When collaborating on a project in Google Drive, you may want to experiment with a document or edit a presentation without permanently altering the original version that your colleagues are actively viewing. Instead of downloading the file to your hard drive and re-uploading it under a different name, you can force Google Drive to instantly generate a perfect duplicate copy directly in the cloud.
How to Duplicate a Single File
The “Make a copy” feature works identically across all Google Workspace file types, including Docs, Sheets, and Slides, as well as PDFs and images stored in your Drive.
- Open your web browser and navigate to Google Drive.
- Locate the file you want to duplicate.
- Right-click on the file.
- Scroll down the context menu and select Make a copy.
Google will instantly process the request. A small confirmation notification will appear at the bottom of the screen, and the new file will appear in the exact same folder as the original. The new file will be named exactly like the original, but prefixed with the words “Copy of” (e.g., if the original was Q3_Budget.xlsx, the new file will be Copy of Q3_Budget.xlsx).
You can immediately right-click this new file, select Rename, and give it a clearer title (like Q3_Budget_Experiment.xlsx).
Keyboard Shortcuts for Faster Duplication
If you need to duplicate multiple files frequently, right-clicking through menus is tedious. Google Drive supports standard desktop keyboard shortcuts.
- Click once on a file to highlight it.
- Press Ctrl + C (Windows) or Command + C (Mac) to copy it to your clipboard.
- Immediately press Ctrl + V (Windows) or Command + V (Mac) to paste it.
Google Drive will bypass the context menus entirely and instantly generate a “Copy of” the file in your current folder.
The Limitation: Duplicating Entire Folders
While you can select fifty different files and duplicate them all simultaneously using the methods above, Google Drive natively blocks you from duplicating an entire folder.
If you right-click a folder containing dozens of sub-folders and files, you will notice that the “Make a copy” button is entirely missing from the menu. If you try to use the Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V shortcut on a folder, Google Drive will display an error message stating “Folders cannot be copied.”
Currently, the only native workaround is to manually create a brand new, empty folder, open the original folder, press Ctrl+A to select all the individual files inside it, click “Make a copy”, and then drag all the resulting “Copy of” files into the new empty folder.