How to install and use Google Drive for desktop on your Mac
When you install Drive for desktop on your computer, it creates a drive in My Computer or a location in Finder named Google Drive. All of your Drive files appear here. Any new files or folders you create in Drive or Drive for desktop sync and appear on all your devices.
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Dropshare is a platform that works brilliantly with your favorite cloud services and lets you upload files in bulk with its easy drag & drop functionality, as well as securely share files, documents, and photos with password-protected expiring download links, and even set your own keyboard shortcuts to complete routine tasks faster.
You can download files and folders stored on Google Drive onto your computer or mobile device, and if you're planning to download lots of files from Drive, dropping them into a folder first can make the process faster.
Thanks to cross-platform availability, 15GB of free storage, robust download and upload speeds, and seamless integration with other Google services, Google Drive remains the preferred choice among consumers and small businesses. With Google Workspace plans, it's becoming popular in the enterprise sector. Aside from mobile apps on iPhone, iPad, and the top budget Android phones, Google Drive has feature-rich apps available on the desktop. Here's how you can set up and use Google Drive on Mac.
Streaming your Google Drive files allows you to check your entire Google Drive library in Finder without taking up much space on your Mac. You should think twice before selecting mirror files. It downloads all your Drive files on the Mac and consumes considerable storage.
However you can set this to restrict rclone to a specific folderhierarchy or to access data within the "Computers" tab on the driveweb interface (where files from Google's Backup and Sync desktopprogram go).
In order to do this you will have to find the Folder ID of thedirectory you wish rclone to display. This will be the last segmentof the URL when you open the relevant folder in the drive webinterface.
When rclone downloads a Google doc it chooses a format to downloaddepending upon the --drive-export-formats setting.By default the export formats are docx,xlsx,pptx,svg which are asensible default for an editable document.
How to download Google Drive files on Mac
Download Google Drive for desktop on macOS
Sync Google Drive with Mac Finder
Backup Mac photos to Google Drive
Download Google Drive app for Mac
Stream Google Drive files on Mac with File Provider
Install Google Drive for desktop on Mac
Access Google Drive offline on Mac
Troubleshoot Google Drive issues on Mac
Uninstall Google Drive from Mac
Download Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides on Mac
Use Google Drive shortcuts on Mac keyboard
Share Google Drive files from Mac
Manage Google Drive storage space on Mac
Encrypt Google Drive files on Mac
Download multiple Google Drive files on Mac
Update Google Drive for desktop on Mac
Transfer files from iCloud to Google Drive on Mac
Use Google Drive as a backup service for Mac
Compare Google Drive and iCloud for Mac users
Download Google Photos to Mac from Google Drive
Use Google Drive with Microsoft Office on Mac
Set up Google Drive for desktop for your organization on Mac
Change Google Drive settings on Mac
Restore deleted Google Drive files on Mac
Use Google Drive File Stream on Mac
Download videos from Google Drive to Mac
Open PDF files from Google Drive on Mac
Use Google Drive with Siri on Mac
Create folders in Google Drive on Mac
Download music from Google Drive to Mac
Edit Google Drive files on Mac without internet connection
Use voice typing in Google Docs on Mac
Scan documents with Google Drive on iPhone and save to Mac
Sync bookmarks from Safari to Google Chrome using Google Drive on Mac
Use Google Forms with Google Drive on Mac
Convert files to different formats using Google Drive on Mac
Collaborate with others using Google Drive on Mac
Use Google Slides presenter view with Google Drive on Mac
Add comments and suggestions to Google Docs on Mac
Use keyboard shortcuts for Google Sheets on Mac
Create and edit charts in Google Sheets on Mac
Insert images and videos in Google Slides on Mac
Use templates in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides on Mac
Protect your Google Drive files with password on Mac
Use version history in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides on Mac
Export Google Calendar events to Google Sheets on Mac
Merge data from multiple Google Sheets into one on Mac
Use conditional formatting in Google Sheets on Mac
When importing files into Google Drive, rclone will convert allfiles with an extension in --drive-import-formats to theirassociated document type.rclone will not convert any files by default, since the conversionis lossy process.
This limitation can be disabled by specifying --drive-allow-import-name-change.When using this flag, rclone can convert multiple files types resultingin the same document type at once, e.g. with --drive-import-formats docx,odt,txt,all files having these extension would result in a document represented as a docx file.This brings the additional risk of overwriting a document, if multiple fileshave the same stem. Many rclone operations will not handle this name changein any way. They assume an equal name when copying files and might copy thefile again or delete them when the name changes.
Google documents can also be exported as link files. These files willopen a browser window for the Google Docs website of that documentwhen opened. The link file extension has to be specified as a--drive-export-formats parameter. They will match all availableGoogle Documents.
When uploading to your drive all files will be overwritten unless theyhaven't been modified since their creation. And the inverse will occurwhile downloading. This side effect can be avoided by using the"--checksum" flag.
This feature was implemented to retain photos capture date as recordedby google photos. You will first need to check the "Create a GooglePhotos folder" option in your google drive settings. You can then copyor move the photos locally and use the date the image was taken(created) set as the modification date.
If downloading a file returns the error "This file has been identifiedas malware or spam and cannot be downloaded" with the error code"cannotDownloadAbusiveFile" then supply this flag to rclone toindicate you acknowledge the risks of downloading the file and rclonewill download it anyway.
This can be useful if you wish to do a server-side copy between twodifferent Google drives. Note that this isn't enabled by defaultbecause it isn't easy to tell if it will work between any twoconfigurations.
There is currently an unsolved issue with the google drive backend andHTTP/2. HTTP/2 is therefore disabled by default for the drive backendbut can be re-enabled here. When the issue is solved this flag willbe removed.
At the time of writing it is only possible to download 10 TiB of data fromGoogle Drive a day (this is an undocumented limit). When this limit isreached Google Drive produces a slightly different error message. Whenthis flag is set it causes these errors to be fatal. These will stopthe in-progress sync.
In the first example this creates a shortcut from the "source_item"which can be a file or a directory to the "destination_shortcut". The"source_item" and the "destination_shortcut" should be relative pathsfrom "drive:"
In the second example this creates a shortcut from the "source_item"relative to "drive:" to the "destination_shortcut" relative to"drive2:". This may fail with a permission error if the userauthenticated with "drive2:" can't read files from "drive:".
Adding this to the rclone config file will cause those team drives tobe accessible with the aliases shown. Any illegal characters will besubstituted with "_" and duplicate names will have numbers suffixed.It will also add a remote called AllDrives which shows all the shareddrives combined into one directory tree.
Server side copies are also subject to a separate rate limit. If yousee User rate limit exceeded errors, wait at least 24 hours and retry.You can disable server-side copies with --disable copy to downloadand upload the files if you prefer.
However an unfortunate consequence of this is that you may not be ableto download Google docs using rclone mount. If it doesn't work youwill get a 0 sized file. If you try again the doc may gain itscorrect size and be downloadable. Whether it will work on not dependson the application accessing the mount and the OS you are running -experiment to find out if it does work for you!
This can also be caused by a delay/caching on google drive's end whencomparing directory listings. Specifically with team drives used incombination with --fast-list. Files that were uploaded recently maynot appear on the directory list sent to rclone when using --fast-list.
When you use rclone with Google drive in its default configuration youare using rclone's client_id. This is shared between all the rcloneusers. There is a global rate limit on the number of queries persecond that each client_id can do set by Google. rclone already has ahigh quota and I will continue to make sure it is high enough bycontacting Google.
If you already configured an "Oauth Consent Screen", then skipto the next step; if not, click on "CONFIGURE CONSENT SCREEN" button(near the top right corner of the right panel), then select "External"and click on "CREATE"; on the next screen, enter an "Application name"("rclone" is OK); enter "User Support Email" (your own email is OK);enter "Developer Contact Email" (your own email is OK); then click on"Save" (all other data is optional). You will also have to add some scopes,including .../auth/docs and .../auth/drive in order to be able to edit,create and delete files with RClone. You may also want to include the../auth/drive.metadata.readonly scope. After adding scopes, click"Save and continue" to add test users. Be sure to add your own account tothe test users. Once you've added yourself as a test user and saved thechanges, click again on "Credentials" on the left panel to go back tothe "Credentials" screen.
(If you selected "External" at Step 5 continue to Step 9.If you chose "Internal" you don't need to publish and can skip straight toStep 10 but your destination drive must be part of the same Google Workspace.)
As a popular cloud drive, Google Drive can help you sync Google Drive with Mac folder and then integrate cloud storage with Mac storage. This can be easily achieved by the Google Drive desktop application for Mac. By installing Drive for desktop on your Mac, you can quickly solve the problem of how to sync Mac folder with Google Drive.
Synchronization of Drive for desktop is the process of downloading files from Google Drive to Mac and uploading files to Google Drive from Mac. After the synchronization, your files will be linked between the cloud and your computer. If you add, delete, edit or move a file from one location, the Drive for desktop will quickly modify the same file in the other location.
Stream files: All files in Google Drive will be stored on the cloud and only selected files will be made available offline. This sync mode can save the local storage on your Mac. But the drawback of this sync mode is that, if you want to open the file, first you will need to stream or download it from the Internet.
Scroll down the list of products until you find Google Photos and check that. This will include your entire image library in the download. If this is what you want to do, then skip to step #3. If not, read on.
Trying to figure out how to download all your Google Photos to PC or Mac? You're not alone. Many of us have hundreds (if not thousands) of images and videos stored in the cloud and while you'd think it would be easy to download them all onto a hard drive, it actually takes a little work.
Before we dive into it, let's briefly explore Google Photos' cloud storage function and why you would want to download your snaps and videos from there onto a hard drive. After all, Google Photos is a great way to securely store your images and videos, plus it's easy to use and has great cross-platform support.
Below, we'll talk you through the various ways that you can download all your Google Photos to your PC or Mac. And if you'd prefer to explore your options first, check out our guide to the best Google Photos alternatives.