Use these areas of the Drive web interface to navigate with your screen reader.
Navigation panel: Open a Google Drive view or one of your folders. The Google Drive views are My Drive, Shared with me, Google Photos, Recent, Starred and Bin.
- To go to the navigation panel, press g then n.
- To move through the navigation panel, press the down or up arrows.
- To open a sub-folder, press the right arrow.
- To select a folder or view, press Enter
Main content area: Browse through your files and folders, either in a list or a grid format. By default, Drive shows the list layout.
- To go to the main area, press g then l.
- To navigate through the list or grid, use the arrow keys.
- To open an item, press o or Enter.
- To change between grid and list view, press v.
Details: Find information about a file or folder, such as the owner, the size and when it was last modified.
- To go to the details pane, press g then d.
- There are two tabs in the details pane: Details and Activity.
- To review the Details or Activity tab, turn on the virtual cursor or browse mode.
Google bar: The Google bar is at the very top of the interface, above the Google Drive buttons and menus. This area contains the Apps pop-up menu, with links to other Google Apps, the Google notifications button and other options.
Keyboard shortcuts
To move quickly through Drive, you can use Drive keyboard shortcuts.
To open a list of shortcuts in Drive, press Ctrl + / (forward slash) on Windows or Chrome OS or ⌘ + / (forward slash) on a Mac.
Search for files
To search in Drive:
- To go to the Search box, press / (forward slash).
- Type in your search terms, then press Enter. The focus moves to the list of files and folders that match your search terms.
- To browse the search results, use the arrow keys.
To do an advanced search:
- To go to the Search box, press / (forward slash).
- To move to the Search options menu, press Tab, then press Enter.
- Use the menus and text fields in the search options dialogue to refine your search.
- Navigate to the Search button, then press Enter. The focus moves to the list of files and folders that match your search terms.
- To browse the search results, use the arrow keys.
For more information and tips on using the Search box in Drive, see Search for your files. To restore or find a deleted file, learn how to find or recover a file.
Sort files
To sort your files:
- Press R to open to the sort menu.
- To move through the menu, use the down or up arrow. Listen for 'ticked' or 'not ticked' as you navigate through the sorting options, such as 'Name' and 'Modified'.
- To select a sorting option, press Enter. Your focus returns to the files and folders list.
Help and feedback
To read help documentation or send feedback:
- Press t to open the Google Drive Settings menu.
- Navigate through the menu to Help.
- Search for help articles or use Send feedback to send your feedback to Google.