---
title: Upload a file
type: how-to
section: drive
summary: Choose Upload file, pick a destination, choose the files and choose Add. Drive verifies each file, transfers it, then processes it for preview and search.
sources:
  - evolve-front-end/components/content-platform/content-platform-upload-panel.tsx
  - evolve-front-end/components/content-platform/content-platform-upload-session-host.tsx
  - evolve-front-end/app/web-workers/upload.worker.ts
  - evolve-front-end/app/i18n/locales/en/content-platform.json
verified:
  at: 2026-09-04
  env: code
  by: content-lane-drive
ttl_days: 45
related: [drive/upload-a-folder, drive/accepted-file-types, drive/upload-failed]
---

Choose **New**, then **Upload file**. Pick where the files should land, choose **Choose files**, then choose **Add**. Each file is verified on your device, transferred, and then processed for preview and search.

## Upload

1. Choose **New** in the left rail, then **Upload file**. The panel opens with the title **Upload files**.
2. Check **Save to**. Uploads go to **My Drive** unless you started from a managed folder, in which case that folder is preselected. The helper text says **Uploads save to your current managed folder when you start from one, and to My Drive otherwise. Choose a managed folder when the upload should be available there.**
3. Choose **Choose files**, or drag the files onto the panel.
4. Review the queue. Each row shows the file, its size and its state.
5. Choose **Add**. The button reads **Adding** during the upload and **Done** when the queue finishes.

You can upload up to 1,000 files in one go. Above that, Drive says **Too many files selected. Upload up to 1,000 files at a time.**

You can also drop files straight onto the **My Drive** area without opening the panel. An overlay appears reading **Drop your files to upload**.

## What each state means

| State | What is happening |
| --- | --- |
| **Ready to upload** | The file is queued. Nothing has been sent. |
| **Verifying file** | Drive is hashing the file on your device. The panel says **Nothing has been sent yet. Upload URLs are signed after this finishes.** |
| **Preparing upload** | Drive is resolving the destination and signing the transfer. |
| **Uploading** | Bytes are moving. A large file is split into parts, and the row counts the finished parts against the total. |
| **Waiting for connection** | The network dropped. The upload resumes on its own. |
| **Saving item** | The transfer finished and Drive is registering the file. |
| **Processing** | Drive is extracting text, metadata and previews. |
| **Uploaded** | The file is in Drive and its row links to it. |

Files over 100 MB use a multipart transfer, so closing and reopening the page keeps their progress. The panel says **If the page reloads mid-transfer, large uploads keep their progress and can be resumed from where they left off.**

Six files transfer at a time. You can minimise the panel and keep working; the uploads carry on.

## Describe an image or add captions

Each queued row offers the accessibility fields its type needs.

- An image gets **Alt text**, with the prompt **Describe this image for people using screen readers**, and a **Decorative image (empty alt text)** checkbox for an image that carries no information.
- Audio and video get captions. The hint reads **A transcript is generated automatically during processing. You can upload a corrected WebVTT captions file at any time.** Once the file exists in Drive, **Add captions (.vtt)** accepts a WebVTT file up to 10 MB.

## Resume an unfinished upload

If a transfer was interrupted, the panel shows **Unfinished uploads from a previous session** with the progress so far. **Resume** continues from the last saved part, and asks you to pick the same file again. **Discard** drops it. Picking a different file is refused, and the message names the file to pick to continue the upload.

## If it did not work

- Read the message on the failed row and the recommended action under it. It names the next step, such as **Try again** or **Choose another file**.
- A rejected file type means the format is not in the catalogue: see [Accepted file types](/help/drive/accepted-file-types).
- For each failure message and what it means, see [Upload failed](/help/drive/upload-failed).
- **Add** stays disabled while accepted file types are still loading, while **My Drive** is being prepared, and when nothing uploadable is selected. The panel states which of those applies.