Google Drive has finally been released.
It's the free service that lets you store and sync your files in the Cloud.
It's a lot like Dropbox or SkyDrive but it's packed with some extra features that make it much more than just a storage service.
i'm Sharon Vaknin for CNET and today I'll show you how to get started with Google Drive.
If you have it already, head to drive.google.com to enable the service.
When you first sign in to drive, you'll notice that it looks a lot like Google Docs.
That's because Google Drive actually replaces Docs.
So all your your document creation and management happens here.
The good news is that you get 5 gigabytes of free storage space but your docs don't come against your storage.
With those 5 gigs, you can store up to 30 file types including movies, music, Photoshop files, photos, drawings and lots more.
To upload a file, just click the upload button here or drag and drop.
When you upload a file, you'll be asked if you want to covert it to a Google Docs format.
If you do, you'l be able to edit those files in Google Drive.
If you don't, you'll only be able to view them.
So I'll just drag and drop this video here.
Google Drive will upload it and when it's done processing, I'll be able to play it back from any computer or compatible device.
That's one way to manage your files.
Another way is to download the Google Drive's desktop app which is available for Mac and PC.
To get it, head to the side bar and click download Google Drive.
Google will take you through a short installation process and once it's installed, you'll be able to sign in.
Sign in with your Google account and you're all set.
When you are done, a special folder will be added to your desktop.
Open it and you'll see all of your Google Drive files and folders.
From here, you can open files, create folders, organize your drive and auto remove files.
Just drag and drop into this folder to sync it with your drive.
You'll know it's all synched up when the check mark appears.
Back in the Google Drive website, there a few ways to view your drive.
First, you can choose between a list of grid option by toggling with these buttons here and for a limited time, you can switch back to the Google Docs view through the settings menu.
To search for files, just enter a search term in the top bar and click the arrow to filter by type.
There's even Google Goggled integration here.
So you can search for photos and scan a document which don't have any text.
One last thing you have to check out are the Google Drive apps.
Google lets third-party developers create web apps that integrate with Drive.
To see them, go to settings, manage apps and click get more apps.
You'll be taken to the Chrome web store where you'll see apps like Hello Fax for online faxing, Pixel Express which lets you edit photos within Google Drive and many more.
With this tutorial, you should be ready to jump into Google Drive.
There's also an Android App in the Play Store and an iOS upcoming very soon.
If you have any questions about Google Drive, hit me up on Twitter and subscribe to my Facebook page for more tips like this.
For CNET, I'm Sharon Vaknin.
