Guide
Dropbox is one of the few services with a real "import from Google Drive" button — but it works file by file, not folder by folder, which makes it great for a handful of documents and hopeless for a whole Drive. This guide covers that button, the desktop-app route for bigger moves, and the done-for-you option, in plain language.
This is the easiest route there is, with one big limitation: it only picks files, not folders.
What to expect: Google Docs, Sheets and Slides are converted to Word, Excel and PowerPoint on the way. Ordinary files arrive as they are. There's a "Delete files from source" box — leave it unticked until you've checked the copies.
Both services offer a desktop app that keeps a copy of your cloud on your computer. Put them next to each other and the move becomes a copy-paste.
Google Docs, Sheets and Slides show up in the Google Drive folder as small link files, not documents. Copying those links to Dropbox gives you shortcuts that only work while your Google account exists. To move the actual documents, open each one in Google and use File → Download → Word / Excel / PowerPoint, or use Method 1 for those files — it converts them properly.
Also check Dropbox's free space before you start: Dropbox Basic is 2 GB, which fills up in minutes. A full quota is the most common reason a copy quietly stops.
If you have a big Drive with lots of folders and Google Docs, or you'd rather not leave a computer running, a transfer service connects to both accounts and copies directly between them, converting Google Docs on the way. Nothing goes through your machine.
That's what DriveFerry is built for. You connect Google and Dropbox, tell us what to move, and we run the transfer — for as long as it takes — and send you a report listing what arrived, what was converted, which shared files were included, and anything that needs a second look. It's a flat one-time price, and early access is open now with a founder discount.
See DriveFerry →Whichever method you used, keep Google Drive alive for a while. Transfers can look finished with files missing, and you only notice when you go looking. Give it 30 days, and check these seven things first:
7 things to know before moving files between cloud services →
Method 1: minutes for a few dozen files. Method 2: hours to a day for a few hundred GB, mostly waiting. Larger archives take longer with any method. A service gives you an estimate upfront.
Almost certainly. Dropbox Basic is 2 GB; Plus is 2 TB. A free Google account alone has 15 GB, so most moves need at least Dropbox Plus.
Method 1 and a transfer service convert them to Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, which Dropbox opens and can even edit. Simple documents convert cleanly; complex spreadsheets may lose some formatting.
Not directly. Shared items belong to their owners. Make a copy into your own Drive first, then move it like any other file.
Not right away. Keep it for at least 30 days after you're confident everything arrived. Downgrade the storage plan if you're paying, but leave the account alive as a safety net.