How to add Google Drive, OneDrive, DropBox to Files app on iPhone

The "Files" app on iOS displays two storage locations by default: iCloud Drive and "My iPhone". In addition, when you use third-party storage applications such as Google Drive, you can also browse files in these storage services directly through the Files application. Whether stored in iCloud or a third-party app, the Files app provides a convenient way to manage and access your files. This brings greater flexibility and convenience to users, allowing them to easily browse and organize their files. No matter which storage service you choose to use, the Files app gives you a centralized place to manage your files, allowing you to manage them more efficiently.

This article will explain how to connect other cloud storage services to the Files app on iPhone, the apps that support this feature, and what you can achieve by adding a storage app to the iOS Files app.

Which third-party cloud applications does the iOS Files app support?

The native Files app on iOS can not only display files stored on your iPhone, but can also access files stored in third-party storage apps installed on iOS. Currently, the Files app supports some cloud storage, and you need to download the corresponding app to add it as a storage location within the Files app.

You can use the following third-party cloud storage apps and link them to the Files app:

• Google Drive
• Microsoft OneDrive
• Dropbox
• Box
• Adobe Creative Cloud

How to add Google Drive, OneDrive, or DropBox to the Files app

While Linking a cloud storage app to your files is a simple process, but you'll need to make sure the cloud storage you want to add is installed as an app on your iPhone. If you haven’t already, you can download these apps from the App Store from the link provided above.

1. After downloading and installing the desired app, you must first open said app at least once and set it up so that the Files app can display the Cloud Storage app in its screen. To do this, you will need to be logged into the account that stores the app you plan to use on your iPhone.
2. After installing and setting up the cloud storage app, open the Files app on your iPhone.
   
3. In "File", select the "Browse" tab in the lower right corner.
   
4. On this screen, you should see two storage locations by default – iCloud Drive and On My iPhone. To add a cloud storage app to the list of options, tap the 3-dot icon in the upper right corner.
   
5. In the overflow menu that appears, select Edit.
   
6. When the Browse screen enters Edit mode, you should be able to see any apps that were previously hidden on this screen.
   
7. You can enable any of these apps by toggling the toggle next to each service to make them appear in the Files app. In this case, we'll add Google Drive to the Files app by turning on the Drive toggle under Places.
   
8. You can repeat this for other cloud storage apps you want to add to the Files app so they appear in the Browse screen.
   
9. When you add multiple storage locations in the Files app, you can rearrange the list of options under Places so that the options you prefer to access are usually at the top, and then is another storage location. To rearrange your storage locations, long-press the 3-line icon to the right of the selected storage and drag it up or down to your liking.
   
10. If you no longer want to see your existing storage service/app in the Files app, you can hide it in Places by turning off the toggle next to the selected app ” section.
    
11. After you add an account to the Files app from Google Drive, OneDrive, DropBox, or another app, you can confirm the changes by tapping "Done" in the upper right corner.
    
12. Newly added storage options will now appear under Locations on the Browse screen.
    

When you add an app like Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox as an additional storage location in the Files app, you can open files just like files saved on your iPhone Access files previously saved in each app. You can also perform several other operations on them such as rename, compress, create new folder, add tags, share, delete, etc.

How to Move Files Within a Storage Location on Files

The Files app allows you to move content within an exact storage location, but you can only move content within multiple storage locations at any time Copy files and folders. If you use the Move action to move files from Dropbox to iPhone, iOS uses the Copy action instead and creates a copy of the selected file or folder in the destination location.

1. To access files saved on a storage location, open the Files app, select the Browse tab, then tap the storage app whose files you want to open. In this example, we will open Dropbox.
   
2. Within the selected storage location, you will see all the folders and files that have been uploaded to the selected cloud storage so far.
   
3. If you want to move a file or folder within the selected storage location, you can do so by long-pressing on the file and selecting "Move" from the overflow menu that appears.
   
4. If you want to move multiple files within the same storage app, tap the 3-dot icon in the upper right corner.
   
5. In the overflow menu that appears, click Select.
   
6. Now, select the files/folders you want to batch move. When you select items to move, they will be marked with a blue checkmark icon. After selecting the files you want to move, click the folder icon in the bottom toolbar.
   
7. The Files app will now open a new pop-up window letting you select the destination location for the files/folders you want to move. If you see the "Copy" option in the upper right corner, it means you are in a different storage location than where you moved the file or folder. If you only want to move selected files, click Browse in the upper left corner (or Back if you're in a folder) to get to the Browse screen.
   
8. On the next screen, select a storage location (the same location as the file). In this case, we will choose Dropbox since this is where we select the files to move.
   
9. When the selected storage opens, go to the location where you want to place the files/folders. Once you reach the location where you want to move the file/folder, click Move in the upper right corner.
   

The selected files/folders will be moved to the destination folder and will be deleted from their original folders.

How to copy files between the same or multiple storage locations

If you have multiple storage locations, you may need to copy certain files from one storage to another to clean up space on one of the storages. The Files app lets you copy files across multiple storage locations, or to different folders within the same storage, by creating copies and keeping the original files in their existing locations. You can do this using the Copy function, but you can also use the Move function when copying files across multiple storages.

Before using any of the above actions, you need to access the folder where you want to copy the files from and select them from this location. For example, we'll be trying to copy content from Google Drive to Dropbox, but the process will remain the same even if you want to copy content from one folder to another within the same storage app.

Method 1: Use the Copy action

1. Open the Files app, go to Browse > Drive, and find the file/folder you want to copy.
   
2. To copy a single file or folder, long press the item in the storage location.
   
3. In the overflow menu that appears, select Copy.
   
4. If you want to copy multiple files and folders to another location, you need to select them first. To do this, go to the folder where you want to select a bunch of files and folders to move. In this folder, click the 3-dot icon in the upper right corner.
   
5. In the overflow menu that appears, click Select.
   
6. Now, select the files/folders you want to batch copy. When you select items to copy, they will be marked with a blue checkmark icon.
   
7. After selecting the files you want to copy, click the 3-dot icon in the lower right corner for more options.
   
8. In the overflow menu that appears, select Copy Item.
   
9. The selected files will now be copied, you now need to go into the folder where you want to paste them. To do this, click on the "Browse" tab in the lower right corner.
   
10. Since we're copying files from Google Drive to Dropbox, we'll select Dropbox under Locations, but you can copy files from an app you've added to the Files app Choose any other location.
    
11. In the selected storage, open the folder where you want to copy the selected files. When you reach the destination folder, press and hold an empty area on the screen.
    
12. When you do this, you will see an overflow menu. On this menu, select Paste.
    

All files and folders you copied from the source location (Google Drive) will now be copied to the new location (Dropbox). You can use the copy operation to create a copy of an item from one storage location to another, or to save it in a different location within the same storage app.

Method 2: Use the "Move" operation

You can also use the "Move" option to copy content between different storage locations, but when you want to copy files in the same storage , this will not work.

1. Open the Files app, go to Browse >Drive, and find the file/folder you want to copy.
   
2. To copy a single file or folder across multiple storage apps, you can do this by long-pressing on the item from the storage location.
   
3. From the overflow menu that appears, select Move.
   
4. If you want to copy multiple files and folders to another location, you need to select them first. To do this, go to the folder where you want to select a bunch of files and folders to move. In this folder, click the 3-dot icon in the upper right corner.
   
5. In the overflow menu that appears, click Select.
   
6. Now, select the files/folders you want to batch copy. When you select items to copy, they will be marked with a blue checkmark icon. After selecting the files you want to copy, click the "Folder" icon in the bottom toolbar.
   
7. The Files app will now open a new pop-up window letting you select the destination location for the files/folders you want to move. To select a storage location to copy to, click Browse in the upper left corner (or Back if you're in a folder) to enter the Browse screen.
   
8. On the next screen, select the storage location where you want to copy the selected items. This location should be different from where the item was copied. In this case, we choose Dropbox.
   
9. When the selected storage (Dropbox) opens, go to the location where you want to place the files/folders. Once you reach the location where you want to copy the files/folders to, click Copy in the upper right corner.
   
10. All files and folders you copied from the source location (Google Drive) will now be copied to the new location (Dropbox).

What happens when you add a cloud storage app in Files?

When you link the Cloud Storage app to the Files app, you'll see it listed along with the default storage location in the Browse screen. You can view or hide different storage locations at any time and rearrange them the way you want based on your usage and preferences.

All files you create or save on cloud apps will appear the same as files saved natively on your iPhone. Likewise, any changes you make to your storage location in the Files app will also be reflected on your cloud storage account on other devices and on the web.

What you can do by adding the Cloud Storage app

You can open any file from the storage location using Quick Look and if the selected file is supported it will be available in the Files app Open in . When you open a file from Google Drive or any other third-party app in the Files app, you'll get the same tools you have when interacting with files in iPhone storage, for sharing from the bottom toolbar, searching for tags, or Add subtitles.
You can perform any of the folder operations you would normally perform on the Files app, such as sorting, grouping, and creating new folders. The Files app also lets you scan documents from your iPhone and save them directly to any cloud storage location you add to the app. If you're in a folder with a bunch of files, you can easily search for files within it using the search bar at the top.

In terms of quick actions on long press, you can perform all the functions you would normally perform on files saved on your iPhone, including rename, compress, copy, tag, copy, move, share, and delete. The same operation applies when working with folders. The Files app allows you to perform all operations on external cloud storage locations just like you would on local storage or iCloud Drive.

In addition, you can download files from the web directly to your Google Drive account and then save them on your iPhone. You can also clear space in one storage location by moving files to another cloud storage, as described above in this article.

What you can’t do by adding a cloud storage app

Though you can do it by linking a Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Box, or Creative Cloud account to the Files app on iOS Lots of things to do, but there are still some things you can't do in the Files app.

• You cannot view folders shared with or by you or check who else has access to such folders.
• You cannot manage the settings of a shared folder because the native Files app does not provide such an option.
• Collaboration will not work when you edit files stored on cloud storage. If two people edit the same file at the same time, conflicting copies of the file may be created.
• For some cloud apps, the Files app will not be able to tell which folders were previously marked as Favorites in the cloud app.
• You can't comment on files like you normally can on Google Drive, Dropbox, and other cloud services. This means you won't be able to view existing comments on files in the Files app. To do this, you may need to open the respect cloud storage application or its web client on your browser.
• Some cloud storage applications cannot open folders containing a large number of files. For example, Dropbox sets a limit of 10,000 files or folders beyond which the folders containing those files will be inaccessible from the Files app.
• Files you delete from the cloud storage app through Files are not visible in the Recently Deleted section of the Files app and therefore cannot be recovered from this app. To do this, you may need to use the relevant cloud storage's iOS app or access its services on the web.
• Sometimes you won't be able to move items to certain folders within a storage location unless the folder has been opened at least once before trying to move its contents.
• Password-backed accounts such as Dropbox will not be accessible in the Files app.
• You cannot access files from cloud storage apps while offline.
• Sometimes files or folders marked with tags or colors may not sync on the Files app.

If your use of your preferred cloud storage service is limited due to these limitations, we recommend that you use the Cloud Storage iOS app to access all of its original functionality.

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