Uploading, Downloading, Deleting and Restoring Files

Locked lesson.

Upgrade

About this lesson

How to upload, download, delete and restore files using Google Drive.

Exercise files

The exercises below will open in a new tab. When signed in to your Google account, go to File --> Make a copy to get an editable copy of the file.

Uploading, Downloading, Deleting and Restoring Files Solution
Link Uploading, Downloading, Deleting and Restoring Files
Link

Quick reference

Uploading, Downloading, Deleting, and Restoring Files

Google Drive can be used to store any type of computer file. Files can be added to Google Drive by uploading them from a computer, and can be downloaded to a computer from Google Drive. Files can also be removed (deleted) from Google Drive, which sends them to the Trash folder.

When to use

When you want to transfer a file between your computer and your Google Drive, when you want to remove (delete) a file from Google Drive, or when you want to retrieve a file that was removed.

Instructions

Uploading:

  • Click “New”
  • Click “File Upload” (for files),

or

  • “Folder Upload” (for folders). Note: Folder upload option is currently only possible in Google Chrome browser.
  • In the new window, find the files or folders you want to upload
  • Select the files or folders
  • Click “Open” or “OK”

Downloading:

  • Select the files or folders in Google Drive you want to download
  • Click on the three dots in the top right
  • Click “Download”

NOTE 1: If you select multiple files or folders, they will be grouped in a “zip” folder before downloading.

NOTE 2: Downloaded files and folders will be sent to your internet browser’s default Download folder, which can be changed in your internet browser settings.

Deleting:

  • Select the files or folders in Google Drive you want to remove
  • Click on the trashcan button in the top right

Restoring:

  • Click on the “Trash” folder in the left panel of Google Drive
  • Select the files or folders you want to restore
  • Click on the clock button in the top right

NOTE: Files and folders will be restored to the same location which they were deleted from.

 

Login to download
  • 00:05 Now that you're familiar with navigating around Google Drive,
  • 00:09 let's take a look at how we can upload content, download content, and
  • 00:13 even remove content from our Google Drive account.
  • 00:17 To upload an individual file,
  • 00:19 select the NEW button in the top left hand corner of your screen.
  • 00:24 Now, in this example, we want to upload just a single file, so
  • 00:28 we're gonna select File upload.
  • 00:31 It should be noted that you can upload absolutely
  • 00:34 any type of file to your Google Drive account.
  • 00:37 It does not need to be a Word document, a spreadsheet, or a presentation.
  • 00:42 Google Drive will accept almost any type of file.
  • 00:46 In this case, I'm gonna select this document.
  • 00:48 In the right-hand side of my screen, it gives me an estimate of how long it will
  • 00:53 take for this file to upload and it will notify me once the upload is complete.
  • 00:59 I can select the x here to close this notification window.
  • 01:03 And here you see, here is the individual file which I've uploaded to Google Drive.
  • 01:08 Of course, uploading each and every file one-by-one may take a little bit of time.
  • 01:14 So Google Drive allows you the option to upload entire folders.
  • 01:19 To do so, once again we're gonna select the NEW button.
  • 01:23 But this time we're gonna select Folder upload.
  • 01:26 By selecting this option, we have the opportunity to navigate and
  • 01:31 find the file folder that we'd like to upload to drive.
  • 01:35 I'm gonna select Work Files and select OK.
  • 01:40 Once again, we are given an estimate and
  • 01:42 a notification window in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen,
  • 01:46 letting us know how long it should take for this folder to upload.
  • 01:50 And once it's complete,
  • 01:51 it will give us a little green check mark in the bottom right-hand corner.
  • 01:56 I'm gonna close this notification window.
  • 01:58 And once again, here is the folder that we've just uploaded.
  • 02:02 I can double click on it and I can see the contents of the individual files
  • 02:07 which have been uploaded along with it.
  • 02:11 Now what if we'd like to download content to our computer?
  • 02:14 Let's say that I'd like to download this particular image to my laptop.
  • 02:20 To do so, just select the file or files that you would like to download and
  • 02:26 then select the More actions icon here.
  • 02:30 At the very bottom of the More actions menu, you will see a Download option.
  • 02:35 By selecting this, I can very quickly and
  • 02:38 easily download that file directly to my computer.
  • 02:43 The last thing we wanna be familiar with is actually removing or
  • 02:47 deleting an item within Drive.
  • 02:50 Let's say I no longer need this particular file and
  • 02:53 I don't wanna see it within this particular folder.
  • 02:56 All I need to do is select it and then select the trash icon here.
  • 03:02 By selecting it, it will remove that file from this particular folder.
  • 03:06 But what if I made that choice by mistake?
  • 03:10 What if I didn't mean to delete or remove that particular file?
  • 03:14 Well, simply click on Trash and you will see a list of all of the things
  • 03:19 that you have identified as removing from your Drive account.
  • 03:24 And here you see the file that I just selected for removal.
  • 03:28 Google Drive gives you this option as somewhat of a backup
  • 03:31 in case you made a mistake.
  • 03:34 Now if I'd like to restore this file, I simply need to select it and
  • 03:38 then I wanna select this Restore From Trash icon.
  • 03:43 By selecting it, it will now bring that file back to its original location.
  • 03:49 But what if we'd like to remove something permanently.
  • 03:52 Once again, we're gonna go back to the Trash, select the particular file that we
  • 03:58 would like to remove, and this time we're gonna select the Delete Forever.
  • 04:03 Now it's the exact same icon that we saw before.
  • 04:06 But this time, when we select it, it's gonna make sure
  • 04:10 that we want to delete this forever, just in case we've made another mistake.
  • 04:14 This time, when I select this button, DELETE FOREVER, it is gone.
  • 04:18 And I'm not able to restore this particular file.
  • 04:22 So now we know how to upload files, how to download files,
  • 04:27 and also remove files from our Google Drive account.

Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.

Gift this course