The process to upload files to Google Drive or Microsoft One Drive on iOS can be really cumbersome if the user needs to do so via a web browser and as such at the beginning of this interaction we would direct the user to login to their school email and access either Drive (if they are using a school email that uses Gmail) or One Drive (if they are using a school email that uses Outlook) in a web browser and to confirm the amount of space they have available – they should have ample space (free accounts are granted 15 GB).

If they have more than enough space, it might not be necessary to verify the file size of the file, however if the user has limited amount of space and they are uploading a video, we can request that they confirm the file size.

We can ask the user to do check the file size by doing the following:

If the device is an iPhone:

  • Open the Photos app
  • Tap on Albums
  • Scroll down until Media Types is visible and tap on Videos
  • Locate the video and tap on it (by default it would automatically start to play the video)
  • Ask the user to tap on the (i) icon
  • There should be an area marked as “camera information”, under this section there should be information on the video, such as the resolution, frames per second, duration, and file size (which is next to resolution).

If the device is an iPad:

  • Open the Photos app
  • Scroll down on the navigation block until Media Types is visible and tap on Videos
  • Locate the video and tap on it (by default it would automatically start to play the video)
  • Ask the user to tap on the (i) icon
  • There should be an area marked as “camera information”, under this section there should be information on the video, such as the resolution, frames per second, duration, and file size (which is next to resolution).

Once we know the file size we can provide the user with a link to download Google Drive or Microsoft One Drive from their respective App Store, I would send them the link via the requests email address to prevent them from downloading the wrong app.

Once the user has the downloaded and installed the app we will ask them to locate their file, most likely this will be a video – in which case they would go through the same steps as above with regards to finding the video, except instead of pressing the (i) icon, they would tap on the Share button (it appears as a square with an arrow pointing up).

The user will be presented with a Share sheet which includes a preview of their video and two rows of icons, the first is a row of icons of recent contacts they have sent messages to via SMS/iMessage, or third party messaging apps. The important row of icons is the second one, if Google Drive (listed as Drive) or Microsoft One Drive (listed as OneDrive) are not present the user will need to scroll all the way to the end and tap on the More button. In the next screen the user will need tap on Edit (in the top right corner) and scroll down until they find the corresponding app and make sure that the app is enabled before tapping the plus button next to the app.

Once the user has added the app they can tap Done, then Done again, they will be taken back to the Share sheet, but now the app will be listed in the row.

If the user has Google Drive installed:

  • The user will need to locate and tap on the Google Drive icon
  • Prior to tapping Upload, we would ask the user to confirm their school email is listed at the bottom of the screen
  • Once the file has uploaded the user will need to go to the Google Drive app
  • The user will need to locate their files by tapping on the Files icon, after which they will need to tap on “…” next to the file name and select Share
  • At this point if the user wants to share the file(s) with specific recipients, they would need to enter their email addresses in the Add people or groups text field, if not they can ignore it.
  • The user will tap on Manage access on the bottom, then on Restricted under General access, they will need to repeat this act then selectAnyone with the link, the user will now see an additional option which by default is set to Viewer, this means that the recipients cannot edit the file. From the same page the user can tap on the icon that appears next to the General access, this will copy the link to the user’s clipboard on their iOS device.

If the user has Microsoft One Drive installed:

  • Scroll through the row of icons and tap on the Microsoft One Drive icon
  • Before the user taps Upload to OneDrive, ask the user to confirm their school email at the bottom of the screen is their personal or school email address.
  • After the user has tapped the Upload to OneDrive button the file will be uploaded, they will briefly see Saved to OneDrive before returning to the file.
  • The user will need to open the One Drive app, tap Files, and locate their file.
  • Once the user has found their file they will need to tap on “…”, then tap on the Share button. This will bring up a page like the Share sheet, the user will need to scroll down until they see Copy link which they will need to - tap, this will copy the link to their clipboard.

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