where you can add new search engines.

3) In the first box, name it whatever you want it to be. The suggestion on the GoogleCast was "GD," but I'm so used to typing "drive.google.com," that I just named mine "Drive."

4) The second box should be the short URL - <drive.google.com.>

5) The third box should be the actual URL to search your drive: <https://drive.google.com/#search/%s>

6) Hit "Done," and refresh your page.

7) Now, when you go to your address bar at the top of your browser, just type "Drive," hit "Tab," and search for your document which will open Google Drive.

You're welcome, and have a great day!

Extend Your Search

If you're a Google user, you probably use Google Chrome as your primary browser. 

I love using it because it allows me to toggle back and forth between users, so, for example, both my husband and I can be logged into our own Chrome accounts, and we can switch back and forth between users easily and quickly. This will save our preferences, bookmarks, and history on one browser, on one device, without a bulky log in/log out process.

Another thing? "OK Google." We'll cover that another day. But seriously, its pretty cool.

One of the main reasons, though, that I love Chrome is for the Extensions! These are small tools that improve the efficiency of your browser, and you can read more about Extensions for teachers here. For today, here's a look at three Extensions that will specifically help you and your students with searching on Google (or anywhere on the web, for that matter!):

TLDR
At first glance, this may seem like a shortcut, and you'd be right. But why not use a shortcut to your advantage? This extension gives you an at-a-glance summary of the page's content without ever leaving that page. Use this to quickly see if this is what you're looking for to use in your classroom. You can choose from four different lengths of summarization.

Search by Image

Once this Google extension is installed, it allows you to search for information about an image or for related images by clicking on the blue camera that pops up when you hover over an image. If you don't want to install an extension (or aren't able to install Chrome on your school-issued device), that's okay! You can drag and drop an image from your desktop into Google Image Search and it will perform the same search for you. Check out how this works:

Highlight to Search

To more efficiently search for a keyword or phrase, use Highlight to Search to perform a Google search from within the text. When its installed into your Chrome browser, just highlight a word or phrase you'd like to search for, then click the magnifying glass that pops up. This initiates a search bar, so just hit "Enter" and you're whisked away to your Google Search results!

What's your favorite extension for searching and researching?