How To Move Files From One Google Drive Account To Another

If you have a file in your Google Drive that you want to transfer to someone else’s Google Drive account, the obvious solution would be to simply share the file (I show you how to share files in Google Drive here).

And while sharing the file will mean that they have access to it, and they will even be able to edit it. The file will still be owned by your Google account, meaning it will still be taking up space in your Google Drive storage quota, and if you try to delete it from your account because you no longer want it, the person you shared it with will lose the file as well.

But don’t worry, there’s actually a fairly easy way that you can transfer a file from one Google Drive account to another so that the account the file was originally in no longer has it, and the new account does have it. And today, that’s exactly what I’m going to show you how to do.

Prefer to watch a video about how to move files from one Google Drive account to another? Click here.

Before we begin, to try and make this article as easy to understand as possible, I’m going to refer to the Google Drive account the file is already in as Account 1, and the account we are transferring the file to as Account 2. So when I say Account 1 or Account 2, you’ll know what I mean.

Once you’re in Account 2, you’ll need to click “Shared with me” in the menu down the left hand side of the screen to view all the files that have been shared with that account.

Then, under “Shared with me”, you should see the file you just shared at the top of the list, and you’ll need to single click on it (not double click) to select it.

Now that it’s selected, you’ll need to click on the three dots near the top right hand corner of the screen…

And then, in the menu that appears, click “Make a copy”.

Now, it will create a copy of the file inside Account 2, and that copy will be completely owned by Account 2. Meaning it will take up space in Account 2’s Google Drive, it will show up in “My Drive” in Account 2, and it won’t be shared with anyone else.

And, if you delete the original file from Account 1, it won’t have any impact on the copy that is already in Account 2.

So now, if you click on “My Drive” inside Account 2…

You should find the file somewhere in there.

As the file is actually a copy of the original file, it will be named “Copy of file name”, but you can quite easily rename it by clicking on the file to select it, clicking on the three dots in the top right hand corner…

And then clicking “Rename” in the menu that appears.

And that’s all there is to it! Now, a copy of the file is completely owned by Account 2, and if you want, you can even go and delete the file from Account 1 so that Account 2 has the one and only copy!

How To Move A Google Drive Folder From One Account To Another

If you want to move an entire folder of files from one Google Drive account to another, it is possible, but unfortunately, you can’t copy folders in Google Drive the way you can with single files, so it will require a few more steps.

Prefer to watch a video about how to move a Google Drive folder from one account to another? Click here.

The first part is the same, you just need to share the folder from Account 1 to Account 2 just like with single files by going to drive.google.com in Account 1 and single clicking on the folder to select it (don’t double click).

And then, click on the share icon near the top right hand corner of the screen.

Now, in the box that appears, enter the email address that is associated with Account 2, and click “Send” to share the folder.

Now, the folder and all the files inside it will be shared with Account 2, but they will only be shared, to transfer the folder and the files, you’ll need to open up Google Drive in Account 2 and complete a few more steps.

In Account 2 you’ll actually need to create a new folder with the same name as the folder that’s in Account 1. To do that, click on the “New” button in the top left hand corner…

And then, at the top of the menu that appears, click “Folder”.

Now, a box will appear in the middle of the screen, and you’ll need to type the name of the folder you’re transferring, and then click “CREATE” to create the folder.

Now, Account 2 will have an empty folder in it with the same name as the folder you’re trying to transfer, so that’s a start. But now, you obviously still need to get the files into the folder.

To do that, in Account 2, click on “Shared with me” in the menu on the left hand side of the screen…

And inside “Shared with me”, the folder you just shared should be at the top of the list, and you’ll need to double click on that folder to go inside it and see all the files.

Now, you’ll need to select all the files inside the folder, to do that, click on the file at the top of the list so that it’s highlighted, and then, hold down the “Shift” key on your keyboard, and while you’re holding it down, click on the file at the bottom of the list.

Now, you can let go of the shift key, and all the files inside the folder will be selected.

Now that the files are selected, you’ll need to click on the three dots near the top right hand corner of the screen…

And then, in the menu that appears, click on “Make a copy”.

Now, every file in the folder will be copied, and the copies will remain inside this folder so there will be a double up of every file. But because Account 2 copied the files, the copied version of each file will be owned by Account 2, while the original files will still be owned by Account 1.

So now, all that’s left to do is move the copied version of each file out of the original folder that is owned by Account 1, and into the new folder that is owned by Account 2.

To do that, select all the files that are named “Copy of file name” (these are the copied versions) using the same method as before to select them all at once.

And then, once they’re selected, click on the three dots near the top right hand corner of the screen…

And then, in the menu that appears, click “Move to”.

Now, a box will appear near the top right hand corner of the screen showing files in a folder, but it will be showing the files in the shared folder owned by Account 1 that the files are currently in.

You want to move the files to the new folder owned by Account 2, so you’ll need to click on the back arrow in the top left corner to go out of the shared folder…

Then, double click on “My Drive” so that the files will be moved into Account 2’s Google Drive.

And finally, double click on the new folder that you created earlier to select it as the folder you want to move the files into.

Now that you’re inside the correct folder, click the “MOVE HERE” button…

And you’ll then see a message asking if you want to remove the files from the shared folder. But obviously, you do want to do that, so you can just go ahead and click “MOVE”, and all the files will be moved into the folder.

So now, if you click on “My Drive” in the left hand side menu…

And then, inside “My Drive”, double click on the new folder…

You’ll see all the files that were inside the original folder are now inside this one. So now, Account 2 has a folder with the same name, and with the same files inside it!

And the folder and the files inside it are owned by Account 2 so they’re taking up storage space on Account 2, Account 1 doesn’t have access to this copy of the folder and files, and if you delete the folder and files from Account 1, it will not in any way impact the copies in Account 2.

And that’s all there is to it. the files inside the folder will all be named “Copy of filename”, so you might have to spend some time fixing that if it bothers you.

And the original folder and files will still be in Account 1, so you might want to go back into Account 1 and delete them from there now that they’re safely stored in Account 2. But once you’ve taken care of those few things, you’re all done!