How to create a folder alias inside of Google Drive

Question

I like always to save files I receive by email into my shared folder in Google Drive. The problem is that my folder structure in Google Drive is pretty deep, so I have to click through many folders to finally arrive at the desired folder.

I would like simply to create an alias for the destination folder (that's like ten levels deep) inside the root directory of my Google Drive folder. I tried creating an actual Mac alias but that alias didn't show on the Google Drive folder structure (only my Mac).

Any ideas?

Answer 1

Google Drive has its own kind of aliases: each file or folder can exist within many folders.

1. In the file browser, select one or many files or folders.
2. Type Shift+z to open up an Add to dialog.
3. Choose the folder you'd like to add the alias within.

This process is described in more detail here, along with how to remove parents from a file or folder with multiple parent folders. As of 22 Oct 2019, this doesn't work for Shared Drives (formerly "Team Drives").

Answer 2

Pretty easy, I simply had to star the folder in question, and then as soon as I wanted to move the file around, the starred folders immediately appeared.

Answer 3

Judging by the discussion referenced by Merchako, this is nothing like the Mac "alias" function (based on the UNIX concept of a "link"), so beware!

It appears that every instance of the file in your Google Drive system of folders, including the original upload, will be trashed if any one them is. In other words, on the Google Drive, everything you are seeing is a mirror reflecting one underlying file. None of the instances you create, not even the first one, is special. This is a recipe for disaster!

A Mac "alias" or a UNIX "link" gets you immediate access to a file, but removing the "alias" or "link" does not remove the underlying file.