Actions: Work with Your Files

Drive Toolbox lets you act on multiple files at once. Select files in the file table, choose an operation, configure it, and start. Operations run through a persistent queue — you can stack multiple jobs and they execute in order.

Available Actions

Action	What It Does	Details
Delete	Move files to Google Drive trash	Delete
Download	Save files to your computer	Download
Move	Relocate files to another folder	Move
Sharing	Add, remove, or change permissions	Sharing & Permissions
Transfer	Transfer file ownership	Transfer Ownership
Star / Unstar	Toggle starred status	See below
Folder Color	Apply a color to folders	See below
Labels & Info	Apply or remove metadata	See Organizing

Starting an Action

There are three ways to start:

1. Selection toolbar — Select files in the file table. A floating toolbar appears at the bottom with available operations.
2. Right-click menu — Right-click selected files for a context menu of actions.
3. Organize menu — Access star, folder color, and other organizing tools from the More menu.

Each operation opens a configuration dialog showing a summary of selected files, including counts and estimated sizes. When your selection includes folders, most operations offer an Include subfolders option.

Selection Modes

Mode	Behavior
Listed files	Click rows in the file table. Shift-click for ranges, Ctrl-click for individual toggles.
Select All Matching	Target every file matching the current filter, regardless of pagination. Requires an additional confirmation before starting.

The Job Queue

Operations execute one at a time, first-in first-out. When you start a new operation while another is running, it is added to the queue and begins automatically when the preceding job finishes. There is no limit on queue depth.

The queue is persistent — if you close the app, operations resume where they left off when you reopen it. You can navigate away from the Batches page and continue browsing files without interrupting work in progress.

Controlling Jobs

Control	What It Does
Pause	Pause a running operation after the current file finishes
Resume	Resume a paused operation
Cancel	Cancel a queued, running, or paused operation
Pause All / Resume All	Control all operations at once
Clear History	Remove completed, failed, and cancelled entries

Job Statuses

Status	Meaning
Queued	Waiting for a preceding operation to finish
Running	Currently processing files
Pausing	Pause requested — will pause after the current file
Paused	Paused and can be resumed
Completed	All files processed successfully
Verifying	Confirming changes against Google Drive
Failed	Encountered an error
Cancelled	Stopped before completion

Results and Verification

After an operation completes, click View Results for a detailed breakdown:

• Summary — total files, successes, failures, and skipped items
• Per-file status — each file with its outcome and any error messages
• Retry — re-run the operation for just the failed files

For operations that modify Google Drive data, a background verification step confirms that changes took effect. This runs automatically and typically completes in seconds.

Some completed operations support rollback — a single click to reverse the changes (for example, restoring deleted files from trash).

Elevated Permissions

Operations that modify Google Drive data require write access. The first time you use such an operation, Drive Toolbox prompts you to grant additional permissions through Google's OAuth consent screen. This is a one-time step — once granted, elevated permissions persist for future operations.

Read-only operations like Download do not require elevated permissions.

Star / Unstar

Adds or removes the starred status on files in Google Drive, applied in bulk. Starred files appear in the "Starred" section of Google Drive's web and mobile interfaces.

Choose Add to Starred or Remove from Starred — no additional configuration needed.

Set Folder Color

Applies a color to folders from Google Drive's 24-color preset palette. Non-folder files in the selection are automatically skipped. Choose a color from the palette or click Reset to default to clear a previously applied color.

Learn More

• Delete — Trash files with shared-file handling options
• Download — Save files locally with export and structure options
• Move — Relocate files with optional folder flattening
• Sharing & Permissions — Share, unshare, and change access roles
• Transfer Ownership — Transfer files to another Google account
• Job Queue — Detailed guide to monitoring batch operations