Google tips and tricks for teachers: Search and Drive skills that still save time
Google tips and tricks for teachers: search operators, source checks, and Drive search skills that work in 2026, with Pew data on AI summaries.
Updated with current data and sources. Originally published May 10, 2017.
The Google skills that pay off most for a teacher in 2026 are plain ones: search operators that shrink a result page, a quick check of every source, and a Drive search that finds any file in seconds. They take minutes to learn, and they matter more now that an AI summary often sits on top of the results.
This series began in 2017 with a tip that Kasey Bell at Shake Up Learning passed along to me. Kasey is great and she loves to pass along Google tips, and her blog is still publishing them today. This is part 1, on Search, Drive, and Calendar. Part 2 covers Docs, Classroom, and Gemini.
- Search operator
- A short command you type in a search box to tell Google exactly what you want, such as site: to stay on one website or a minus sign to exclude a word. Operators work in Google Search, and a separate set works in Google Drive.
Why do search skills matter more now that AI answers come first?
Because people click through less when a summary appears. Pew Research Center tracked the browsing of 900 U.S. adults in March 2025 and found that 18% of the Google searches in its study produced an AI summary. When one appeared, users clicked a traditional result link in 8% of visits. When none appeared, they clicked in 15% of visits. Links inside the summary drew clicks in just 1% of visits.
What U.S. adults clicked on Google (March 2025)
60%
of searches that began with a question word produced an AI summary.
Pew Research Center, 2025
26%
of pages with an AI summary ended the browsing session, compared with 16% of pages with only traditional results.
Pew Research Center, 2025
Google's own help page says AI Overviews "can and will make mistakes" and tells readers to check important information in more than one place. Your students face the same page. In Pew's 2026 survey of U.S. teens, 57% said they have used chatbots to search for information and 54% to get help with schoolwork.
You cannot turn AI Overviews off, according to Google. You can go around them: after you search, select the Web filter, which shows text-based links without those features.
Which Google Search operators should every teacher know?
Six cover most of a teacher's week. All of them are on Google's Refine Google searches page.
| Operator | Try this | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Quotes | "formative assessment" | You need that exact phrase |
| site: | site:nasa.gov moon phases | You trust one source and want only that source |
| Minus sign | jaguar speed -car | A word keeps pulling in the wrong topic |
| filetype: | photoelectric effect paper filetype:pdf | You want a report or handout, not a web page |
| after: | school cell phone policy after:2025 | You need pages last updated after a date |
| before: | school cell phone policy before:2019 | You want to see how a topic looked in the past |
One catch from Google: leave no space after the colon. site:nytimes.com works, and site: nytimes.com does not. If your staff will not memorize any of this, bookmark Advanced Search. It offers the same ideas as form fields, plus language, region, and usage rights.
How do you check a source before you share it?
Use the three dots. Click the three dots beside a result, open the "more about this page" tab, and Google shows background on the site, including its Wikipedia description when one is available. The same dots beside an image open About this image, which shows when the image first appeared in Search and how other sites describe it.
For a claim that sounds too good to share, try Google's Fact Check Explorer, which finds fact checks from independent organizations. AI Mode splits a question into subtopics and returns an AI answer with links for follow-up, but Google says plainly that AI responses may include mistakes. Treat the summary as the map and the links as the evidence.
A teacher who searches well can show a student how to doubt a summary and check it.Ernie Delgado, BeyondK12
How do you find any file in Google Drive?
Stop scrolling folders and search instead. Filter chips for Type, People, and Modified narrow a Drive search, and you can type words on top of a chip. Selecting Presentations and typing a unit name finds the deck in one step. For more control, use these operators from Google's Drive help page:
- owner:me shows only files you own.
- type:spreadsheet limits results to one kind of file, and type:document works the same way.
- title: followed by a word searches file names.
- is:starred pulls up the files you marked as important.
- is:unorganized owner:me finds your files that are in no folder.
- sharedwith:public finds files shared publicly. Leaders, run this one. A roster should never appear in that list.
Shortcuts solve the "which copy is current?" problem. Right-click a file, choose Organize, then Add shortcut, and the file can appear in many folders while staying one file. Google says a shortcut links back to the original, so you always see the latest version.
Know one limit. For files you upload to Drive, Google says a version might be permanently deleted after 30 days or if there are 100 newer versions, unless you open Manage versions and choose Keep forever. Docs, Sheets, and Slides use their own version history, which part 2 covers.
How do you schedule a team meeting without an email chain?
Use Find a time. In Google Calendar, click Create, choose Event, add your guests, and click Find a time. Google compares up to 50 guests, as long as they have shared their calendars with you. Ask your grade-level team to share calendars once in August and the back-and-forth goes away.
How can a school teach these skills in one staff meeting?
Do not plan a Google day. Give it 20 minutes at a meeting you already hold, and use real work.
- Start with a real question. Ask staff to find something they need this month, such as a primary source for a unit, and run the search once with no operators.
- Add one operator. Rerun the search with site: or filetype: and compare the two result pages. The contrast teaches it.
- Check one source. Open the three dots on a result and ask who runs the site. Then select the Web filter and compare the links to the AI summary.
- Clean one thing in Drive. Have everyone run sharedwith:public and fix anything with student information in it.
- Pass it to students. Ask each teacher to show one operator and one source check in class within two weeks.
Where to start this week
Pick one operator and use it on your next three searches. Then search your own Drive for sharedwith:public and see what comes back. If your staff would benefit from hands-on time with tools like these, look at our teacher professional development.
Search skills are one small piece of being ready for AI. The free AI Readiness Assessment takes eight questions and scores your school out of 24 across Policy, People, Curriculum, Guardrails, and Funding.
Related reading: Google tips and tricks for teachers: Docs, Classroom, and Gemini time savers and Media literacy in K-12 education: how to build a program that sticks.
Questions school leaders ask
Can I turn off AI Overviews in Google Search?
No. Google's help page says AI Overviews cannot be turned off as a feature. After you search, select the Web filter, which shows text-based links without features like AI Overviews.
What is the most useful Google search trick for teachers?
Start with site: and quotes together. A search like site:nasa.gov "moon phases" keeps results on one trusted site and matches the exact phrase. Google lists both on its Refine Google searches help page.
How do I find a lost file in Google Drive?
Use the filter chips for Type, People, and Modified, or type an operator such as owner:me, type:spreadsheet, or title: followed by a word from the file name. Google's Drive help page lists the full set of operators.
Is Google Expeditions still available?
No. Google deactivated the Expeditions and Tour Creator apps on June 30, 2021. Google says you can find many of the tours on Google Arts & Culture at g.co/gacexpeditions.
Can students use AI Mode in Google Search?
Google's help page says AI Mode in Search Labs is available to users 13 and above, and it warns that AI responses may include mistakes. What your students can reach on school accounts depends on your Workspace settings, so ask your administrator first.
Sources
- Pew Research Center, Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results (July 2025) (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- Pew Research Center, How teens use and view AI (February 2026) (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- Google Search Help, Refine Google searches (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- Google, Advanced Search (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- Google Search Help, AI Overviews in Google Search (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- Google Search Help, AI Mode (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- Google, 4 ways to use Google Search to check facts, images and sources (April 2024) (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- Google Drive Help, Search for files in Google Drive (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- Google Drive Help, Find files and folders with Google Drive shortcuts (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- Google Drive Help, Check activity and file versions (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- Google Calendar Help, Find times to meet (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- Google Expeditions Help, Expeditions and Tour Creator are no longer available (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- Google Workspace Updates, Google Hangouts will be fully upgraded to Google Chat starting November 1, 2022 (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- Google for Education, Gemini for Education and Google Workspace for Education editions (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
- Shake Up Learning, blog by Kasey Bell (opens in a new tab) (checked 2026-11-05)
See where your school stands on AI, in five minutes
Eight questions. A score out of 24 across Policy, People, Curriculum, Guardrails, and Funding, with the three fixes that move it most. The report is yours whether or not you ever call us.