How to Save Attachments to Google Drive from Gmail

Use Google Drive to Organize and Share Your Email Attachments

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by Heinz Tschabitscher
An independent writer who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
Updated September 30, 2018

If you receive many attachments to the emails you receive in your Gmail account, you might be smart to save them on Google Drive, where you can access them from any device with an internet connection, and share them with others easily.

After saving a file to Google Drive from Gmail, you can very simply find and open it from inside Gmail.

Save Attachments to Google Drive From Gmail

To save files attached to an email to your Google Drive account right from the message in Gmail:

  1. Open the email with the attachment.

  2. Position the mouse cursor over the attachment you want to save to Google Drive. Two icons appear superimposed on the attachment: one for Download and one for Save to Drive.

  3. Click the Save to Drive icon on the attachment to send it directly to Google Drive. If you have multiple folders already set up on Google Drive, you'll be prompted to choose the correct folder.

  4. To save all the files that are attached to an email to Google Drive in one go, click the Save all to Drive icon positioned near the attachments. Note that you cannot move individual files to particular folders if you save them all at once, but you can move the saved documents individually in Google Drive.

Opening a Just-Saved Attachment

To open an attachment you just saved in Google Drive:

  1. In the Gmail email containing the attachment icon, position the mouse cursor over the attachment you saved to Google Drive and want to open.

  2. Click the Show in Drive icon.

  3. Now click the checked document to open it.

  4. If you have more than one folder set up on Google Drive, you may see Organize in Drive instead. You can opt to move the file to a different Google Drive folder before opening it.

You can also add files from Google Drive to emails you send in Gmail easily. This comes in handy when the attachment is huge. Your email to your recipients includes a link to the large file at Google Drive rather the entire attachment. They can then access the file online and don't have to download it to their computers.