How to Download Files and Folders From Google Drive

Quick and easy-to-follow guide for Google Drive users

You can download files and folders from Google Drive to your computer.

What if I can’t download a file from Google Drive

If you can’t download a file, you probably are not the owner, and the owner has disabled downloading.

What happens when I download Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and other Google files

Google Docs, Sheets, and other Google-type files can only exist in their original format on the web, so they automatically get converted to Microsoft Office-type files upon download.

Google Drive download conversion options

You can also download files in other formats. However, you can only do this when downloading one file at a time. To select a format, open the file and click File > Download as.

Google Docs can be converted to Microsoft Word (.docx), OpenDocument Format (.odt), Rich Text Format (.rtf), Adobe PDF (.pdf), Text file (.txt) or Web page (.html).
Slides can be convered to Microsoft PowerPoint (.pptx), ODP (.odp), Text file (.txt), Adobe PDF (.pdf), JPEG (.jpg), PNG (.png) and Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg).
Sheets can be convereted to Microsoft Excel (.xlsx), OpenDocument format (.ods), Adobe PDF (.pdf), Comma-separated values file (.csv), Tab-separated values file (.tsv) and Web page (.html).

How to download files from Google Drive step-by-step with images

Step 1

Go to Google Drive https://drive.google.com and right-click an item, then select Download.

Step 2

You can select and download multiple items simultaneously:

Left-click and hold down the mouse button over empty space.
Drag your cursor to form a rectangle over all items you want to download.
Release the left mouse button, selecting all items below the rectangle, indicated by the blue highlight.
Right-click and choose Download.

Alternatively, you can:

Left-click to select the first item you want to download.
Hold down the SHIFT key.
Left-click to select the last item you wish to download.
Items in-between are selected as well, indicated by the blue highlight.
Right-click them and choose Download.

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