How do I download multiple files or an entire folder from Google Colab?

Question

Currently, I can download files as individual files with the command

files.download(file_name)

I also tried uploading them to the drive with the below code snippet but it is uploading them as individual files.

uploaded = drive.CreateFile({'title': file_name})
uploaded.SetContentString('Sample upload file content')
uploaded.Upload()
print('Uploaded file with ID {}'.format(uploaded.get('id')))

How can I download multiple files as a folder to my local computer? Or how can I upload these files as a folder to my google drive?

score 357 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 28 '18 at 12:43

357

I have created a zip file:

!zip -r /content/file.zip /content/Folder_To_Zip

Than I have downloded that zip file:

from google.colab import files
files.download("/content/file.zip")

answered Sep 28 '18 at 12:43

Shashank Mishra

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It is also worth noting, if you have problems downloading a large file over `files.download()`, you may also click on the chevron-right icon at the top left corner and browse all files under the `Files` tab and manually download the file. – Danny Jan 19 '20 at 13:38
If you ask: "Where is file.zip?" you could find it at the bottom on the left pane of the Colab Notebook. Then you could download it by right-clicking on it. – iedmrc Jul 20 '20 at 10:53
my filename is in python . . . how do you translate my python code into that format – Jitin Aug 01 '20 at 07:03
For me for some reason it stuck on `files.download`(.zip size ~2mb), but I was able to download it via `Files` manually. – mrgloom Aug 05 '21 at 16:06

score 35 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 19 '20 at 07:57

35

For example, if you have to download log folder:

!zip -r log.zip log/

-r represent recursive

while log.zip is destination zip file and log/ is source folder path

enter image description here

edited Dec 19 '20 at 07:57

ppwater

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answered Dec 19 '20 at 06:25

Muhammad Ali Abbas

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score 12 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 25 '19 at 02:20

12

I found that:

!zip -r ./myresultingzippedfolderwithallthefiles.zip ./myoriginalfolderwithallthefiles/

worked for me in colab.

Here . can be your home directory or the directory where your original myoriginalfolderwithallthefiles is and where myresultingzippedfolderwithallthefiles.zip will be created. Change the directories as needed.

edited Mar 25 '19 at 02:20

Pika Supports Ukraine

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answered Mar 25 '19 at 02:19

Ivan

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score 10 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 09 '22 at 02:25

10

!zip -r /content/sample_data.zip /content/sample_data
# change sample_data.zip to your desired download name Ex: nothing.zip
# change sample_data to your desired download folder name Ex: ner_data

answered Apr 09 '22 at 02:25

Aravind R

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score 8 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 13 '21 at 01:35

In my case, I had to download an entire folder containing h5 files(for submitting a college project) of each model my notebook built. Easiest way I found to download this folder and hence all files in the folder is to drag and drop the folder into the "My Drive" folder in the same folder tree.

Obviously I later downloaded the folder from Google Drive.

score 6 · Answer 6 · answered Sep 07 '21 at 04:41

6

You may use code to zip folders and download them using files.

#@title Utility to zip and download a directory
#@markdown Use this method to zip and download a directory. For ex. a TB logs 
#@markdown directory or a checkpoint(s) directory.

from google.colab import files
import os

dir_to_zip = 'dir_name' #@param {type: "string"}
output_filename = 'file.zip' #@param {type: "string"}
delete_dir_after_download = "No"  #@param ['Yes', 'No']

os.system( "zip -r {} {}".format( output_filename , dir_to_zip ) )

if delete_dir_after_download == "Yes":
    os.system( "rm -r {}".format( dir_to_zip ) )

files.download( output_filename )

answered Sep 07 '21 at 04:41

Shubham Panchal

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If you don't have a folder of files and everything is on the main directory of Colab, you can use ```dir_to_zip = '/content' #@param {type: "string"}``` for the above code. That is the main dir of Colab. – Cagri Nov 25 '21 at 21:53
Another question: How can I select a few files to zip? All my files are on the main dir and I only need to zip 4 of them. How can I specifically zip just those? – Cagri Dec 03 '21 at 02:46

score 4 · Answer 7 · answered May 22 '18 at 03:46

Copy this code into a cell, and change the 2 fields filename and folders_or_files_to_save. It will zip all of the folders or files into a zipfile and save it in your Google drive

#@title save yo data to drive
filename = "kerasmodel" #@param {type:"string"}
folders_or_files_to_save = "keras_model.h5" #@param {type:"string"}
from google.colab import files
from google.colab import auth
from googleapiclient.http import MediaFileUpload
from googleapiclient.discovery import build

def save_file_to_drive(name, path):
    file_metadata = {
    'name': name,
    'mimeType': 'application/octet-stream'
    }

    media = MediaFileUpload(path, 
                  mimetype='application/octet-stream',
                  resumable=True)

    created = drive_service.files().create(body=file_metadata, media_body=media, fields='id').execute()

    print('File ID: {}'.format(created.get('id')))

    return created


extension_zip = ".zip"

zip_file = filename + extension_zip

# !rm -rf $zip_file
!zip -r $zip_file {folders_or_files_to_save} # FOLDERS TO SAVE INTO ZIP FILE

auth.authenticate_user()
drive_service = build('drive', 'v3')

destination_name = zip_file
path_to_file = zip_file
save_file_to_drive(destination_name, path_to_file)

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered May 23 '18 at 04:32

Use tar to group files in a directory into a single file.

For example, here's a snippet that creates a directory, 3 files inside it, and a .tar archive containing the group:

!mkdir demo
!echo a > demo/a
!echo b > demo/b
!echo c > demo/c
!tar -cvf demo.tar demo/

The file to download would be demo.tar in this case. For more tips, search for creating and expanding tar archives.

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Jun 30 '22 at 12:25

1

Use the copy path for the folder which you want to download. Then:

from google.colab import files
files.download("path")

answered Jun 30 '22 at 12:25

Baran

63
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score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Aug 04 '23 at 14:19

The following solution worked for me with low latency:

Step 1: Mount the google drive.

Step 2: Zip the content.

!zip -r destination_path_to_zip_file.zip source_path_to_zip

Step 3: Copy the zip file to the google drive.

!cp source destination

Step 4: Download the file.

Vahab · Answer 11 · 2022-07-19T08:34:44.890

-1

If Drive and Colab Notebook both are your private:
- a) Mount the Drive,
- b) travers the path to your folder, click on "..." in front of the file name and use the path to the file/folder
If You want to download a special folder without mounting Drive:
- a) make a zip file of your folder (for single file no need for zipping)
- b) !gdown --id zip_file_id 'like this id 1ZxqBjXlF0H6.....'
- c) for file_id
  
  1-- -----use Get Link or Share of your ziped file --- 2-- -------ID part of your file share link-------

edited Jul 19 '22 at 08:34

answered Jul 19 '22 at 08:29

Vahab

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not clearly defined. please write proper answers and not shortcuts. – Pushkraj Jori Aug 30 '23 at 13:24

How do I download multiple files or an entire folder from Google Colab?

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