If you delete a shortcut from your desktop, have you also deleted the original file?

Shortcuts make it easier for you or your team to find and organize files and folders in multiple Google Drives.

Learn about shortcuts

  • A shortcut is a link that references another file or folder. 
  • You can use shortcuts in your drive or a shared drive.
  • Shortcuts are visible to everyone with access to the folder or drive. 
  • Shortcuts point back to the original file so you always have the latest info. 
  • You can make up to 500 shortcuts per file or folder yourself. Each item can have up to 5,000 total shortcuts made by anyone.

IMPORTANT: Shortcut titles are visible to everyone with access to the folder or drive that the shortcut is inside. Just because someone can see the shortcut doesn’t mean they can open it. The original file’s permissions don’t automatically update when you create a shortcut to it. Remember to give any new users access to the original file.

For a list of Google Drive hotkeys, go to keyboard shortcuts.

Create a shortcut

Important: You can create a copy of a shortcut in a Drive folder but you can’t create a shortcut to another shortcut file.

Manually create a shortcut

  1. On your computer, go to drive.google.com.
  2. Right-click the file or folder where you want to create the shortcut.
  3. Click Add shortcut to Drive.
  4. Select the location where you want to place the shortcut.
  5. Click Add shortcut.

Use keyboard shortcuts to create a shortcut

  1. On your computer, go to drive.google.com.
  2. Select a file.
  3. To copy the file to the clipboard, press Ctrl + c.
  4. Go to the new location.
  5. To paste the shortcut into the new location, press Ctrl + Shift + v.

Important:

  • This functionality is only available on Google Chrome.
  • You can't delete the shortcut inside a Drive folder someone else owns.
  • You can't create a shortcut to another shortcut file, but you can make a copy. You can also make a copy of a folder shortcut.
  • When you create a shortcut, some people may only have access to the shortcut location. You may get a prompt to grant them access to the target file. The default permission is "Viewer." You can change the permission to "Commenter" or "Editor."

Delete a shortcut

Important: 

  • You can delete a shortcut, but you can’t delete the original file, or a file you don’t own. The shortcut's owner can delete the shortcut, but the target file can only be deleted by the file's owner.
  • If you don’t have permission, you may not be able to delete a file or folder.

Fix a broken shortcut

A shortcut will break if:

  • You don’t have permission to open the original file.
  • The original file is in the trash.
  • The original file is deleted.

To fix the broken shortcut, try to restore the original file, or ask the owner for permission to open the file.

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Shortcuts are a convenient solution for quick access to folders you use frequently, but if you’ve gone overboard or installed a lot of new programs recently, your desktop can quickly become cluttered. Fortunately, you can remove shortcuts easily without removing the original folder or program linked to it. Deleting them is like deleting anything else on your computer in most cases. Even if you run into issues, using admin privileges will likely enable you to delete the file.

Shortcut Basics

The key reason that deleting a shortcut won’t delete the folder is that the shortcut icon is not the folder. It’s a redirect for your click to save you time, like a signpost that tells your computer where you mean to go when you click on it. If you remove the signpost, you don’t remove the destination – it might just take a bit more work to find it.

You can recognize a shortcut from the icon, which contains a small arrow in a box in the corner to show that it’s a shortcut. It is possible to change the shortcut arrow icon in Windows 10 and other versions by editing the registry explains How-To Geek, but unless you’ve already done this, you will have the default symbol. Your files are never saved directly to your desktop unless you intentionally download them there.

Deleting a Shortcut on Windows

With this in mind, deleting a shortcut is as simple as deleting anything else from your computer, as described by Computer Hope. First, highlight the icon you want to remove by clicking on it. From here, you can either press “Delete,” right-click the icon and choose “Delete” from the options that appear, or click and drag the icon to your recycle bin. These approaches work equally well for both folder and program shortcuts, so you can use whichever one feels most natural.

If you can’t delete a shortcut from your desktop in Windows 10, it might be because the program was created with administrator privileges, and you can only delete it as an admin. Log in as an admin, and you’ll be able to delete it using the same method as above.

Deleting a Standard Windows Shortcut

Shortcuts on Windows for things like “This PC,” “Network” and “Recycle Bin” are added in a different way than most icons, as Digital Citizen details. Right-click an empty space on your desktop and go to “Personalize” and choose “Themes” from the options on the left of the window. Scroll down on this tab and click the option that says “Desktop icon settings.”

This action takes you to “Desktop Icon Settings,” which has a list of the main standard Windows shortcuts with checkboxes at the side. Check or uncheck any of the options to add or delete the icon corresponding to them. If you already have the icon on your desktop, you can use the approaches listed above to remove them too.

Deleting a Shortcut on Mac

Deleting a shortcut on Mac works like using the click-and-drag method on Windows, as explained by VisiHow. Hover over the icon you want to remove, click on it, hold the button down (or keep your finger on the touchpad), and then drag the icon to the bottom of the screen, releasing it over the “Trash” icon.

If your other Mac desktop icons are invisible, this is likely because they’re not set to be displayed, according to TeachThought. Go to “Finder” and then “Preferences,” and you’ll be presented with a list under “Show these items on the desktop.” Check the options – hard discs or external discs, for example – to display on the desktop or uncheck them to remove them from the desktop.

What happens to files in a folder on a Windows system when the folder is deleted?

When you delete a file or folder, it goes into the Recycle bin, where you have a chance to restore it.

What happens when you delete a folder quizlet?

When you delete a folder from your computer, all the contents of the folder are also removed. You will be prompted by Windows to verify that you want to delete the folder and all its contents. Clicking Yes removes the files.

What happens if you try to save a file with the same name into the same folder?

What does the operating system do if you try to save a file with the same name into the same folder? It overwrites the original file unless you add a number, date, or initials to differentiate the files.

What would happen if you tried to open a file created in one app in a different app?

What would happen if you tried to open a file created in one app in a different app? It will not open. Before you can open and edit a compressed file, you need to zip it. The Clipboard saves the file or folder from the source file or folder until you delete it from the Clipboard.