Why Moving Your MyDrive Files and Folders to a Shared Drive Gets Complicated

Moving files from your My Drive to a Shared Drive often causes confusion and errors. This is because Shared Drives have strict rules about file ownership and user access that My Drive doesn't.

Here is a simple breakdown of the most common issues you see, using an analogy to help explain the problem.

The Core Problem: File Ownership

• My Drive is like a personal catalog. It lists all the documents you can access. Many are on loan to you—they were created and are officially owned by a client, vendor, or colleague outside your organisation.
• A Shared Drive is like the Company Vault. It has one strict rule: everything inside it must be officially owned by the company.

When you try to move a file you don't own, Google Drive blocks the move and says: "I can't put that in the company vault! You only have it on loan."

Error 1: The Destination Shared Drive is "Greyed Out"

This is the most common issue. When you try to move a file or folder, the Shared Drive you want to move it to is greyed out and cannot be clicked. This happens for one of two reasons:

• The Item's Ownership Is Blocking the Move (Source Problem):
  • You are trying to move a file or folder that is owned by an external person or group.
  • Crucially: You are also blocked if the item you are moving is located inside a parent folder that you do not own. Google Drive prevents you from moving items out of a folder whose permissions you don't fully control.
• Your Access Level Is Blocking the Move (Destination Problem):
  • To successfully move files, you must have at least Contributor or Content Manager access to that Shared Drive. If you are only a Viewer, Google Drive will not let you move content to it.
• Editors not allowed to move files into Shared Drive, only owners of files can do that (Admin Setting Problem):
  • Check if you own the file you are trying to move or are only an editor
  • Check with tech support if this setting is restricting you

Error 2: "Some items cannot be moved..."

If you try to move content and see a message like:

This is Google Drive explicitly telling you that the externally owned files (the ones you only have on loan) cannot be moved from your My Drive because they can't go into the Shared Drive.

Error 3: "You don’t have permissions to move folders..."

If you try to move content and see a message like:

• Your Access Level Is Blocking the Move (Destination Problem):
  • To successfully move folders, you must be a Manager of the shared drive.

⚠️ Limit: Volume and Size Constraints

Sometimes there are limits on the sheer number of files that can be moved into a Shared Drive at one time. You may need to break a large move into smaller pieces to avoid hitting these technical limits.

What Happens When the Files Successfully Move?

When files that you own successfully move from My Drive to a Shared Drive, two important changes occur:

1. Ownership Changes to the Company

The Shared Drive (and therefore the company) takes over official ownership of your files. This is a huge benefit because the file is now protected and will remain available to the team even if you leave the company.

2. Access and Permissions Update

The Shared Drive has a set of rules for access.

• New Access: Everyone who is a member of that Shared Drive automatically gets access to the file.
• Individual Access May Change: People you had individually shared the file with (before the move) may lose their specific access as the Shared Drive's rules take over.

Dealing With Files That Won't Move

Since those external files can't be moved, SixFive can help you move them one of two ways:

• Option 1: Move my files and create a Shortcut for external files
  • The original, externally-owned file is left where it is in the owner's account.
  • A shortcut is created in the Shared Drive so you can still access it.
  • Risk: If the external owner deletes the original file, the shortcut in your Shared Drive will break, and the file will be gone.

• Option 2: Make a Copy of both mine and the external files
  • An exact copy of all the files are created in the Shared Drive. The company now owns the new copy.
  • Trade-off: The copy is a brand-new file with a new link. If you had saved the old link anywhere, it won't work anymore.

⚠️ Folders:  If you are picking Option 1 or 2, you need to remember that ALL links to folders will be new.  If you had saved links to folders in your MyDrive and they were moved or copied to the Shared Drive the links will no longer work.

⚠️ Permissions:  You can opt to have existing permissions on files and folders copied across to the shared drive if the shared drive allows for this.

Need Help Moving Your Content?

SixFive can help you with any of your data migration issues, just reach out to support to get your move started.