Do you use Google Documents for different projects or to work with multiple teams?
In this tech tip, save time with this shortcut that creates a new document or spreadsheet and saves it in a specific folder with just one click!
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I use several Google accounts for different projects; I have a Google G Suite account through my business to manage client work, a personal Gmail account to manage family business and a separate account for my volunteer work with a non-profit. I am able to create and edit documents for multiple projects using just one Google account thanks to Google Drive’s sharing capability.
The Google Drive share feature allows any user with a Google Account to view or edit a folder’s content, depending on the permissions you allow. TIP: Even users without Google Accounts can view the contents of a document or folder when provided the shareable link. I use this feature to share folders from other accounts with the account I use most often which is my business account. Being able to view these folders from my business account avoids the need to toggle constantly between logins and has the added benefit of allowing me to search everything from one place!
The picture below is an example of how a shared folder from my personal account appears in my business account.
Once you have one or more shared folders added to your account, we can setup a shortcut that will allow us to create a document directly in that shared folder. The method you will learn here is not limited to just shared folders. You can setup a shortcut to create a document or spreadsheet in any folder. Here are some of the ways you can use this shortcut to save time.
- Jot down an idea and save it directly in an Ideas folder.
- Document an incoming call and save it in a Calls folder.
- Record minutes for quick meetings and save it in the Minutes folder.
How To Create A Google Doc With One Click
1. Display the bookmark bar in the browser. The steps for Google Chrome are: click the Settings icon (3 dots) > click the “Bookmarks” menu item > click “Show bookmarks Bar”
2. Create a shortcut by clicking and dragging the corresponding link below to your bookmark bar. To create a shortcut to create a Google Doc drag the button titled “Create Document” to the bookmark bar. To create Google Spreadsheet drag the button titled “Create Spreadsheet”.
TIP: You may also manually create these shortcuts by right-clicking on the bookmarks bar, clicking “Add page…” and then inputting one of the addresses below in the URL field:
Create Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/create
Create Google Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/create
3. When you click these new shortcuts on your bookmarks bar, it will automatically create a new Google Doc or Google Spreadsheet in your Google Drive account!
How To Save One Click Documents To A Folder You Specify
We will take creating Google documents with one-click a step further by specifying a folder to save them into. This will involve modifying the shortcut we created in the section above labeled “How To Create A Google Doc With One Click”. So, first create a shortcut using the instructions provided in that section and then perform the steps below to have the new documents automatically saved in a specific folder.
1. Get the ID of the folder you want to save the document in. Open Google Drive > Locate the folder you want to save in > double-click the folder > copy the part of the address in the address bar that appears after “folders/”
For example: If the complete address of a folder was https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11rQche3SdBrYC-OokkLc2lJlKPBUOFHw copy the part: 11rQche3SdBrYC-OokkLc2lJlKPBUOFHw
2. Modify the shortcut to specify the Google folder to save in. Right-click the shortcut on the bookmarks bar > click “Edit” > add the following text to the end of line in the URL field: ?folder=[FOLDER ID]
For example: If the line in the URL field was https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/create you would add ?folder= plus the folder ID you found in step 1.
The complete line would look like this:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/create?folder=11rQche3SdBrYC-OokkLc2lJlKPBUOFHw
3. You can edit the Name field to something that indicates where the new document will be saved such as “New Idea” “New United Way Minutes” or “New Tutorial”. You can create multiple shortcuts by simply repeating the steps above for each new shortcut.
