Using Google Drive to Synchronize Files between a Galaxy Tablet and a PC

Samsung Galaxy S22 For Dummies

One solution for synchronizing files between your Samsung Galaxy tablet and a computer is to use Google Drive. It's yet another free service offered by Google, providing online, or Cloud, storage. Files saved on Google Drive are available to all devices — computers, tablets, phones — that have the Google Drive software installed. The files can be shared also directly over the Internet.

If the Google Drive app wasn't preinstalled on your Galaxy Note or Galaxy Tab, you can obtain a copy from the Google Play Store. Install the app on your tablet. However, that's not the only step you have to take.

To make Google Drive synchronize files between a computer and your tablet, you need a copy of the Google Drive software (it's free!) installed on your computer, as well.

After you install Google Drive on your computer, Google Drive echoes the storage available on the Internet to your computer, duplicating files and folders as necessary. Those files and folders are available to any computer or mobile device that also has the Google Drive software or app installed.

After everything is set up, sharing files is fairly easy.

On a computer, open the Google Drive folder. You'll find it in your account folder, along with other famous folders. It's named Google Drive, and you may find a shortcut in the notification area (in Windows) or atop the screen (in OS X).

On the tablet, open the Drive app, found on the All Apps screen. If prompted, accept the terms of service. Eventually you'll see a screen listing the files and folders on your Google Drive. Touch an icon to open a folder or view a file.

To save information to your Google Drive, use the Share icon found in various apps. For example, view a picture from the Gallery full-screen, touch the Share icon, and choose the Drive icon. Fill in the Upload to Drive information, and then touch the OK button to place that image on your Google Drive.

Photos, music, and files saved to Google Drive are immediately available to all other devices that share your Google Drive.

You can access your Google Drive also from any device connected to the Internet, such as a computer in the local library. Visit Google Drive and log into your Google account to access your stuff.

About This Article

About the book author:

Dan Gookin has been writing about technology for 20 years. He has contributed articles to numerous high-tech magazines and written more than 90 books about personal computing technology, many of them accurate.
He combines his love of writing with his interest in technology to create books that are informative and entertaining, but not boring. Having sold more than 14 million titles translated into more than 30 languages, Dan can attest that his method of crafting computer tomes does seem to work.
Perhaps Dan’s most famous title is the original DOS For Dummies, published in 1991. It became the world’s fastest-selling computer book, at one time moving more copies per week than the New York Times number-one best seller (although, because it’s a reference book, it could not be listed on the NYT best seller list). That book spawned the entire line of For Dummies books, which remains a publishing phenomenon to this day.
Dan’s most recent titles include PCs For Dummies, 9th Edition; Buying a Computer For Dummies, 2005 Edition; Troubleshooting Your PC For Dummies; Dan Gookin’s Naked Windows XP; and Dan Gookin’s Naked Office. He publishes a free weekly computer newsletter, “Weekly Wambooli Salad,” and also maintains the vast and helpful Web site www.wambooli.com.