7 Tested Ways to Move Files in Google Drive | 2024

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• User Case: Why Can't I Move Files in Google Drive?
• How to Move Files in Google Drive
• How to Move Files in Google Drive from One Account to Another
• In the End

User Case: Why Can't I Move Files in Google Drive?

“I’m not able to move files by clicking and dragging anymore. Previously, when I clicked and dragged a file into a folder, it would be moved to that folder (as you would expect). When I do this now, however, it creates a ‘shortcut’ in the desired folder, with the original file remaining in its original location. How am I supposed to do this?” – A Question from google.support.com

Moving and sorting files in Google Drive can make it easier to manage Google Drive storage. But how to move files on Google Drive with ease? Why can't someone move files on Google Drive? If you are struggling with such problems, read this article to find out the answer!

How to Move Files in Google Drive

Google Drive is a professional cloud storage for people to save data such as documents, pictures, videos, etc. With Google Drive, you can take advantage of many features it offers, including online editing, sharing files seamlessly as well as collaborating storing files easily. However, after having saved a lot of data in your Google Drive, whether you can manage them well can be a problem.

As we all know, organizing your files well in Google Drive is an essential part of being more productive. Thus, in this part, there are 3 easy and simple ways for you to move files in Google Drive without any effort.

Way 1: Using Move to

Google Drive offers you a feature called Move to. Literally, it can help you move files from their original location to another location in Google Drive. Now, you can follow the steps below to move the file to another location.

Step 1: Go to your Google Drive on the web and sign in with your account.
Step 2: Locate the file you want to move, and right-click it to select Move to.

Step 3: Choose the folder you want, or you can create a new folder by clicking the folder icon with a plus. Next, tap MOVE.

Way 2: How to Move Files in Google Drive by Dragging and Dropping

How to move files to folder in Google Drive on the main page? Certainly, you can drag and drop files to folder directly. For example, if you want to move a file to a folder in Google Drive, you can click it, then drag it to the folder you want to, and drop it. Likewise, if you want to move multiple files to a folder in Google Drive, you can select them, and then drag and drop them to the target folder.

Way 3: Pressing Shift + Z

The above two methods show you the way to move files in Google Drive from one location to another, and the file will disappear from its original location. However, this method is helping you create a shortcut of the file, which means the file will not disappear from its original location (like just making a copy to another location). Here’s what you can follow:

Step 1: Log in to your Google Drive and select the file.
Step 2: Press "Shift + Z" on your keyboard, then select the target folder. Then, there will be a shortcut to that file.

Similarly, if you have multiple files that you want to make shortcuts, you can try the same steps above.

How to Move Files in Google Drive from One Account to Another

Although Google Drive provides a generous 15GB of space, users can run out of it quickly since it shares the storage with Google Photos and Gmail. Thus, signing up for more Google account is a feasible way to get more space. In this case, moving files from one Google Drive account to another is inevitable if you want to manage your data well.

However, what should you do if you want to move files in Google Drive from one account to another? If you are faced with this problem, you can refer to the following part to learn 4 FREE ways to achieve this. After reading, you can find the best one that suits you.

One Top Way: Using MultCloud

MultCloud is a brilliant third-party service that allows users to manage multiple cloud services in only one place. As a professional multiple cloud storage manager, MultCloud supports more than 30 major clouds in the market, including Google Drive, Google Photos, Dropbox, MEGA, OneDrive, FTP, Flickr, etc.

Thus, you can add the clouds you use to MultCloud and manage them well with only one login. If you are wondering how to share a folder on Google Drive, you can turn to MultCloud for help. Furthermore, you can also upload files to Google Drive from your desktop, download documents as well as renaming files. Next, please refer to the operations on how to move files in Google Drive from one account to another.

Step 1: Sign up for MultCloud for free. Or, you can sign in with your Facebook/Google account.
Step 2: Head to Add Cloud to add Google Drive 1 and Google Drive 2.
Step 3: Go to Cloud Transfer, select the files you want to move from Google Drive 1, and then select the target directory in Google Drive 2. Next, click Transfer Now.

3 Common Ways: How to Move Files in Google Drive across Google Drive Accounts

Way 1: Use Share Feature

If you have multiple Google Drive account and want to move files from one Google Drive account to another, you can simply share the files from one account to another. The way to achieve this is very simple, and you can follow the steps below:

Step 1: Go to your Google Drive on the web and locate the file/files you want to share.
Step 2: Select the file/files, and right-click to Share.
Step 3: Add the email address that you use to sign up for another Google account, and click Send.

Later, the other Google Drive account will receive the files that were shared. And you can check it in Shared with me.

Way 2: Download and Upload

Simply, you can use the traditional way to move files manually if you only have a few files to transfer. That is downloading the files first from one Google Drive account, and then uploading those files to another account. Since it’s cumbersome, this method is feasible only when you don’t have that many files to move.

Way 3: Use Google Takeout

Google Takeout is a technical service for users to download data from Google product, such as Google Drive, Google Photos, YouTube, etc. Then, you can follow the step-by-step below:

Step 1: Go to the official website of Google Takeout, and sign in with your account.
Step 2: Check Google Drive (the original one) to export and click Next step.

Step 3: Select a delivery method. Here you can choose Add to drive or Send download link via email.

Step 4: Select the file type, frequency & destination, and then press Create export.

Then those files will be downloaded to your local storage. What you should do later is uploading them to another Google Drive account.

In the End

You’ve learned 7 easy ways about how to move files in Google Drive to make data more organized to navigate and access. Anyway, you not only can move files to a folder in Google Drive with its basic features, but also migrate files in Google Drive from one account to another by MultCloud and other 3 common methods.