Ways to Import Files to Google Drive

Read time 7 minutes

Google Drive, an essential element of Google Workspace, stands as an invaluable cloud-based application. Its global user base extends into the trillions, a testament to its unwavering reliability and comprehensive offerings. Users are greeted with a generous 15GB of complimentary storage, along with a pre-designated repository for Google Docs, Google Slides, and Google Sheets documents.

Welcome to our blog, where we assist users seeking efficient ways to migrate their files and folders to Google Drive, enabling seamless access, viewing, and online editing from anywhere. Delve into each method meticulously and select the one that best suits your needs.

Importing files or entire folders to Google Drive is a straightforward process. If you wish to transfer files to an existing folder, simply open that folder directly. Alternatively, you can create a new folder in your Google Drive and then access it to manage your files.

1. Sign-in and open your Google Drive.
2. Expand or open the folder to which you want to import the selected files.
   
3. Minimize the size of the folder from which you want to drag the files to the Google Drive folder.
   Select and slowly drag the files from the system drive folder to the Google Drive folder. The result would be like this with the upload status at the bottom corner of the page.
   
4. You can select as many files from different folders one after another and drop them to the Google Drive folder anytime.

The process is essentially the same as described above. Begin by opening your Google Drive folder, ensuring it’s in full-screen mode, and then simply drag the folder you want from your computer system and drop it into the Google Drive folder. Your selected folder will swiftly be uploaded or imported to your Google Drive directory.

Note: Users can effortlessly select multiple folders simultaneously by simply dragging and dropping them while holding down the Ctrl key.

You can locate the “Upload File/Folder” feature within the Google Drive user interface by selecting the “New” option. This enables you to effortlessly upload either individual files or an entire folder directly from your system’s drive.

1. Sign-in and launch Google Drive on your system.
2. Click on the New tab from the left panel and then select the File upload option.
   
3. Next, browse and select the desired files from the system and then click on the Open option to upload them directly.
   
4. The files will get uploaded very soon. After that, the file upload status will be displayed.
   

1. After launching Google Drive, follow New>Folder upload.
   
2. Choose the desired folder from the system and click on Upload.
   
   Note: Users can select only a single folder through the Folder Upload option.
3. Next, a confirmation message may appear with a warning. Click the Upload option to continue.
   
4. The folder is successfully uploaded.
   

To implement this approach, you’ll need to download and install the Google Backup & Sync application on your system. Once installed, this application will seamlessly establish a Google Drive folder on your computer. You can effortlessly transfer files by simply dragging and dropping them into this designated folder. To acquire the Google Backup & Sync application, please visit the following download page: https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2374987

Google Drive offers the flexibility to upload or import files and formats that are not natively supported, although it doesn’t provide direct viewing capabilities through the Google Drive interface for such files. Instead, when attempting to access unsupported file formats within Google Drive, users will encounter a Download option. Additionally, the interface provides suggestions for third-party applications that can be installed on the user’s system to enable seamless viewing of these files.

Google Drive users can turn on a setting Convert Uploads by visiting the link – https://drive.google.com/drive/settings and selecting the checkbox saying Convert uploaded files to Google Docs editor format. Click the DONE option at the top right to save this setting.

Now the uploaded formats will be automatically converted into the Google Drive supported formats.

Some common file formats/extensions supported by Google Drive are: .GDOCX, .GDRAW, .GFORM, .GLINK, .GMAP, .GSHEET, .GSLIDES, .GTABLE, .3GPP, .AI, .AVI, .BMP, .CSS, .CSV, .DOC, .DOCX, .DXF, .EPS, .FLV, .HTML, .JPEG, .JPG, .MOV, .MP3, .MTS, .ODS, .ODT, .OGG, .PAGES, .PDF, .PHP, .PNG, .PPT, .PPTX, .PS, .PSD, .RTF, .SVG, .TIF, .TIFF, .TSV, .TTF, .TXT, .WAV, .WMV, .XLS, .XLSX, .XPS, .ZIP.

There are three distinct methods available for importing files and folders into Google Drive, each of which is both cost-free and straightforward to execute. However, specific scenarios may necessitate the transfer of data to Google Drive from alternative sources such as OneDrive for Business, a separate Google Drive account, or a local file system. In such instances, the utilization of a reliable Google Drive migration tool becomes imperative. We recommend employing Kernel Google Drive Migration software for this purpose, as it streamlines and automates the migration process significantly. This versatile tool offers advanced features including data filtering, mapping, and more, enhancing the overall efficiency of the transfer.