How to use Google Drive's updated ‘search operators’ to find files quickly

Over the years, Google’s apps like Gmail and Drive have come a long way from their initial versions, adding useful features and improving the interface and general user experience. While Drive and Gmail arguably have well-designed user interfaces, power users will swear by their handy “search operators” that let them work at a much faster pace. Google is now adding even more of these to Drive, to help users locate their files faster.

The company explained in a blog post on Monday, that it was improving existing search operators on its file storage service, as well as adding new ones. Users may have to get used to a few changes in the way these operators function, according to the company’s post, which states that users will still be able to perform searches but the operators used for them could change.

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You’ve probably used search operators in the past, either in Gmail when searching with from: which locates all emails from a particular ID or domain if you want. Drive offers the same functionality, allowing users to for files that were sent by a particular user or even locate files based on who is the original uploader (or owner) of those files.

The company says that the from: operator has been reworked to show files that have been shared by that email address, instead of files owned by that address. Similarly, using the to: operator will now surface files that you shared with a particular email address instead of files that the recipient could view, edit or comment on.

Users who still want to see files owned by a particular user (removed from the from: operator) can type in owner: to locate all the relevant files. The company has also added a brand new operator called sharedwith: that will let users locate files that are owned by a specific email address or which they have permission to view, comment or edit, according to the company.

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“We know how important it is to be able to easily find files shared with others while collaborating in Google Workspace. Our user research suggests that this is actually one of the most memorable aspects to use when finding a file,” Google said on its blog, adding that the feature has begun rolling out and should show up over the next couple of weeks.