Google Docs and Google Drive are two great ways to get your documents off of your desk top and in to the cloud, where everyone with a link can access them.  The upside to Google cloud-based documents is that you can also control collaboration.  You can set viewer rights to view only, or view and edit.  This is very useful when you want multiple people to work on the same document!  

If you have a Google account, you are already aware of the amazing tools available for free to you.  One is Google Drive.  Just like a regular hard-drive, Google Drive is a place to store your documents and computer files.  Instead of these being on your local computer's hard disk, they are in the 'cloud' - really just a data-server somewhere in the world.   Your file will still be on a hard-disk, but for all intents and purposes, is 'cloud-based', meaning you can access it anywhere you have internet service.  

First thing you need to do is find the Google Drive on the Google Aps drop down.  Click the Google Aps icon (1) to view the options, then click the Google Drive link (2)

Once you are at the Google Drive home page, you can see all the documents listed out that you have already pushed up, or none if you are new.  Click the New button (1) then File Upload (2).

Locate the file on your local device, select it and click Open.  Google Drive supports virtually any format, altho it may try and convert some items in to Google Docs.  (Refuse any conversion options if they appear)

The Google Drive dialog box will show your status.  Click the Share link for options (1)

Once your document is in the cloud you can type in the email addresses of people you want to be able to work with your cloud-based document.  This is a great feature for collaborative documents, but for this example we just want a publicly-visible link that we can use in an email, so click the Advanced option.

We want our document to be viewable by anyone we send the link to, so under Who has access, click the Change link.

Choose the Anyone with the link option (1).  This way you can control who sees your document by limiting it to anyone with the link.  This keeps random internet searches, etc. from viewing it, which is what the first option Public on the web means.  (2)   Click Save to finish.

The link should be blue and selected - press Ctrl+C or (right-click Copy) to copy the link to your clip board (1). That's it!  Paste this link in to your email and now instead of dealing with a cumbersome attachment, your email recipient need only click on the link!  (see next stepO

If you want to further limit who can see this document, click the two option boxes at the bottom of this dialog box. (2) Click Done when finished. (3)

In the body of your email, simply paste the link.  Now instead of an attachment, your email recipients need only click on the link to view your document.  Its easy!

Attachments are becoming more and more problematic due to security concerns.  Many email servers and firewalls will block an email simply if it has an attachment, and certainly if its large or seems suspicious.  Problem is you will never know why your email was bounced - and may not even realize it was bounced at all!  Further increase the ods of delivery using a link rather than an attachment!

While we will emphasize that an outside service such as Google Drive or Drop Box is the best way to push a document in to the cloud and link to it, there is also a built-in feature within GoSignMeUp to help those without a Google account.  From the main admin menu, under Configuration, click Utilities (1).  Here you will see an Upload Documents option (2).

On the Upload Documents/Files/PDF page, click Add Files (1).  Navigate your local machine and choose the file to upload.  The GSMU system is not designed for large files, but anything under 5 megabytes is fine.  You can select multiple files.  When you are done selecting, click the Start Upload button (2).

The links of the newly uploaded file will be listed in the Direct Link box.  To copy, click on the text box and press Ctrl + A to highlight all then Ctrl + C for copy. (For MAC user, Use Command instead of Ctrl).  That's it!  As before just paste your link in to your email in lieu of an attachment.  Its easy and will help keep your emails in the in box and out of spam hell.