Organise files

Create folders, rename, move and delete files in Drive, one by one or in bulk.

Create folders, rename, move and delete files and folders, one at a time or in bulk.

Before you start: you need edit access to the space. Moving needs edit access in both the place you move from and the place you move to.

Create a folder

  1. Open the folder where it should live.
  2. Click New › New folder.
  3. Type a Folder name and click Create. You see "Folder created".

Rename

  1. Right-click an item (or open its actions menu) and choose Rename…, or select it and press F2.
  2. Type the New name and click Rename. You see "Renamed".

Renaming only changes the name. The content is not copied.

Move

  1. Right-click and choose Move to…, or tick items and click Move in the selection bar.
  2. In the dialog, click folders to go in. The path at the top shows where you are, and you can click a part of it to go back.
  3. Click Move here.

A folder cannot be moved inside itself ("A folder can't move inside itself."). The button is off if the destination is where the item already is.

Delete

  1. Right-click and choose Delete, or select items and click Delete in the selection bar, or select and press Delete.
  2. Confirm. The message says what will go: "name" will be permanently deleted., or for a folder "name" and everything inside it will be permanently deleted.

Important: delete cannot be undone. There is no trash.

Select several items

Tick the checkbox next to items (or the header checkbox for all). The toolbar becomes a selection bar showing "N selected" with Download (only when no folder is selected), Move, Delete and a clear button.

Other row actions

Open (Enter), Download, Share…, Details (files), Copy name.

Limits

  • A folder holding more than 2000 items cannot be moved or deleted in one go: "folder holds more than 2000 objects — delete subfolders first". Work through its subfolders first.
  • Bulk actions report partial success, for example "3/5 items deleted — ".

Troubleshooting

Rename… and Delete are missing You only have view access.

source and destination are the same You renamed an item to its current name. Type a different name.