Google Drive has become a vital office as well as a personal tool for productivity. You can easily manage multiple files on Google drive in quick simple steps and easy shortcuts as well. This blog post will discuss how to select multiple files on Google Drive? and how to select all files in google drive.
As you keep working, adding multiple files, it’s obvious you may wish to select more than one and perform operations like delete, copy, cut, etc.
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Moving or deleting a bunch of files in one take was once a nightmare. But it’s not that tough if you learned the below steps/shortcuts. The most efficient way to select multiple files in google drive is by using the shortcuts. Let’s explore how to select multiple files on Google Drive.
Table Of Contents
- How to select multiple files on Google Drive using Shortcuts?
- How to select multiple consecutive files?
- How to select multiple individual files?
- Selecting multiple files using the mouse
- Select Multiple Files in Google Drive Using Your Mouse
- How to select multiple files in the Google Drive Android?
- How to select multiple files in Google Drive IOS?
- How to upload multiple files/folders to Google Drive?
- How to delete multiple files/folders in google drive in the Android/ios app?
- How to delete multiple files/folders in google drive in the PC?
- How to move multiple files/folders in google drive Android/ios app?
- How to move multiple files/folders in google drive Desktop?
- New Google Drive: Selecting Multiple Files
- Can I select files?
- Select multiple files on Google Drive App
- How do I select multiple files in Google Drive on an iPhone?
- How can I select multiple files to upload to Google Drive?
- How do I download multiple files in Google Drive?
How to select multiple files on Google Drive using Shortcuts?
Keyboards shortcuts are the most efficient ways to handle select operations, especially when you’re up to deal multiples at an instant. Depending upon the operating system you are using it might slightly differ as follows,
- If you are on a Windows PC/Laptop you will want to hold down the Control key as you select multiple files in Google Drive.
- If you are on a Mac, hold down the Command key as you select multiple files in Google Drive.
Consecutive files vs Individual files
It’s not that you’ll be always dealing with consecutive files, you may also want to select multiple files individually one by one. Let’s dive deep into both types.
You can select a group of consecutive files easily by using the ‘shift’ key
How to select multiple consecutive files?
To select a group of consecutive files,
- Select the first file you want
- Press and hold the shift key down
- Similarly, Select the last file you want
- Release shift key and make sure that all selected files will remain highlighted

How to select multiple individual files?
To select a group of individual files you should use the ctrl key
- Select the first file you want
- Press and hold the ctrl key down
- Similarly, Select the next file you want
- While holding the Ctrl key, continue selecting files
- When finished, release the ctrl key and make sure all selected files remain highlighted

Organize selected files in a folder
You can easily organize the consecutively selected files in a separate folder as follows,
- Use the mouse to press and hold anywhere on the highlighted group
- Drag and drop the group into a folder
If you prefer a menu way and not the drag and drop, then right-click on a highlighted group of files and select “Move to” the appropriate folder.
Selecting multiple files using the mouse
Another easy way preferred by many is by using mouse selection. You can select multiple files in Google Drive by simply click and drag your mouse over the files you want to select similar to how you select items on your desktop.
Select Multiple Files in Google Drive Using Your Mouse
Step 1: Open drive.google.com in your web browser
Step 2: Click My Drive on the left-hand side pane and locate the files you need to select

Step 3: Left click and drag your mouse to draw a square over the files you want to select


How to select multiple files in the Google Drive Android?
Using the official Google Drive app for android, find the files you want to select multiple files simultaneously.
- Find the first file, select and hold for about 2 seconds (long press) and a blue circle with a checkmark will appear inside the icon for that file. You’ll also notice a little toolbar will appear on the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
- Continue selecting additional files with short presses until all files you want to select have been highlighted.
You can then share, download, and move those multiples Google Drive files in your Android mobile.
How to select multiple files in Google Drive IOS?
You can also select multiple files from the Google Drive app in IOS mobile, share, and download them.
- Find a file, select, and hold for about 2 seconds (long press) and a blue circle with a checkmark will appear inside the icon for that file. You’ll also notice a little toolbar will appear on the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
- Continue selecting additional files with short presses until all files you want to select have been highlighted.
How to upload multiple files/folders to Google Drive?
To upload multiple files/folders to google drive easily,
- On your computer, go to drive.google.com.
- At the top left, click New > File Upload or Folder Upload.
- Choose the files or folders you want to upload.
- To select multiple files/folders for upload, press ctrl/shift, and drag your mouse.

How to delete multiple files/folders in google drive in the Android/ios app?
- Tap and hold on a file/folder.
- Wait till the icon turns blue with a check mark inside it.
- Tap on all the file/folder icons of the files/folders you want to move.
- A card stack will be at the bottom of the screen of all the files/folders you selected.
- Finally, tap on the delete icon on the bottom card stack

How to delete multiple files/folders in google drive in the PC?
- Click and press shift on all the files/folders you want to move.
- Then right-click on any one of the highlighted entry
- A new panel with several options will be displayed, select Remove to remove the selected files/folders
How to move multiple files/folders in google drive Android/ios app?
- Click and hold on a file/folder.
- Wait till the icon turns blue with a check mark inside it.
- Click on all the file/folder icons of the files/folders you want to move.
- A card stack will be at the bottom of the screen of all the files/folders you selected.
- Finally, just drag those files into the folder you wanted to move them into and you are done.
How to move multiple files/folders in google drive Desktop?
- Select multiple files/folders as described above
- Then right-click on any one of the highlighted entry
- A new panel with several options will be displayed, select ‘Move to’
- Then in the new pane, select the folder you want to move
- Click on ‘move’ to move the selected entries


New Google Drive: Selecting Multiple Files
If you are new to Google drive and wanted to know How to Select Multiple Files in Google drive, you can follow the below instructions.
Hold Down the Control Key or Command Key
- In case, you are using a PC, then you can select multiple files by holding down the Control key. What exactly you need to do is select one file and then press and hold the Control key and then select the other files one by one and once you are done, you can release the control key.
- But if you are actually using a Mac and trying to select multiple files, in that case, you can hold down the Command key to select multiple files in your Google drive.
This is the way to Select Multiple Files in Google Drive Using the Ctrl Key.
Hold Down the Shift Key
You can also able to select multiple files or documents by holding down the shift key from your Keyboard. What exactly you need to do is select one file and hold the Shift key and then select another file, In that way, it will select all the in-between files including those two files.

This is the way to select Multiple Files Using the Shift Key
Can I select files?
Yes, you can select multiple files using the below options.
- Hold down the control key or command key if you are using a PC or Mac respectively
- Hold down the Shift key and select multiple files
Select multiple files on Google Drive App
Well, you can also able to select multiple files on the Google Drive App using the below instruction
- You can long press a file or folder and then you can tick other files or long press the other folders.
How do I select multiple files in Google Drive on an iPhone?
Follow the below steps to select multiple files in Google Drive on an iPhone.
- Navigate to the Google Drive app.
- Select the “Files” tab which is present on the right side of the screen below.
- As the next step, to select a file, tap and hold it and then you will notice a blue checkmark next to it and then you can tap on each of the files that you want to select.
How can I select multiple files to upload to Google Drive?
You can select multiple files to upload to Google Drive using the below steps
- Click on the “New” button -> Choose “File Upload” and Browse or navigate to the File location.
- The next step is to hold the “Control key” and then click on each of the files that you wish to upload and finally, click on the “Open” button to upload all the files.
How do I download multiple files in Google Drive?
You can follow the below steps to download multiple files in Google Drive
- The first steps is to hold the “Control Key” and click on the individual file that you want to download
- Release the control key and then right-click on any of the selected files and click on the Download link as highlighted below to download multiple files in Google Drive.

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And it’s that simple. You’ve mastered the tricks to select multiple files on Google Drive. You can easily apply the same for several other operations – share, download, add to starred, etc if needed. Easy right! Try these simple tricks and you’ll be amazed by the productivity. Here, we learn how to select multiple files on Google Drive and how to select all files in google drive.
The above steps will also solve your below queries
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Hope you have enjoyed this article !!!