Google Drive Sorting
One of the things I love about Google Drive is the information I can get about a file without opening it. Sorting in Drive helps me to find my work faster, especially if I am collaborating.
List View
Be sure to be in “List View” in your Google Drive to sort. This will show a plain list of your document titles, without seeing a preview of the document. (Tip, single click on a file and press P to preview the document).
Last Modified
The default sort in Google Drive is “Last modified.” When I am looking at student work that was submitted digitally last modified lets me know if the student even worked on the file recently. Next to the last modified date it shows who last modified it. If it was “me” then I know the student has not worked on the document. I sort this view A->Z. I want the most recent modifications at the top. This way if a student has worked on a document I can tell and can jump in to give feedback.
Sort Last Modified by Me
Clicking on the header in Drive for “Last modified” I can change the sorting. You can also press R to change the sorting. Switch from “Last modified” to “Last modified by me.”
These I will sort Z->A. In reverse. If I am the last one to modify the document then those probably are not the ones I want to look at. I want to see if students have modified the document.
Hidden Sort
While you can click on “Last modified” in Google Drive to sort my date instead of title the icon to sort A->Z is hidden. Slightly to the right of the arrow to sort Last modified is a blank space. Click on this. Another arrow will show up to allow you to sort in reverse data order.
Last Opened By Me
The 3rd option when you press R in Google Drive is “Last opened by me.” I also sort this in reverse order since if I was the last one to open it then my students or collaborators have not done anything since I worked on it.
