How to add a folder in Google Drive. This step by step guide with images is for a new beginner. You can add a folder in Google Drive by manually or automatically.

Why to add a folder in Google Drive

If you are not familiar with Google Drive, this step by step guide is for you. Google Drive offers a huge benefit for its users.

Adding a folder in Google Drive is a starting point to help you have a place to store your files such as words, excel, powerpoint, google docs, google slides, google spreadsheets.

Kindly remember that when you add a folder in Google Drive, it will automatically generate a folder ID and folder link for that appropriate folder. When you have this folder ID, you can automatically interact with this folder in the future such as auto change folder name, auto relocate the location of the folder.

Checklist to preparing before adding a folder in Google Drive

• You must to login into your gmail or google Drive account

• Your Gmail or Google Drive account are active to use.

• You have an idea about the name of folder which you want to add in Google Drive

• Your computer or your phone have an internet connection. You also can add a folder in Google Drive from your computer in offline mode if you have downloaded Google Drive desktop application before.

Options to add a folder in Google Drive

Below are some options to add a folder in Google Drive:

• to add a folder in Google Drive manually.

• to add a folder in Google Drive automatically.

Both options have advantages and disadvantages. My personal preference is to add a folder in Google Drive automatically because this option saves a lot of time for me.

If you have never known about this option, you can read more about how to auto create a folder and file in Google Drive here. There are free Google Sheets add-ons that help you to auto add a folder in Google Drive. You can download this add-on from Google Workspace to use for free.

Below are step by step guides to add a folder in Google Drive by both manually and automatically.

How add a folder in Google Drive manually

Step 1: Open Google Drive

First, you need to open your Google Drive. You have some options to open your Google Drive. Below are details.

• Option 1: Open Google Drive via chrome browser. Click here to open Google Drive now if this is your choice. Following this option, you are opening Google Drive in the Cloud environment.

• Option 2: Open Google Drive on your desktop. You need to download the Google Drive desktop application before opening it on your desktop. If you have installed it before, just click into the Drive icon, then you will open it.

• Option 3: Open Google Drive on your smartphone or mobile phone. You need to download the Google Drive mobile application before opening it on your phone. If you have installed it before, just click into the Drive Mobile App icon, then you will open it.

The image below is the Google Drive interface if you chose option 1.

Step 2: Click to “New” button

After that, click the “New” button at the left above of Google Drive screen. See image below.

Step 3: Click to “New Folder” button

When a pop up window appears, click the “New folder” button that is the first item in the menu.

Step 4: Set folder Name

A text box will appear after that. You now are able to set the name of the folder that you want to add to Google Drive. See image below.

In my example, I set the folder name to “new folder” so that I can add a new folder in my Google Drive. See instructions image below.

Step 5: Click “Create” button and Finish

After typing the folder name, click to the “Create” button. See image below.

When you successfully add a folder into Google Drive, you will see the folder and its location in the following images.

How add a folder in Google Drive Automatically

If you want to add a folder in Google Drive automatically to an existing Google Drive Folder, you can try the below options:

• Option 1: Using a Google Sheet add-on to add a folder in Google Drive. You don’t need to code when using this way. Just install the add-on like you install an application. There are a lot of other benefits of using this way.

• Option 2: Using Google Drive API. You need to code in order to use it this way.

The following step by step guide with images is using the Option 1 above. I use the free add-on that is Auto Create Folder and File. This add-on is used by more than 250+ big organizations and has been installed more than 33 thousand times (update at Aug, 10 2023). The download link is mentioned above in this post.

When using Auto create folder and file Add-ons, With just one click from Google Sheets, you can automate the 07 steps below:

1. Auto-create new parent folders that contain multiple child folders in Google Drive.

2. Auto-create new files and organize them into the appropriate folders.

3. Auto-fill text into the newly created files.

4. Auto-save information about the newly created files and folders into your current Google Sheet.

5. Automatically add files to the list of existing folders.

6. Seamlessly add new folders to the existing list of folders.

7. Generate QR codes for each folder, enabling quick access through the Google Drive App by scanning to open the folder.

When using this automated document creation in Google Drive, you will no longer need to ~manually perform~ the following steps:

1. ~Copy or duplicate~ your template files or folder structure.

2. ~Paste your templates~ or folders into the appropriate location.

3. ~Rename~ the new files.

With this add-on, you can effortlessly create multiple folders and files on Google Drive simultaneously. You can manage your Google Drive and its documents directly from Google Sheets.

Let’s assume that you already have installed successfully the Auto Create Folder and File add-on. Now we use it to add a folder in Google Drive.

Step 1: Open the Google Sheets File

Open the Google Sheet file where you installed successfully the Auto Create folder and file add-on. Navigate to the “Set up” Tab. See instructions images above.

Step 2: Typing the Folder Name

Input the Folder Name into cell B5. It is likely input in a text into Excel or Google Spreadsheets. See the guide images below.

Step 3: Click “Mode1” Button

From your Google Sheets, navigate to the “Extension” => “Auto Create Folder and File” =>“Mode 01”. That’s all. It will add a folder into your Google Drive.

Another benefit of using this add-on is that if you want to add multiple folders in Google Drive, you just type the list of folder names into the range B5:B14. Then click to the Mode 01 as guide above.

The add-on then will add 10 folders in Google Drive for you. All of the newly folders information will be saved into tab “Output”.

See the image below for reference if you want to add multiple folders in Google Drive at once when using this Google Sheet add-ons.

To compare this automatic way, we can see that it takes less than 03 steps when compared with the manual way above. This comparison is just for a case to add a folder in Google Drive. The manually way will take more steps and spending time if you want to add multiple folders.

Another reason to use this method is after adding a folder in Google Drive successfully, the information of the new folder such as folder name, folder link, folder owner and created date are automatically saved in the current Google Sheet files that is the location where you are starting to add a folder in Google Drive.

This feature helps you to save a huge amount of time if your task is not to add only a folder but also multiple folders.

If you are not familiar with how many options to add a file in Google Drive, check out this post. It is about how to add a file in Google Drive both manually and automatically.