Find files in Google Drive
You can find files in Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides by searching for:
- File title
- File contents
- Items featured in pictures, PDF files, or other files stored on your Drive.
You can also sort and filter search results.
Get quick access to your files
Under "Quick Access," you'll see recent and suggested files.
- To open a file, double-click the one you want.
- For more options, right-click the file.
Search for your files
- Sign into drive.google.com.
- At the top, type a word or phrase into the search box.
- On your keyboard, press Enter.
Filter your Drive results
To find files more easily in Drive, you can narrow search results by filtering them.
- Go to drive.google.com.
- At the top, type a word or phrase into the search box.
- To narrow your search, click the Down arrow
.
- Fill out any of the following sections:
- Type: File types such as documents, images, or PDFs.
- Date modified: The date a file was last edited.
- Item name: Searches only for the title of the file.
- Has the words: Searches for words and phrases within documents.
- Owner: The person the file belongs to.
- Shared with: Who can view, comment, or edit the file.
- Located in: Whether the file is in "Trash," or "Starred," for example.
- Follow up: If the file has action items assigned to you, or suggestions in files you own.
- At the bottom, click Search.
.More search options
Advanced search in Google Drive
You can refine a search in Drive with these advanced searches.
Note: Not all examples work on all devices.
Quotes
- Find documents that contain an exact word or phrase.
- Example: "match this phrase exactly"
Minus sign
- Find documents that exclude a particular word. If you want "salsa," but not "dancing"...
- Example: salsa -dancing
owner:
- Find documents owned or shared by a specific person.
- Examples:
- owner:bob@gmail.com
- from:bob@gmail.com
to:
- Find documents you shared with a specific person or a group.
- Examples:
- to:bob@gmail.com
- to:bobsgroup@googlegroups.com
is:starred
- Find items marked with a star.
is:trashed
- Find items that are trashed.
type:
- Search by the type of document: folder, document, spreadsheet, presentation, PDF, image, video, drawing, form, script, or table.
- Example: type:spreadsheet
Before & after
- Find items that were edited before or after a certain day. Format the date as YYYY-MM-DD.
- Examples:
- before:2014-05-01
- after:2014-05-01
title:
- Search by title
- Example: title:Conference 2014
App:
- Search for items that can only be opened by a specific app.
- Example: app:"Google Docs"
Source:domain (Google for work or school)
- Search for items that have been shared across your organization’s entire domain, instead of items created by you or your group.
- Example: To search for files related to domain, use source:domain
Evan is a Docs & Drive expert and author of this help page. Leave him feedback below about the page.
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