How do I Find Folders in Google Drive

Google Drive allows you to organize your files in different folders and categorize them according to your preferences. When you have multiple folders and a large number of files in your Google Drive account, it becomes a hassle to find a specific folder. In this article, we will check how we can find a folder in Google Drive easily.

Before getting into the topic, we need to understand that Google Drive organizes files in collections, describes files by types, and provides specific attributes for each file to help file administration.

A folder in Google Drive is defined as a container you can use to organize other types of files. Folders are also considered as files that only contain metadata, and have the MIME type application/vnd.google-apps.folder.

Now let’s check how to find a folder in Google Drive.

Table of Contents

How to directly Find Folders in Google Drive

When you log in to your Google Drive account, the My Drive section on the home page will display all the recent files and folders. It will be hectic work to look for a specific folder you want to access. We have a solution for this issue.

We can use the Drive Search tool to find all the folders in your Drive on one page. Now, just follow the below steps to execute this method.

Click on the Search in Drive option on the top of the screen.
Now, select the More search tools option.

In the Type section, select the Folders option and click on search.

Now Google Drive will display the complete list of folders in your Drive. You can open, edit and organize the files inside the folders from here.

Read How To See Folder Size In Google Drive?

How to find a file within a folder in Google Drive?

When you need to find a specific file inside a folder that contains a large number of files, the below tip will come in handy. Google Drive allows users to search within a folder to make things easier.

Moreover, there are two methods to search within a folder in Google Drive. We will check both of them in detail.

Method 1: Search within a folder in Google Drive

Locate the folder you want to search for a file and right-click on it.
In the context menu click on the Search within the “folder name” option.

Find Folders in Google Drive — how do i find my folders in google drive

Now Google Drive is ready to search within the folder you have selected. You can now input the file name into the search bar.

Read How to Link a Folder To Google Drive

Method 2: Advanced Google Drive search tool

The Google Drive search tool is capable of filtering your search request on multiple inputs. You can narrow down the search using any information have regarding the file you want to find.

Follow the below steps to make the most of the Google Drive advanced search tool.

Open your Google Drive account and at the top.
Type a word or phrase related to the file into the search box. The search results will appear as you type and if you can’t find the file, move to the next step.
Click on the More search tools option at the bottom.
Now you have the below options to filter your search results.

Type: File types such as documents, images, or PDFs.
Date modified: The date a file was last edited.
Item name: Searches only for the title of the file.
Includes the words: Searches for words and phrases within documents.
Owner: The person the file belongs to.
Shared to: Who can view, comment, or edit the file.
Location: Whether the file is in a specific folder, “Trash,” or “Starred.” You can also search for files available to people in your organization. Use this section to specify the folder you want to search.
Follow up: If the file has action items assigned to you or suggestions in files mentioning you.

Use the above tools accordingly and you can find any file using the minimum information you have. Only folders that are within your My Drive or within Team Drives can be searched using the above methods.

Moreover, if you are searching a folder that is shared with you, first add the folder to your My Drive so that you will get full access to the folder and files.

Read How to change the Google Drive folder location

How to find the location of a file in Google Drive?

Finding the files in Google Drive is easy, but what if you want to know the file path and location where it is saved? This tip can be helpful when you want to find the location or parent folder of a file in your Google Drive.

Find the file in Google Drive and right-click on it.
Click on the Show file location option.

how do i see all folders in google drive

If you have a Google file (Google document, spreadsheet, presentation, or drawing) opened and want to know the file location, just click on the File option and select document details. The pop-up window will show the document location, owner, date of creation, and date of last modification.

We believe the above tips will solve the issue of finding a file/folder in Google Drive. Furthermore, the Google Drive search tool and its advanced features make things much easier for the users. Let us know in the comments which method worked for you.

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Shirley

Hello, my name is Shirley. I’m a Google Drive expert and have been working with the platform since it launched. I’ve written extensively about Google Drive tips and tricks, and have created numerous tutorials on how to get the most out of the platform. I also enjoy creating tutorials to help people learn how to use Drive like pros. Read more