How to Organize File Uploads in Google Drive Folders
With File Upload Forms, you can receive files in any folder in your Google Drive. The uploaded files can also be organized in custom folders and these folders can be created dynamically based on the form answers.
For instance, if your Job Applications form requires the applicants to select their city of residence from a drop-down, the app can automatically create folders for the city and a sub-folder for the applicant name. Thus all applications from one city will be stored in one folder.
Google Workspace customers on the Enterprise Plan can also select Shared Drive folders (formerly Team Drive) for storing uploaded files.
Parent Folder​
Open the sidebar inside Google Sheet and expand the Advanced Settings section. Click the Parent Folder button and, from the file picker, choose the main (root) folder in Drive where all the file will be uploaded.
If the folder doesn't exist in Drive yet, go to drive.google.com to create a folder and then select the newly-created folder from the picker window.
Custom Child folder​
The parent folder will now host all files uploaded through your form. You can also specify dynamic child folder based on form answers for easier organization and avoid messing up the main folder.
The sub-folder path can be created by specifying a mix of form field and text strings as described in the example below:
\\Job Applications\\{{City Name}}\\{{Your Full Name}}
The City Name and Your Full Name are the question titles in our form. The double back slashes should be used as the separator.
When John of Chicago uploads the file, it will go to Job Applications\Chicago\John and when Sarah of San Jose submits the form, the files will go to Job Applications\San Jose\Sarah.
Inside Google Drive you share the parent Chicago folder with your hiring team in Chicago so they'll always have access to applications that have specified their residence as Chicago.
Staging Folder​
Once you setup your upload form, you'll notice a Do Not Delete folder in your Drive. This is a staging folder that is used for storing uploads temporarily before the files are moved to the custom folder.
This folder may also hold files that were uploaded by the user but they did not submit the form so no entry will be made in the Google Sheet storing the form responses.
