How To Move Dropbox Folders to Google Drive (2025 Guide)

If you are an IT team member or supporting tech infrastructure for a company, you already know that the Dropbox folder to Google Drive migration is not just about moving files/folders. It’s about navigating complex folder structures, permissions, API limits and keeping your business up and running.

This technical guide will walk you through Dropbox-to-Google Drive migration solutions, the challenges and why CloudFuze is the best enterprise-grade solution for businesses and help you determine the right migration path for your team.

Dropbox Folders Migration to Google Drive Challenges

Here are the most common technical challenges IT admins and organizations face during the Dropbox to Google Workspace business migration process:

1. Folder Depth Limits: Dropbox has unlimited nesting but Google Drive has a limit of 20 levels. Deep hierarchies need to be flattened or remapped.
2. API Rate Limits: Google has API quotas that throttle large transfers especially for migrating thousands of files per user.
3. File System Conflicts: Variability in naming rules (special characters, path length) can cause errors or missing files during upload.
4. Metadata Loss: Files tend to lose metadata such as version history, timestamps and sharing permissions unless managed through a migration tool.
5. Permissions Conversion: Dropbox and Google Drive have different models for sharing. To preserve access levels and collaboration settings permissions need to be mapped correctly.
6. Dropbox Paper Incompatibility: Dropbox Paper documents need to be exported into compatible formats (e.g. DOCX or PDF) before they can be used in Google Drive.
7. Active File Updates: If users are still updating files during the migration process you will lose data. Delta sync or a scheduled cutover is needed.

Method 1: Manual Migration (Free but Time Consuming)

This is the easiest method if you are transferring only a few files.

Process:

• Log in to dropbox.com
• Navigate to the folder you want to transfer
• Manually download Dropbox folders as .ZIP files
• Extract on your local drive
• Log in to Google Drive
• Select the unzipped folder and upload folder
• Wait for the upload to complete

The free manual download-and-upload method of transferring Dropbox folders to Google Drive is sufficient for individual or small file transfers. However, it is highly time-consuming and not suitable for companies or large-scale organizational transfers of complex data sets, large number of files and multiple users.

Technical Limitations:

• No permission migration
• No versioning/history preservation
• No automation/scheduling
• High error rate for large or shared data sets
• Not for business use

Method 2: Migration with a Migration Tool (For Business or Large Migrations)

CloudFuze is a cloud-to-cloud migration tool designed for business and enterprise data migration. It’s also the best solution for IT admins with multiple users in an organizational setup migrating large amounts of data from Dropbox to Google Drive.

It has built-in user mapping, permission migration, audit logging and API optimized activities. Our tool preserves permissions, folder structures and metadata.

Why CloudFuze?

At CloudFuze, we offer industry’s most advanced solution for IT admins and large organizations that supports large-scale, multi-user migrations while preserving sharing permissions, timestamps, inner file permissions and folder hierarchies.

Most importantly, we complete the migration in the shortest stipulated time. Also, we have the experience of handling complex enterprise data and to overcome all the challenges associated with the migration to ensure a successful migration with no downtime assurance.

Our platform executes secure, encrypted transfers including Dropbox Paper conversion and has admin dashboards, detailed audit logs and seamless migration of shared folders with full permission retention.

Manual vs. Tool-Based Migration

Deciding to use manual or tool-based Dropbox to Google Drive migration depends on some factors. Below is a breakdown to help you decide:

Choose Manual Method If:

You are planning a simple personal migration that involves little to no complexity.

• Moving a few files or folders only.
• Want full control over what gets moved.
• No need to maintain sharing permissions—moving files for individual use.
• You prefer a free method without third-party software.

Choose Tool Approach If:

You are representing a business that is planning for a secure, scalable migration.

• You have to move large files fast.
• You want to keep sharing permissions, timestamps and folder hierarchies.
• Your migration includes team accounts or business data.
• You want to avoid errors and cause no disruption.

In a nutshell:

• For quick, small migrations use the manual method.
• For large-scale, multi-user safe migrations use a specialized tool like CloudFuze or hire an expert to avoid data loss or misconfigurations.

Still unsure? Let us connect for a free consultation and we will assess your data, map your users and help you perform a demo migration.

IT Team Best Practices

Here are best practices for IT admins during Dropbox Folders to Google Drive migration.

1. Define your migration goals, forecast data size, check source data, forecast sizes, export user lists and project a schedule to avoid interruptions.
2. Pre-map Dropbox permissions with Google Drive roles.
3. Determine files, permissions and folder structures to be migrated.
4. Use CloudFuze to simplify and automate the process.
5. Convert Dropbox specific file types (e.g. Dropbox Paper) into Google Drive supported file types.
6. Track progress and make sure all files, permissions and timestamps are moved correctly.
7. Review reports of successful verification, errors and notify users.

Conclusion

The manual method is good for individual use. A professional tool like CloudFuze is what IT departments need for migrations.

Contact us today to schedule a free technical consultation or pilot migration.

FAQs

1. Can I move shared folders from Dropbox to Google Drive without losing permissions?

Yes, but only with a migration tool like CloudFuze. Manual transfers don’t retain sharing settings, access roles or collaboration links.

2. What happens to Dropbox Paper documents during migration?

Dropbox Paper files need to be converted (e.g., to DOCX) before moving to Google Drive as Google doesn’t support Paper format natively.

3. Is there a file size or number limit when moving from Dropbox to Google Drive?

Yes. Google Drive has limits—like 500,000 files per user and 400,000 in shared drives—to consider when planning large migrations.

4. Can I migrate multiple Dropbox user accounts to Google Drive at once?

Yes—with tools like CloudFuze you can bulk migrate multiple users, including their permissions, shared folders and metadata.