Moving Files In G Drive

This articles describes how to move files in G Drive.

I have observed that many people who start using G Drive end up creating new documents or spreadsheets in My Drive using their personal account, and then need to move it to a Shared Drive of their organizational account. If that has happened to you, this article is for you.

First, you must read and understand at least the File Locations and File Ownership sections of the G Drive Overview. If you're tempted to skip that and just read on and following instructions, please don't. Take a deep breath, and accept that right now your task is to learn by doing. I write these articles not as a list of steps, but instead I want you to gain understanding that will pay back many times over. It'll take you 10 minutes today, and 1 minute the next time and thereafter, but if you don't get that understanding, it'll take you 10 minutes each time, with frustration to boot. Sorry for the motivational spiel, but understanding is something that is important to me.

So here is the restated task: Move a file from one File Location in G Drive of one account to another File Location which may be in another account.

First, answer these questions:

• For the file that you want to move:
  • Where is it? (My Drive, a Shared Drive, or Shared with me)?
  • What account am I using to see the file?
  • Who owns it?
• For the target location
  • Where do I want it to be?
  • What account should it be under?

Moving Files Within One Account

• From a Shared Drive: Right click on the file name, and choose "Move to." Follow the directions in the pop-ups.
  • If you don't see "Move to" or the move fails, it's probably because you do not have the permissions to do so on the Shared Drive where the file is or the Shared Drive where you want it to be. There is nothing to do, you can't move the file. Ask somebody who has those permissions or ask for the permissions.
• From My Drive:
  • If the file shows the Ownership as "me," it's very similar to the previous case "From Shared Drive". Right click on the fie name, and choose "Move to." For the rest of the instructions, please read the previous case "From Team Drive."
  • If the file shows the Ownership other than "me," you won't see "Move to" if you right click on it, or it may fail. Please follow the instructions in the following case "From Shared with me."
• From Shared with me:
  • You don't have the option to move the file, because if it's in this list, you are not the owner. But, you can copy the file, and then the copy will be yours to do with as you please. BEWARE: You will be creating and moving a copy, not the original file itself. This is almost always a bad thing to do unless you make the original file disappear if you can. To make a copy, right click the file name, and you'll see the action "Make a copy." Click on that, and a copy of the file will appear in your My Drive under the account you're currently using. Go to My Drive, rename the file (so that its name doesn't include "Copy of ") and then you can proceed as in the case above "From My Drive." REMEMBER: you did not move the original file, you created a copy, so some information such as Version History will be gone forever.

Moving Files Across Accounts

You cannot move files from one account to another account unless you are transferring ownership also, and you cannot transfer ownership from your private account to your organizational account. I suspect these restrictions are security-related.

What you can do though is to Share the file with the other account, and then when logged in with the other account you can take a copy and move the copy. The instructions for that are the 3rd case in the previous Section. Here are the steps:

1. While logged in with the account where the fie is, Share the file you want to move with the other account.
2. In the other account, make a copy, rename it, and move it to the target File Location.
3. In the original account, Remove the file so that you're not tempted to start changing it - the changes would not show in the copy, and you'd have a mess!