Errors and limitations of moving folders from Google My Drive to Google Shared Drive

Overview

With appropriate permissions, Google allows you to move a folder from My Drive to a shared drive. However, there are several limitations of the feature and errors that may occur during the process.

Limitations

There are several limitations when moving folders, especially shared folders, from your Google My Drive to Google Shared Drive. You can find a full list of currently known limitations below, broken up by limitation type.

Permissions / Sharing

• You must be an Editor on the file or folder. (You can’t move anything you’re only a Commenter or Viewer on, or shared with via a shared link.)
• You must be a Manager of the shared drive.
• This applies to child folders within a parent folder, too. (E.g., You are an Editor on the child folder but not the parent folder, so you can only move the child folder.)
• File permissions inherited from folders aren’t retained (unless the entire folder structure is moved).
  • If you move a child folder to a shared drive, permissions inherited from the parent folder won’t be retained.
  • If you move a parent folder to a shared drive, the child folder will still inherit those permissions.

Folder Structure

• Folders can't be moved if there are either 25 unmovable items or if 10% of items are unmovable (whichever is smaller).
  • Google Shortcuts are created for any items that can’t be moved. If there are any items that can’t be moved because of permission or access issues, when you move folders from My Drive to a shared drive, it creates a Shortcut in the shared drive to preserve the current folder hierarchy.
    • When Shortcuts are created, the original items are relocated to the owner’s My Drive.
    • Note: If there’s a Shortcut created for something owned by a non-affiliated account, you should make a copy of the file that couldn’t be moved and then replace the Shortcut with the new copy in the shared drive folder to avoid data loss (and ensure proper ownership).
• Items to which you do not have access (and do not appear in the folder for you) also count as unmovable. Google calls these items “hidden.” Hidden files occur in My Drive when another Editor shares a folder with someone but removes access to a specific file in that folder.
• The move can have up to 100,000 items in total. (Shared drives can only have up to 400,000 items stored.)
• The move can have up to 20 nested child folders within one folder. (This is a shared drive limit.)
• You can’t move any items owned by an external (non-UM) account (e.g., @gmail.com).
  • This still applies even when the external account is a member of the shared drive.
  • You can’t move child folders owned by U-M Google accounts that are part of an externally-owned parent folder.
  • This may be a common issue you encounter when attempting to move a folder structure into a shared drive. The workaround is to make a copy of the externally-owned file(s) and recreate the folder they lived in.

Errors

When you attempt to move a folder from My Drive to a shared drive, you may encounter unmovable items. Google provides a downloadable CSV with error logs to explain why some items are unmovable. However, their error messages aren’t always very clear or even shown in the CSV.

Below you will find the most common errors shown in the log with a brief explanation of what it means. Additionally, there are some common error messages you will receive directly in Google Drive after attempting to move a folder, and those have been included, as well. This list is by no means exhaustive.

Note that Google appears to only provide additional details on unmovable files in their downloadable CSV and doesn’t include information on child folders.

In downloadable CSV:

• “The file can't be moved because you don't have the necessary permissions. Ask the owner of the file for the necessary permissions.”
  • This error applies to any files where you are not an Editor. This includes files where you are assigned as a Commenter or Viewer, and files only shared with you via a shared link.
  • If there are other Editors on the affected file(s), you can consider asking them to add you as an Editor. However, the easiest option would be to make a copy of the file and move the copy into the new folder structure of the shared drive.
• “The file can't be moved because it belongs to an organization that doesn't allow it.”
  • This error applies to any files where the owner is an external (non-UM) account (e.g., @gmail.com or @emich.edu).
  • Unfortunately, you can’t ask the owner to transfer ownership to you since Google doesn’t allow the transfer of ownership across domains. The only option would be to make a copy of the file and move the copy into the new folder structure of the shared drive.

In Google Drive:

• “[X] items can't be moved. If these are folders, they may include additional unmovable items.”
  • This message appears when there are unmovable items in the folder you are attempting to move. You can download the CSV provided for more information on the items and why they’re unmovable.
• “The move was canceled because the number of items that couldn’t be moved is over the limit.”
  • This message appears when there are too many unmovable items in the folder. Folders can't be moved if there are either 25 unmovable items or if 10% of items are unmovable (whichever is smaller). You can download the CSV provided for more information on the unmovable items.
• “Moving these items would exceed the limit of nested folders in a shared drive.”
  • This message appears when the parent folder and/or one or more child folders have too many nested folders. Shared drives have a nested folder limit of 20, so you can’t move a folder structure with more than 20 nested folders.

There is one error message that does not appear in either the downloadable CSV or Google Drive: “Hidden” items. Hidden items occur in My Drive when an owner or Editor removes access to a specific file or child folder for another collaborator shared on the parent folder. This results in the affected collaborator still having access to the parent folder and any other items within, except for the files or child folders they were specifically removed from.

Google doesn’t provide any indication to Editors who attempt to move a folder structure that contains items they don’t have access to, which can result in confusion around why it says there are more unmovable items than are listed. We recommend asking another Editor on the parent folder to attempt the move instead.

Additional Information

• Owners and Editors of folders become Content Managers on the specific folder that was moved to a shared drive.
• The number of movable items in your pre-move dialogue may not match the number shown in the downloadable CSV Google provides because: 
  • The pre-move dialogue counts items that you don't have access to (i.e., “hidden” items), and the CSV doesn't include these items.
  • If a parent folder is unmovable, and there are more items within that parent folder that can't be moved than the other child folders, only the parent folder is listed. The items within that parent folder aren't counted toward the number of movable items.
• Google Help Center article on moving files and folders from My Drive to a shared drive