Access your Gmail Space as a Drive

With 6GB of space provided with your Gmail account it seems a waste just to use this storage space for emails and attachments. Though, I am told this space is really for your Google Docs files and not just the emails!

Nevertheless, I have been testing two tools that allow you to access the space like a drive - so you can carry out all your normal file management functions using this space.

 

For all those still using Internet Explorer, GMail Drive is a third party addon which creates a virtual drive that appears on your computer and acts as any other installed hard-drive. You can copy files to and from the GMail Drive simply by using drag'n'drop like you do in Explorer.

When you create a new file using GMail Drive, it sends an e-mail to your account, which appears in your normal Inbox folder, and the file is attached as an e-mail attachment. It is a good idea to create a filter in Gmail to automatically move the files (prefixed with the GMAILFS letters in the subject) to an archived mail folder - so that the Inbox does not become cluttered up.

The latest version 1.0.12 is supposed to work with Google Apps accounts but I have not had any success in that area. Has anyone else???



For those using Firefox, there is GSpace, a Firefox extension, which turns your Gmail account into free online storage. With GSpace, you can store all types of files. Its simple, user friendly interface allows for all file management tasks to be carried out. GSpace is easily accessed from the 'Tools' menu within Firefox.

Both of the tools work perfectly - except with our hosted domain on Google Apps :-( which is where I really wanted to use them, since my students all have college email addresses.

Mind you, I've just had a thought, next year the students could create their own individual gmail accounts and then use one of these very useful tools :-)

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Technorati Tags: email, gmail, gmail drive, google apps, gspace,

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