Copy entire folders in Google Drive

Easily copy folders/files in Google Drive

Folgo makes it easy to duplicate Google Drive content at scale. In just a few clicks, you can copy entire folders with their subfolders, files, structure, and permissions, saving time on manual duplication and keeping your content organized.

Important notes on Sharing settings or File Restrictions

Note: Before copying files or folders, make sure their sharing settings allow copies to be made. If the owner has restricted sharing, you may be able to view the content, but Folgo will not be able to copy it.

To check which items were copied, open the process report. If some files were skipped, ask the owner to update the sharing settings and try again.

Learn more about this in Google’s article on how to stop, limit, or change sharing.

Steps on duplicating folders

1. Initialize the copy feature.

Open Folgo in Google Drive > click on Copy folder.

2. Select the source folder.

You’ll see the message: “Select a folder.” The pointing finger means you need to select the source folder directly in Google Drive, not in the Folgo sidebar.

At this step, Folgo works like a file picker. Browse your Drive, find the folder you want to copy, and click it to select it. Once selected, the Folgo UI will update and display your chosen source folder.

3. (Optional) Change the location of your destination folder.

By default, Folgo saves the copied folder in the same parent folder as the source folder. If you want to keep the default location, you can skip this step and continue to Step 4. But if you already have a target destination folder prepared in advance, follow the steps below.

To choose a different destination:

In the Copy location field, click the pencil icon to edit the destination.
Select the destination folder directly in Google Drive
The destination field will update with the selected folder. Click Save.

4. Additional Options

Depending on your needs, you can enable any, all, or none of the following options:

Copy folder structure only: Copies the selected folder and its subfolders without copying any files. Useful when you want to replicate a template structure for a new team or project.
Copy permissions: Also copies the sharing permissions and access settings of the files and folders being duplicated.
Update Drive links between Drive files: Ensures that references within Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, such as links to other Drive files or formulas referencing external spreadsheets, are automatically updated to point to the newly copied versions.

5. Activate the copy process.

Click “Copy” to start the duplication process.

Make sure to click “Refresh” to check the current status of the duplication process. Refreshing may take some time, depending on the number of files and folders being copied.

Once the process has started, you can safely close Folgo, Google Drive, your browser, or even your computer. Folgo will continue the duplication in the background.

When the copy is complete, you’ll receive an email notification confirming that your folder duplication has finished.

7. Review the results.

Once the duplication process is complete, a new folder will appear in the destination you selected. It will be named “Copy of [original name]” and will contain the duplicated content.

You can also open the process report spreadsheet generated by Folgo. It includes useful metadata, about the operation such as source content IDs, URLs, titles, and the corresponding copied content.