Google Drive

I recently had the good fortune, because of the pandemic, to not only have access to actual newspapers as they appear on paper using a computer, but access to these newspapers at home, thanks to one of the libraries I go to. And to copy photos or articles as I would at that library, using a machine made by Xerox or someone else, the web site provides me with the option to save to Google Drive so I can print out later when I get to the library. For two months, going to a library wasn't an option. I'd rather no have the entire responsibility for printing at home.

Sounds simple, right? Wrong. When I get to Google Drive, I can't tell where my photos are. There is now a folder with the name of the web site I got them from, though I don't know how it was created. The other folder is called "Huh?" That tells you something. I don't know where that one came from. Anyway, I click on the name of the folder. Nothing happens. I'm not sure how I found out I'd have to double click. Why exactly would I? Anyway, once I do, there are the photos.

Ready to print. I click on the photo. Again, nothing. Oh, right, I have to double click. That opens a new tab. I don't want tabs. I want a new window. I use CTRL-P to print. And that gives me what I want to print... no, wait, that happens AFTER I did CTRL-P again. And what I want to print doesn't appear. Only a small part of the photo appears. Where are my options to change that? There don't seem to be any. I contacted the library where they actually have access to the site, which is not the one where I print, which does not. Someone finally found there was a place that said "More settings". FINALLY, it says change size to printable area. That makes it work. Okay, it's printed. Now how to I go back to the list? The answer: I don't. I have to find the tab where the list WAS, only it's not there any more. The single photo is. Don't try the back button. That's the logical way to do it. No one has used logic so far in designing this site.

Idea! How about "refresh"! Oh, hey, that give me back my list. But I click again and I end up with yet another tab. Soon there are numerous tabs. I have to click to get rid of them all and start over. But I opened Google Drive in a new window when I started, so I can do that again. And repeat.

When I look to see if I've printed something, all I can do is guess. The order changes. I think the first one on the list now is a new one. How do I know when I'm finished? I guess when something looks familiar. Is there at least a date when I added it somewhere? I guess.

Oh, it gets better. Several years later, I need to move some photos to make them easier to find. Guess what? I can't. I come up with the idea of right clicking and there is a move option. Not that this does anything. No matter what I do, nothing gets move and I see a message "Move cancelled".

Oh, I'm not through. I asked for help three different ways. I was promised a response from Google in 24 to 48 hours. That was nearly a week ago. And guess what? This morning when I checked the community where I could ask for help, no response. I went to Google Drive and found the four most recent photos but when I clicked on the name of the file, almost six months of photos were missing. I saw a search field and typed in the date "February 2023" (that's when I'm writing this part) and some of my photos came up, a few more than those newest ones. I also saw a few when I typed in "January 2023".

I tried again after getting no help. I don't know what I did to make this happen, but finally, when I clicked on the name of another folder, the word "Move" appeared in blue at the bottom. But as with Facebook, if you try to get there by scrolling down, it doesn't happen. Other problems: When I tried to do it again, "Move" was gray instead of black, and not an option. Don't ask me how I finally got it to appear, but when it did, my options were not folders. Apparently I was only allowed to move a photo to another site, not elsewhere on Google Drive. I don't know what changed later or what I did. Oh, and there was the time when I literally wasn't allowed to do anything.

Wait. I'm not finished. I had to go through a different process to save newspaper articles to Google Drive when they were older than 1984. Don't ask me why. It must be the other site. Still, it is using Google Drive that is the problem once I figure it out. And then when the time came to find them, where were they? I don't know. As I was trying to think what to tell the librarian via email after I got home, I remembered the process I used to save the articles, and I clicked on the button I had used when I did that. I'm not sure how I got to the articles or whether I found all the ones I saved, though I thought I saved more of them.

No, we're not through. Just when I thought I had things all figured out, I went back to try to locate the newspaper photos or whatever that I saved through the process I used when I started saving photos or whatever I wanted. Now they're gone. I click on what I used to click on to get to them and it tells me I have to drop files here. No, I'm not trying to put anything there. I'm trying to get it. And move? Forget that. It won't tell me how to get to that folder any more. I don't know where I am or how to get where I want to be. I did click on something I thought might work and I did get a list. At least I found recent stuff. But when I go back to the list, I don't go back to where I was in the list. And remember, the process of getting back to the list isn't easy. Oh, and it's a list. I don't see the photos until I click. Or is it double click? And once I do look to see what's there, it's the most recent photo. No, they're not in order by when I put them there. There's not even a date showing when I put any of the photos there. When I'm trying to look for older photos, I have to go past any photos I might have seen recently. And if I do look at a really old photo and only know when I put it there, I will never find it again. Because, you see, there's no clue as to when I put the photo there, other than the date on the photo, which is likely the date I put it there.

Pay? Really? I saw that as an option at the bottom, but that's for more storage, which I don't need. Would I pay? Would that improve my experience? No, before you pay, you have to see that you will be getting your money's worth while it's free.

I highly recommend Google Drive. To those interrogating federal prisoners to get vital information regarding national security.

Wow. And I thought Gmail was hard to use.

I spent a week fixing backup and organization oversights, searching for files and generally wasting time on things I should never have to worry about. It shouldn't be this hard when the whole function of drive is to backup and organize. They won't have another hour from me.