How to Save Attachments to Google Drive from Gmail

Use Google Drive to organize and share your email attachments

by
Heinz Tschabitscher
Heinz Tschabitscher
Writer
A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
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Heinz Tschabitscher
Updated on May 05, 2020

If you receive attachments with the emails that are delivered to your Gmail account, save those attached files on Google Drive. When file attachments are stored on Google Drive, you can access those files from any device with an internet connection and share those files with others easily. After saving a file to Google Drive from Gmail, you can quickly find and open it in Gmail.

This procedure works for Gmail on the web.

How to Save Attachments to Google Drive From Gmail

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

  1. Open the email with the attachment.

    A Gmail message with 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. Select Save to Drive on the attachment to send it to Google Drive. If you have multiple folders set up on Google Drive, you're prompted to choose the correct folder.

    Gmail with the Save to Drive button highlighted

  4. To save all the files that are attached to an email to Google Drive in one go, select Save all to Drive, which is located near the list of attachments. You can't move individual files to particular folders if you save files all at once, but you can move the saved documents individually in Google Drive.

How to Open a Saved Gmail Attachment in Drive

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. Select Organize in Drive.

    Gmail with the Organize in Drive button highlighted

  3. In the menu that appears, choose the link for the location where you saved the attachment. When you select it, Drive opens in a new window, with the attachment selected.

    Gmail with a Google Drive folder highlighted

  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.