Google Drive is a free file storage service by Google that allows you to upload and share your files across multiple devices. Files uploaded to Google Drive are stored in the cloud, which means that you can access your files wherever you may be, as long as you are connected to the Internet. We’ll teach you how to upload your files to Google Drive so that you can access them anywhere and in any device.
Before the introduction of cloud storage services like Google Drive and Dropbox, storing files often means saving them to a floppy disk or USB flash drive. To share your files, you either have to send them via email or give your disk or flash drive to the recipient.
Cloud storage services such as Google Drive eliminate the hassles and inconvenience of storing and sharing files. You can simply upload your files to your Google Drive account and access them instantly on any computer or mobile device. You don’t need to transfer files from one device to another because all your files and folders are stored online in the cloud and synced across all your devices. Convenient, isn’t it?
You can also share files in Google Drive to other users by generating a private link, or opt to make your files public for anyone to access. That way, you don’t have to transfer your files to another person’s Google Drive account; they can simply open or download your shared files using your link.
Documents that you upload to Google Drive can be opened with Google Docs, so you don’t need to download them and edit them using an external application like Microsoft Word. Google Docs allows you to create and edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations using your web browser, and save them to your Google Drive.
Google Drive gives you 15GB of storage on their free plan and up to 2TB (2,000 GB) on their paid plans via Google One. The free plan is probably enough for most users but if you need additional space, you can upgrade to paid plan for as low as ₱89 per month.
As you can see, Google Drive is a great application for students, teachers, entrepreneurs, office employees, and basically anyone who needs reliable cloud storage for their documents and files. You might be interested to know how to upload your files to Google Drive and take advantage of its powerful features, so we’ve come up with this handy guide. You’ll also learn how to upload folders to Google Drive.
How to Upload Files to Google Drive on Mobile
There are two easy ways to upload files to Google Drive on your Android or iOS mobile phone. Both require the Google Drive mobile app installed.
Method 1: Upload Files to Google Drive Mobile App
Most Android smartphones come with the Google Drive mobile app already pre-installed. If you don’t have the Google Drive app on your phone, you can download it from Google Play (Android) or the App Store (iOS).
Open the Google Drive app and sign in to your Google account if you haven’t done so already. Navigate to the folder that you want to upload the file to, or you can upload your file to the root folder (My Drive).
Tap the “New” (plus sign) button on the bottom-right corner. The “Create new” menu will appear. Tap “Upload.”
You can now choose the file that you want to upload to Google Drive. If the file is not available in the Recent folder, tap the hamburger menu on the upper-left.
Navigate to the folder where the file is located. For easier searching, tap the search icon (it looks like a magnifying glass) and enter the name of the file.
Once you’ve located the file that you want to upload, tap it and it will be uploaded to your Google Drive account.
Depending on the size of the file, it will take some time for the upload to finish. You can see the progress of the upload and you’ll also be informed if the upload failed.
That’s it! Uploading your files to Google Drive is extremely quick and easy. You can now open your uploaded file and share it with anyone you like.
To share your Google Drive file, tap the icon beside it (the one with three vertical dots) and select “Share.” You can also choose “Copy Link” to generate a link that you can share on websites and social media apps like Facebook. People with the link can open and download your file.
If you can’t be bothered with the entire process of uploading files to Google Drive, you can instead upload your file directly without opening the app. We’ll teach you how on the next method.
Method 2: Upload Files by Sharing to Google Drive
In this method, you will upload your files by sharing it to Google Drive. This is easier and quicker than opening the Google Drive because you don’t have to open the app; you simply select the file that you want to upload and transfer it to your Google Drive account with a few taps.
For this to work, you should have the Google Drive app installed and you have already signed in to your Google account.
Open Gallery or My Files (or any file manager) on your mobile phone and navigate to the file that you want to upload to Google Drive. Long press the name of the file and then tap “Share.” You can select multiple files at once.
You can now see your sharing options. Select “My Drive” or “Save to Drive” to start uploading the file.
After uploading, you may open your Google Drive through the app or website to confirm that your files were successfully uploaded.
How to Upload Files to Google Drive on Your Computer or Laptop
Using a PC or Mac computer? You can upload your files and folders to Google Drive on your computer using a web browser.
Go to Google Drive and sign in to your Google account (if you’re not yet logged in). Navigate to the specific folder where you want to upload your file to, or you can upload it to the root folder (My Drive).
Click the “New” button on the left sidebar menu.
Select “File upload” to upload a file.
You can also choose “Folder upload” if you want to upload a folder.
Select the file or folder to be uploaded to Google Drive. You can navigate to folders on the left navigation pane.
After selecting the file, hit the Enter key or click “Open.”
Tip: To upload multiple files simultaneously, press Shift while selecting the files and then click “Open.”
Your file or folder will start uploading. You will see the progress of your upload on the notification dialog on the lower-right area of the page.
Once your file is successfully uploaded, you can edit it by double-clicking on the file. Select the file and right-click to view options such as download, rename, share, make a copy, delete, and more.
How to Upload Files Using the Desktop Application (PC and Mac)
Google Drive offers a desktop application called Backup and Sync from Google. This free software gives you the ability to backup and sync your Google Drive files from your PC or Mac computer.
After installing Backup and Sync, you can create a folder on your computer that will sync to your Google Drive. Every time you save a document, photo or video in that folder, it will instantly be uploaded to your Google Drive and synced across all devices where you have Google Drive installed. You will also be able to work in Google Docs offline.
To upload files using the desktop application, just copy or save the file to the Google Drive folder in File Explorer. It will be automatically uploaded and synced to your Google Drive.
The desktop application is great if you work with numerous files that require constant backups. Instead of manually uploading each file or folder, you can simply save or copy them to your Google Drive folder on your computer and all your files and folders will be uploaded and synced to the cloud automatically. You’ll never have to worry about losing your files again.
Final Thoughts
You’ve just learned how easy and convenient it is to upload your files and folders to Google Drive. Whether you are using a laptop or your handy smartphone, there are several ways to transfer your documents, photos or videos to Google Drive so that you will never lose them. You can even access your files anywhere as long as you can login to your Google account. No more bulky hard drives to carry around!
If you have any questions about Google Drive and how to upload your files to it, just leave a comment below and we’ll try our best to answer. We are not a customer support team for Google though, so we are unable to answer your highly specific technical questions.
