Google Drive adds ability to only search within specific folders

Abner Li | Jan 9 2018 - 10:05 am PT

Search in Google Drive is about to get a convenient boost with the ability to search within specific folders. At the moment, lookup capabilities are quite general and broad.

Right clicking on a folder reveals a new “Search within [folder name]” option in the drop down menu. After doing so, the search and action bar will be updated to reflect that you’re “Searching in” a specific folder, with only those files popping up in results.

Additionally, users can access this localized search by clicking the search bar and selecting the folder you want from the Location menu.

Google notes that only folders within your My Drive or Team Drives can be searched. To search the contents of shared ones, first add that folder to My Drive and then proceed with the above steps.

This feature was demoed on the web app, with a full rollout in the coming weeks. It’s unclear whether a similar, convenient search feature will be coming to mobile apps for Android and iOS.