Adding Subfolders to My Drive in Google Drive

Adding Subfolders to “My Drive” in Google Drive / Syncing individual folders to Drive Desktop
  • Problem: Drive doesn’t (easily) allow you to ONLY add a subfolder to “My Drive”. This becomes problematic when you wish to sync only certain files using the Google Drive desktop application. Read below for the two workarounds (I personally prefer #2!).

NOTE: This only works in the “Old” Drive. If you’ve turned on the “New” Google Drive, you may temporarily revert to the old one by clicking on the gear box in the upper right hand corner of Drive.
  • Fixes:
    1. If only one person would like to add the subfolder to “My Drive”, it is possible to change the owner of that subfolder to the individual wishing to have it sync to their “My Drive”  (Workaround #1)
      • Process:
        • Find the owner of the Subfolder
          • In Drive, find the folder where you would like to change owners
          • Right click the folder icon, and click Share… > Share
          • Scroll through the list of users that the folder is shared with and identify who is listed as “Is owner”
          • Contact that person to let them know you will need them to change ownership over to you
          • Press escape or click “Done”
        • Owner of subfolder:
          • Right click the subfolder and click Share… > Share
          • Scroll through the list of users, and find the user you would like to make owner
          • Press the dropdown next to their name
          • Change that user’s setting to “Is Owner”
          • The subfolder should now magically appear in the new owner’s “My Drive”

  1. If multiple people need to add the subfolder to “My Drive” (Workaround #2) *Reminder: See note at top of page regarding Old/New drive dependencies.
    • Process:
      • Create a new empty folder in “My Drive” where you’d like to have all the subfolders and documents you include synchronized to “My Drive”
        • Name it whatever you like, ie. “Synched Folders”
      • Locate the subfolder you wish to have synchronized/added to your newly created folder in “My Drive”
      • Right click the subfolder you wish to synchronize and select “Move to…”





  • Cmd+click (Mac) or Ctrl+click (Win) your newly created folder (named “Synched Folders” in this example)
    • When you perform this action, there will be a check mark that shows next to your newly created folder AS WELL AS the original parent folder within which the subfolder resides





  • Finish by clicking “Move”
  • Now everything you modify in your “My Drive/Synched Folders” directory will also be modified in the shared subfolder
    • Be extra careful so you don’t accidentally delete something!