Google Docs: Option to Upload Folders as Well

Article by George Norman (Cybersecurity Editor)

on 28 Apr 2011

The nice thing about Google Docs is that you can upload up to 1GB of data to the cloud, free of charge. Until now you could only upload individual files. If you wanted to upload a folder, your best bet was to archive the folder, then upload the archive to Google Docs. At least that is what I used to do.

If you did that as well, I have some good news for you. In the near future you will no longer have to archive a folder, because the Google team announced that it will add the option to upload folders to Google Docs. Software Engineer Mike Procopio announced that in the coming weeks three cool new features will be added to Google Docs, and the option to upload folders is among those features.

“Over the next few weeks, we’re releasing three additional features to make it easy to upload files to Docs: folder upload, documents list integration, and drag-and-drop upload,” announced Procopio.

Please note that the option to upload folders works best with Google’s own Chrome web browser. If you access Google Docs using Chrome, the option to upload Folders should show up in the Upload menu.



The option to upload folders works with Mozilla’s Firefox browser and with Apple’s Safari browser as well. The catch is that you will have to install a small applet first.

Additional information on how to upload folders to Google Docs is available here. If you don’t see the option to upload folders yet, it’s because the feature is being rolled out gradually. Procopio said the rollout should complete in a month or so.

Now let’s take a quick look at the other two new features Procopio announced:
  • Documents list integration – by merging the upload page’s functionality into the documents, users can enjoy a better upload experience. A window will pop up in the bottom right of your documents when you upload files via the new drop-down menu; it will show upload progress. Files appear in the documents list once the upload completes. From the aforementioned popup you can share the files. Uploaded files are set as private unless they are placed in a shared collection.
  • Drag-and-drop upload – Chrome, Firefox and Safari users can initiate an upload by dragging and dropping files directly into the documents list.



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