Google Drive / Getting Started with Drive
Search for documents in Drive
Although Google Drive folders are extremely useful for organising documents you wish to be able to view quickly and easily, there isn’t a need to create multiple collections or folders for every document, just to allow documents to be found at a later stage. Searching lets you find documents quickly, regardless of their location, hidden status or type.
You can click in the Search box along the top of the Drive screen to show a drop-down list of options for quick searches:
Click on a suggested search term to search for it
Click on a file type to find all files of that type
Click on the Edited Today button to show only files you’ve worked on today
To search for specific documents:
Click in the Search Drive box along the top of the Google Drive screen
Enter the word or phrase you are looking for - matching documents will display as you type
Click on a matching document, or click on the Search button to show a list of matches
To narrow the search to find specific keywords only, click in the Search Drive box again and type the keywords you wish to find after the Type expression
Press Return or click on the Search button to show all matches
To be more specific about the document you are searching for, click in the Search Drive box along the top of the Google Drive screen and choose Advanced Search. This allows you to choose specific criteria such as the modification date, who the document has been shared with, etc. You can choose any combination of criteria, then click on the Search button to find all matches.
If you often perform searches for documents, you can learn the search keywords that can be used to narrow your search and find matching documents quicker.