Upload files and organise them
Upload files to Drive, make folders, move and rename things. Names are encrypted too, so searching happens on your device.
Everything in Drive is encrypted in your browser before it is uploaded — the file and its name. That is why the list behaves a little differently from an ordinary file manager: sorting and searching happen on your device, because our server has nothing readable to sort or search.
Upload a file
- Open Drive from the drawer, and go into the folder you want the files in.
- Press Upload. Your browser's file picker opens; you can choose several files at once.
- Each file appears in the upload list above the folder, going through Encrypting…, then Uploading… 42%, then Uploaded.
- When the last one says Uploaded, it is in the folder.
On a wide screen you can drag files from your desktop onto the file manager. The whole area is a drop target: while you drag, an overlay reads Drop files to upload — They are encrypted on your device before they leave. Under the list, a hint says the same thing: Drop files anywhere here to upload — they are encrypted on your device before they leave.
Right-clicking empty space gives Upload files and New folder; right-clicking a folder gives Upload here and New folder inside, so you can put things straight into a folder without opening it.
The upload list
Uploads are shown as rows above the folder, one per file, and nothing in that list disappears on its own — a finished upload stays until you dismiss it, and so does a failure, with the reason. A failed row offers Retry and Dismiss; a file that was refused for its size offers only Dismiss, because retrying it would fail the same way.
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Encrypting… | Your browser is encrypting the file. Large files spend most of their time here. |
| Uploading… 42% | The encrypted bytes are going up. |
| Uploaded | Done, and the file is in the folder. |
| Could not upload | It failed; the row says why. Use Retry. |
| Your storage is full | See File size and storage. |
| Files up to 100 MB in this version. | The file is over your plan's per-file ceiling. |
If you close the tab part-way through an upload, the half-finished file shows in the folder with Upload did not finish and a Try again hint. An upload that is never finished is cleared from our side after 24 hours.
A large file is encrypted before anything is sent, so there is a wait with no progress bar moving. That is the encryption running in your browser, not a stalled upload. Keep the tab open until the row says Uploaded.
Make a folder
- Press New folder.
- Type a name in the Folder name field — up to 255 characters.
- Press Create.
Folders can hold folders. The breadcrumb at the top of the list shows where you are, starting at My files; press any part of it to go back up.
An empty folder says This folder is empty — Upload a file or make a folder to start filling it. An empty Drive says Your files, encrypted with Upload and New folder under it.
Rename a file or folder
Open the item's menu — the ⋮ on its row, or a right-click on a wide screen — and choose Rename. Edit the Name field and press Save.
Only the encrypted record changes; the file's contents are untouched and are not re-uploaded. An empty name is refused on your device with Give it a name first. — the server never sees the name, so it cannot refuse it for you.
With a row selected, F2 opens Rename directly.
Move things
- Open the item's menu and choose Move to… (on a narrow screen the entry reads Move).
- A dialog opens — Move "Invoice.pdf" — showing a folder picker that starts at My files. Step into the folder you want. A folder with nothing inside it says No folders here.
- Press Move here, or Cancel to leave it where it is.
Two moves are refused, with the reason in the dialog: It is already in this folder. and A folder cannot be moved into itself.
Select several items first (see below) and the menu reads Move 3 items…; the dialog is titled Move 3 items.
Select more than one
Click one row, then ctrl/cmd-click or shift-click others. A bar appears with what you can do to all of them at once: Download 3 files, Move 3 items… and Delete 3 items, with Clear selection to drop the selection.
Keyboard, on the file manager:
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enter, or double-click | Opens the folder or file |
| Delete or Backspace | Moves the selection to Recently deleted |
| F2 | Renames the selected item |
| Cmd/Ctrl + A | Selects everything in the folder |
| Esc | Clears the selection |
Find something, sort, and change the view
The field at the top of the list reads Search your files. It filters the folder you are looking at by name as you type; nothing matching gives Nothing matches — No file or folder here has that in its name.
Under the list a footnote states the limit plainly: Your file names are encrypted too. Search looks inside the list on this device only. There is no server-side search of Drive, and there cannot be one while the names are encrypted.
Right-click empty space for Sort by — Name, Modified or Size — and View — List or Grid. The list view is a table of Name, Modified and Size; clicking a column header sorts by it. The status line under the list says what you are looking at, for example 12 files, 3 folders · Sorted by name. Refresh re-reads the folder.
On a narrow screen the same folder is one column, with Folders and Files headings and each row showing its second line as Modified 2 h ago · 4.2 MB.
Messages you may see
| Message | What it means |
|---|---|
| Files cannot be stored right now. Please try again later. | Our file storage is unavailable. Nothing was lost; try again. |
| That folder is not available. | The folder you were moving into no longer exists. |
| This item no longer exists. | It was deleted, probably in another tab. |
| Your files could not be loaded. | The listing failed. Use Refresh. |
| Drive is currently unavailable | Drive is switched off on this server for the moment. |
Common questions
Can I upload a folder?
No — the picker takes files. Make the folder in Drive and upload the files into it, or zip the folder and upload the zip as one file.
Can I attach a Drive file to an email?
Not in this version. The composer cannot reach into Drive; attach the file from your computer instead — see Attachments.
If I upload a file with the same name twice, is the first one replaced?
No. You get two files with the same name. There are no versions in this release, so nothing is ever overwritten.
Why can I not search my whole Drive at once?
Because file names are encrypted and our server never sees them. The filter works on the folder your device has already loaded.
Does moving a file re-upload it?
No. A move changes which folder the file points at; the encrypted bytes stay where they are.