Move, copy, and duplicate files

Dragging works well for a folder you can see on screen. When the destination is somewhere else, or in another drive, the right-click menu has three options that open a folder picker instead: Move to…, Copy to…, and Duplicate.

For dragging an item onto a folder, see Rename, move, and organise files.

Move a file to another folder

1. Right-click the file or folder (or click the ⋮ button at the end of its row).
2. Choose Move to….
3. In the Move to dialog, pick the drive on the left, then click through the folders to the one you want.
4. Click Move here.

The picker starts in the folder you are browsing. The row at the top shows where you are, and you can click any part of it to step back up. To put the item somewhere that does not exist yet, click New folder and give it a name.

Copy a file somewhere else

1. Right-click the file or folder and choose Copy to….
2. In the Copy to dialog, pick the drive and folder the way you would for a move.
3. Click Copy here.

The original stays where it is. Unlike a move, a copy can go into any drive you can write to, including a team drive.

Copying a folder copies everything inside it. Copying a document, spreadsheet, presentation, board, or drawing gives you a working file with the same contents, but the copy starts its own version history rather than inheriting the original's.

Duplicate a file in place

To make a second copy next to the original, right-click it and choose Duplicate. The new item appears in the same folder, named Copy of followed by the original name.

Work on several items at once

Select more than one item first. Hold Shift and click to select a range, or hold Ctrl (Command on a Mac) and click to add items one at a time. Right-click the selection and the menu counts them for you: Move 3 items to…, Copy 3 items to…, or Duplicate 3 items.

What happens to sharing

• A move keeps the item's own sharing. The people you added to the file itself still have access. People who could only see it because they had access to the old folder lose it, and people with access to the new folder gain it.
• A copy does not carry sharing over. The new file starts private to you, and then picks up whatever the folder you copied it into is shared with. If other people need the copy, share it again. See Share a file or folder.

You cannot move or copy a folder into itself, or into a folder inside it. Eigen refuses that, because the folder would end up containing itself.