Google Drive Guide for Businesses (2025 update)

Google Drive: The Cloud Storage Solution for NZ Businesses

Google Drive is Google’s cloud-based file storage and collaboration platform. With every Google or Gmail account, you get free Drive storage plus access to Google Docs, Sheets, and more. For businesses needing advanced features, Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) paid plans start from just a few dollars a month.

Free Google Drive vs Business Plans (Google Workspace, formerly G Suite)

Free Google Drive:

• 15GB free storage (shared across Drive, Gmail, and Photos)
• Basic sharing, editing, collaboration tools
• Includes Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, and more

Google Workspace Plans:

• More storage—starting from 30GB/user and up (including unlimited options)
• Business email address, advanced security, team management, extra admin controls
• Better support and more powerful sharing/collab features

Compare Google Workspace Plans for NZ Businesses ➜

For more information about G Suite’s plans and email services for NZ businesses, check out Adhesion’s G Suite page.

Where to Access your Google Drive

There are many ways to access Google Drive other than going to drive.google.com and logging in with your Google/Gmail account. Google Drive can be accessed via:

• drive.google.com via any internet browser
• offline setting for file editing without internet access
• iOS app for iPhone via the App Store
• app for Android mobiles via the Google Play store
• desktop app for Mac and PC (see ‘ File Stream’ below)

Syncing your Desktop with Google Drive File Stream

1. Download and install Google Drive for Desktop
2. Files appear as a special folder on your computer
3. Drag-and-drop to upload, and everything syncs instantly to the cloud
4. Change sync settings in the Drive app preferences

For more information, see Google’s FAQ about syncing files.

Backup, Encryption and Compression on Google Drive

Google Drive automatically backs up any files you upload to it, and encrypts most file types in the process.

Just before you download files onto your computer, Google drive scans them for viruses and other malware.

By default, Google Drive won’t compress your files (although it will zip them if you download them to your computer in bulk). This means photos and videos will retain their raw/original quality. If you store a lot of photos and videos in the cloud, you can save storage space by using Google Photos and choosing to compress files from original quality to high quality (a small reduction in quality for a decent reduction in file size).

Using Google Drive on Mac vs. PC

Many business owners have grown used to Microsoft’s Office 365 suite, and many professional creators prefer Mac-based applications. All file types can be stored on Google Drive, and many can be converted into the Google Doc formats (to do so automatically, go to ‘Settings’ and check the ‘Convert uploads’ box). However, for workplace productivity, it is worth training your employees to create and share files by collaborating on Google Docs and Google Sheets.

Pros and Cons of Google Docs vs. Office 365 vs. Apple (iCloud, Pages)

A quick overview:

• Google Drive/Docs: Real-time collaboration, autosave, works in any browser, best plugin selection, tight Gmail integration
• Office 365: Better offline features, familiar for long-time Microsoft users, strong PDF editing
• Apple (iCloud, Pages): Best design / continuity for Mac / iPhone users, top-class CSS support for email (Apple Mail), good collaboration

Office 365 offers more functionality offline, but Google is investing a lot into upcoming features, and Apple’s applications have the best usability and design.

Office 365 does not automatically save and backup your files for you.

Microsoft Word is good for editing PDF files, but it lacks file compatibility. For example, Google Docs will support Word documents, but Word can’t support Google Docs. However, Google Docs doesn’t support Pages documents, but Pages can edit files created on Google Docs or Word.

Google and Apple’s applications support real-time collaboration, so several employees can work together inside the exact same document, from anywhere. Apple’s applications also integrate screen sharing so you can see specific user’s cursor movements etc.

Microsoft’s Office Store offers 3rd party plugins so you can add functionality to Microsoft Word, but Google Apps Marketplace has a better selection of 3rd party plugins to choose from (see ‘Google Apps Marketplace’ below). Apple’s applications tend to have full functionality including ‘continuity’ between devices (e.g. Adding new photos directly to your Mac/MacBook documents using your iPhone’s camera; Writing directly on documents using Apple Pencil, etc).

Pros and Cons of Gmail vs. Outlook. vs. Apple Mail

A quick overview:

• Gmail: Integrated with Drive, Docs, and Google Calendar. Smartest search and lots of free storage.
• Outlook: Part of Office 365, full desktop apps, better for heavy MS Office users.
• Apple Mail: Great for Mac/iPhone users, but only 5GB free iCloud storage.

• Gmail comes with 15GB of free cloud storage and is smartly integrated with Google Drive, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Maps and more G Suite applications. Office 365 for Outlook users does not have a free option. Apple users only get 5GB of free iCloud storage, but it comes with a suite of applications including Mail, Pages, Slides, Numbers, Photos and more.
• G Suite starts at $5/month and you can upgrade to unlimited storage for $10/month. If you want email hosting, Microsoft Word and/or unlimited storage, Office 365’s equivalent plans start from $20/month.
• You can now access Google Docs and Google Sheets directly within Gmail. Gmail is also faster than Outlook at finding documents and attachments because its simple design integrates the world’s smartest search engine: Google Search.
• Outlook relies on Words to render emails, meaning that Outlook seriously lacks CSS support. CSS is the coding language all websites rely on to look and behave the way they do, which is why many emails break on Outlook. Apple Mail has the best CSS support by far, with the iPhone and iPad Mail apps being the two most popular email clients.

How To Control File Sharing and Collaboration on Google Drive

When you create a Google Doc, click the blue “Share” button in the top right corner.

Alternatively, after uploading a file or folder to Google drive, right click and select “Share”. From there, you can add the email addresses of people who you want to share the file or folder with, and choose whether you give them “View”, “Comment” or “Edit” permissions.

Or, you can click “Get shareable link”, copy the generated link and send it to whoever you want. You can also choose whether people with the link require the same email domain as you in order to access the file/folder (e.g. name@yourdomain.com).

Key takeaways on Google Drive usage

• Regularly review sharing permissions for sensitive company data
• Train your team to use shared folders for smoother collaboration
• Consider Google Workspace for professional email and better security
• Use Google’s built-in version history to recover earlier file edits
• Back up especially important files elsewhere for critical redundancy