Putting files into folders is a great way to keep things organized by project, topic, or category.
Files that you store or create in Google Drive are unsorted by default, which can make it difficult to locate the right file as the number of stored objects increases.
Fortunately, you can select multiple files at the same time in Google Drive which makes it much easier to move files to folders, or delete a lot of files at the same time.
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How to Select More Than One Google Drive File
- Sign in to your Google Drive account.
- Click on the first file you wish to select.
- Hold down Ctrl on your keyboard and click each of the other files you wish to select.
Our guide continues below with additional information on how to select multiple files in Google Drive, including pictures of these steps.
Once you start to use Google Drive a lot you will end up with a large number of files.
These could be documents, spreadsheets, or pictures that you have uploaded from your phone.
Regardless of what the files are, you might want to start deleting some of them or organizing them into folders.
This can be tedious if you are only performing an action on one file at a time, so you might be looking for a faster option.
Our guide below will show you how to select multiple files in Google Drive at the same time using just a few short steps.
There are a lot of conversion options for the files you create in Google Apps. Our how to download a Google Sheet to Excel guide can show you how to convert from Google Sheets to the Microsoft spreadsheet application.
How to Select Two or More Files from Your Google Drive (Guide with Pictures)
This section was performed using the desktop version of the Google Chrome Web browser, but will also work in other desktop browsers like Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Edge.
Use the steps below to select more than one file at a time in Google Drive.
Step 1: Sign into Google Drive.
Open your Google Drive cloud storage.
You can go directly to https://drive.google.com instead of opening Google Drive through Gmail or another Google app.
Step 2: Click the first file that you want to select.
Select the first file.
If you have the “My Drive” option selected at the left side of the window then this will display all of your Google Drive files.
Step 3: Hold down the “Ctrl” key on your keyboard, then click the rest of the files.
Hold Ctrl and click each subsequent file you want to select.
If you’re on a Mac then you would hold down the “Command” key instead.
Step 4: Perform the desired action on the selected files.
Right-click on one of the selected files and choose one of the options on this menu.
Note that there is a toggle at the top-right of the list of Google Drive files that lets you switch between list and grid view. List view typically lets you view more files on the screen at once, so it is likely to be the most convenient way to view files for this purpose.
Once you’ve completed these steps and selected multiple files, you can do things like download all of those files, move them to a Google Drive folder, or delete them. You can even share files from Google Drive if you want. You can also use this for Google Drive PDF storage.
There are a couple of other ways to select more than one file in Google Drive.
You can click on a file and hold down your mouse button, then drag the mouse to select files either directly above or directly below the selected file.
Alternatively, you can click on a file, press Shift on your keyboard and hold it down, then click on another file. This will select all of the files between the first file you clicked and the last file you clicked.
Using the Shift key method may be preferable when selecting multiple files, especially if all the files are adjacent to one another because they were created around the same time, or if they are consecutive files alphabetically.
Both of these other options are more situational but can be helpful to quickly select a lot of files that are right next to one another.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Google Drive Select Multiple Files Process
How do I select multiple files in Google Drive on an iPhone?
Open the Google Drive app, then select the “Files” tab at the bottom-right of the screen. Tap and hold on the first file you wish to select, which will place a blue check mark next to it. You can then tap on each other file you wish to select.
How do I delete multiple files in Google Drive?
Hold down the Ctrl key, then click each file you want to delete. Right-click on one of the selected files, then choose the “Remove” option.
If you accidentally delete files on Google Drive but you haven’t permanently deleted them, then you can choose the Trash tab on the left side of the window, then hold down the Control key and click each of the individual files that you want to restore.
Once you have all the selected files you can right-click on one of them and choose the Restore option.
How can I select multiple files to upload to Google Drive?
Click the “New” button at the top-left of the window, then choose “File upload.” Browse to the location with the files to upload, then hold down the Ctrl key, click each file to upload, then click the “Open” button. This is a fairly convenient way to upload files to the cloud quickly and efficiently.
How do I download multiple files in Google Drive?
Hold down the Ctrl key, then click on each file you wish to download. Right-click on one of the selected files, then choose the “Download” option. This will place all of the files into a zip file, which will then download to your computer.
How do I select all of the photos in Google Drive?
Click the “Search options” arrow at the right side of the search field, choose “Photos & images,” then click “Search.” You can then press Ctrl + A to select all of the photos. You could use a similar method to select other types of files, such as all your Google Docs files, or all your PDFs.
Can I select everything in my Google Drive?
Yes, it is possible to quickly select all of the files in your drive.
You can use these steps if you want to know how to select all files in Google Drive –
1. Open your Google Drive.
2. Click on any of the files.
3. Press Ctrl + A on your keyboard to select everything.
Once you know how to select all in Google drive by using this simple process you will be able to do things like delete all of the files in Google Drive, or filter to a specific type of file, such as images or PDFs, then select all of those and move them to a folder, or move them to the trash.
How do I select multiple files in the Google Drive app on an iPhone or Android device?
The Google Drive mobile app lets you perform many of the same actions that you would take in the desktop version of the app, including the selection of files.
Open the Google Drive app on your Android or iOS device, then tap and hold on the first file you wish to select.
This will change the interface into a “selection mode” where you can tap on additional files that you want select.
Once you have selected all of the desired files you can touch one of the buttons at the top of the screen, which includes options like moving the files into a folder, making them available offline, or deleting them.
See also
- How to delete a file from Google Drive
- How to sign into Google Drive
- How to recover a file from Google Drive trash
Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times.
After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.
His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.
