Use Folder Copy for Google Drive application

This article will help you to make a copy of a Google Drive Folder right from the Folder Copy application or directly from the Google Drive interface.

First, check this article to install and open our apps. Below we explain how to run a copy from the app and from the « Open with » menu of Drive.

Make a copy from the app

1 – Open the folder copy app

2 – Select folder with Folder Picker

folder copy select folder with folder picker

  • You can change name of the copied folder, enter desired name in the text box.
  • If you want to delete the Logs Sheets at the end of the process, click on the  check box just above the copy button.

3 – Click on « Copy » button, to run the copy.

launch copy of your folder

4 – Wait few seconds to see confirmation message that the copy is well started. After confirmation you can close the application it will work in background.

! Never delete the spreadsheet and the folder before end of copy.

5 – On your Drive a new folder is created with a generic name or the one you defined and a spreadsheet « DO NOT DELETE  – NameSourceFolder » to track progress.

track progress folder copy app

6 – Once copy is finished you receive an email :

confirmation email end of copy

7 – You can start a new copy now !

Make a copy from the « Open with » menu

1 – Right click on folder and go to « Open with » menu to select « Folder Copy » app

folder copy open with menu

2 – After clicking on Folder Copy you will be redirected to the page of the app, and the id of folder will be already filled

folder copy from open with menu

3 – Click on « Copy Folder » button and follow steps as defined in the first part of the article.

Tips

1 – Once a copy is started a button « Stop copy » is displayed. Click on it to stop copy.

2 – You have to wait end of first copy to start a new one.

3 – You can delete the spreadsheet at the end of the process, once you have received the email.

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Comments (6)

  1. Brian
    septembre 15, 2016

    Hello. Is there a way to select where to copy the folder? When I choose « Select Folder, » I lose the original folder I intended to be copied?

    Having this functionality built in would be very helpful.

    Thank you!

    Reply
    • steph
      octobre 18, 2016

      Hi Brian,

      Ok I understand and in fact the folder picker is to select the folder you want to copy and not the destination. Thank you for your comments I will add this point as feature request.

      Stéphane

      Reply
  2. Simon Otter
    octobre 17, 2016

    Hi Steph, does your copy folder utility copy the permissions for protected sheets in Google Sheets to the new copy?

    I’ve noticed that if I copy a single Google Sheet from within the Google Drive explorer (not using your copy folder utility) the permissions aren’t copied either. However, if I choose « Make a copy… » from the File menu within the Google Sheet, there is the option to choose « Share it with the same people », then the permissions of protected sheets are copied across to the new copy.

    I got in touch with Google support and they have told me that the API your utility is using, does support the individual permissions of protected sheets to be copied to the copy. Do you have any plans to support this in your Copy Folder utility? The details about this on the API is here:

    https://developers.google.com/apps-script/reference/spreadsheet/protection

    I’d be most grateful could you let know, please.

    Kind Regards,
    Simon

    Reply
    • steph
      octobre 18, 2016

      Hi Simon,

      Thank you for your message. Yes it is true by API we can do that but this will increase a lot time script will run and will decrease also a lot the number of files we can treat.
      This is more a new application for this specific need, there is no plan to add this capability in the tool for now. Hope you understand.

      Stéphane

      Reply
  3. Terrance
    août 14, 2017

    Hi Steph,

    This app is great so far on small to medium folders. I only have one challenge with it. When copying bigger folders it seems it has a difficult time fully copying them without getting errors. It will freeze in the copy spread sheet that comes up in the root drive and then much later I will get a notification like the the one below:

    Start Function Error Message Trigger End
    8/13/17 9:00 PM FolderCopyRunning Service using too much computer time for one day time-based 8/13/17 9:00 PM

    Is there a way that I can get around this? Can I just wait until the next day and it will complete without me needing to do anything? Or do I need to copy bigger folders in pieces instead of all at once?

    Thanks
    Terrance

    Reply
    • steph
      août 14, 2017

      Hi

      We can’t overcome this limit. It is a Google constraint.
      We optimized the program to be fastest possible but if the folder is to big it can reach the daily limit. For Gmail account the max time is 1 hour and for G Suite account it is 6 hours.

      Stéphane

      Reply

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