Find files and folders with shortcuts

Shortcuts can make it easier for you and your team to find and organize files and folders in Google Drive. A shortcut is a link that references another file or folder. You can use them in My Drive or a shared drive.  Anyone with access to the file, folder, or shared drive can see a shortcut, but it doesn’t mean they can open it. You need to give people access to the original file, not the shortcut. Examples If a file or folder that you use frequently is several levels down in a hierarchy, create a shortcut and put it at a top level in Drive to access it quickly. If your team works in different folders and you want to access the same file from several folders, create a shortcut to the file in the folders.

Create shortcuts

1. Open Drive.
2. Right-click a file or folder.
3. Click Add shortcut to Drive.
4. Select the location for the shortcut.
5. Click Add Shortcut.

Notes:

• If you create a shortcut in a folder that’s owned by someone else, you can’t delete the shortcut.
• You can't create a shortcut of a shortcut, but you can make a copy of it. 

Delete shortcuts

1. Open Drive.
2. Right-click a shortcut. In Drive, shortcuts have an arrow on the file or folder image.
3. Click Remove.
4. (Optional) To permanently remove the shortcut, delete it from your trash:
   1. On the left, click Trash.
   2. Right-click a shortcut Delete forever.

Note: Deleting a shortcut does not delete the original file or folder the shortcut is based on. The original file or folder can only be deleted by the owner.

Fix broken shortcuts

A shortcut will break if:

• You don’t have permission to open the original file.
• The original file is in the trash or permanently deleted.

To fix a broken shortcut, ask the owner for permission to open the file. Or, try to restore the original file.