Google Drive is my lifesaver for “I-need-to-share-right-now” situations. Writing an article and need to hear the editor’s suggestions, or want a folder for branding visuals to share with others? No downside in any respect. Google Drive lets you retailer and sync information throughout your units, whereas its integration with Google Docs for Mac offers your pals or coworkers entry to the information or folders you designate for sharing.
There’s an official Google Drive app for Mac, too. The app is free, however you’re right here to learn to handle it professionally. Preserve studying, trigger I’m able to share a few of my private insights on utilizing Google Drive on Mac.
Methods to handle Google Drive on Mac | What to do |
---|---|
Want easy accessibility to Google Drive from Mac | Set up the Google Drive app from the App Retailer and sync with Finder. |
Don’t need to depend on browser model | Use the desktop app for higher velocity, offline entry, and system integration. |
Low disk house on Mac | Use Streaming mode to maintain information within the cloud and unencumber native storage. |
Need offline entry to all information | Swap to Mirroring mode in Google Drive’s Preferences. |
Solely want some information offline | Proper-click information in Finder > Make out there offline. |
Have to handle too many cloud accounts | Use CloudMounter to attach Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, and so forth., in Finder. |
Need versatile backup choices | Use Get Backup Professional for versioned, incremental, or clone backups. |
Have to share information securely and quick | Use Dropshare for drag-and-drop Google Drive uploads and safe hyperlink sharing. |
Need a cleaner menu bar expertise | Use Bartender to cover and manage icons, together with Google Drive. |
The right way to arrange and use Google Drive on Mac effectively
When you can entry Google Drive via any browser on any machine, you don’t all the time need to depend on the browser model. It’s way more handy to make use of the Google Drive app for Mac, because it’s constructed for the OS. I’ve seen the distinction in sooner file syncing, seamless offline entry assist, and integration with Finder and different elements of the Mac — so I wholeheartedly advocate it.
To begin utilizing Google Drive on Mac, you first want a Google Drive account.
The right way to create a Google Drive account?
If in case you have an account on any of Google providers, like Gmail, YouTube, or Google Play, you then truly have already got a Google Drive account.
Merely log in to a Google Drive web site or app along with your present credentials. Or create a Google account totally free by following these steps:
- Go to google.com/drive and click on Signal In.
- When you don’t have a Google account, click on Create account.
- Comply with the onscreen directions to create a brand new Google account (this may even function your new Gmail e mail handle).
The right way to set up Google Drive for Mac?
Putting in the Google Drive app in your Mac desktop solely takes a number of steps, so let’s rapidly undergo them collectively.
- Go to the official obtain web page google.com/drive/obtain, or get it from the App Retailer.
- Click on the Obtain button.
- Discover GoogleDrive.dmg in your Downloads folder and open it.
- Set up the Google Drive app by going via the steps.
- Register to Google Drive along with your Google account.
When you’ve signed in, the app will routinely sync along with your account and be prepared to be used.
The right way to sync Google Drive on Mac for the primary time?
Your Google Drive app in your Mac desktop syncs along with your account routinely, however once you first begin utilizing it, you’ll have to go to the menu bar app icon> Then, click on the gear icon> Preferences, and choose one of many two kinds of syncing your information:
- Stream information: You’ll be able to retailer your entire information on the cloud and solely make choose gadgets out there offline.
- Mirror information: It can save you all of your information each on the Google Drive and your pc.
You’ll be able to change your syncing kind at any second in Google Drive preferences.
Understanding Google Drive file syncing choices
If you wish to dig slightly deeper into Google Drive syncing, I’ve obtained the news. There are two major syncing strategies that the platform makes use of: Streaming and Mirroring.
To make these strategies simpler to grasp, I’ve damaged them down within the desk under:
Let’s examine! | Streaming | Mirroring |
---|---|---|
Native storage utilization | Minimal, as all information are saved within the cloud | Excessive, as all information are saved regionally |
Web reliance | Web required for unsynced information | Recordsdata are all accessible offline |
Syncing velocity | Fast syncing with an web connection for particular person information | Syncs whole drive for immediate entry |
Entry technique | Seem in Finder however aren’t saved in your pc | Totally downloaded to Finder |
Finest for | Saving disk house if you wish to depend on the cloud | Offline-first |
You will need to select one or the opposite, relying in your out there native space for storing, the way you personally use Google Drive, your web reliability, and your present wants. For instance, these with mild storage wants and informal customers ought to go along with Streaming to avoid wasting disk house and seize information at any time when wanted. In distinction, professionals who work with heavy information like design information and video clips ought to go for Mirroring as an alternative.
How do I do know which manner of syncing to decide on in Google Drive on Mac?
It’s truly very straightforward to make the selection as soon as you realize all the professionals and cons of every syncing possibility.
As to the Streaming possibility:
- The principle professional is that a lot much less house is used in your Mac’s laborious drive, as many of the information are saved within the cloud. You continue to have easy accessibility to all of the information and might work with them in your Mac.
- The principle con of this syncing kind is the necessity for web entry to make use of the information you haven’t made out there on-line.
Mirror sync is the other of that:
- The principle professional is that your information are saved in your pc and Google’s cloud storage and can be found offline, whatever the high quality of your web connection.
- The principle con is that they take up double the house since they’re saved each within the cloud and in your machine.
It doesn’t matter what you select. There are all the time different methods to sync and retailer your information. For that, I like to recommend checking the short information on straightforward methods to sync, share, and switch information between Macs.
The right way to use Google Drive on Mac?
Among the finest makes use of could be to hyperlink your Google Drive to a number of units for straightforward entry from all of them. So as to add your information to your Google Drive, you not have to open it in your browser and add. You’ll be able to merely drag and drop information onto the My Drive folder in your Mac.
In case you are utilizing the Streaming sync to your Google Drive information, you may make some out there offline proper within the My Drive folder in Finder.
To take action:
- Proper-click on the file for which you need to change the standing.
- Select Make out there offline or reverse the characteristic the identical manner.
You’ll be able to simply spot which information and folders can be found offline by the respective labels on every in your My Drive folder in Finder:
Additionally, do not forget that Google Drive helps you to create and work with others on paperwork in Google’s personal variations of Phrase, Excel, and PowerPoint in real-time (referred to as Docs, Sheets, and Slides, respectively).
The right way to use Google Drive menu bar icon
The Google Drive menu bar icon lets you rapidly entry your Google Drive exercise, notifications, and app preferences.
In Google Drive Preferences, you may add folders to again up, change whether or not you need your file sync to be stream or mirror (I’ve defined the distinction earlier within the publish), and discover your My Drive folder in Finder.
Troubleshooting frequent Google Drive points on Mac
Even with such a straightforward and easy setup course of, technical points can nonetheless happen. Let me go over the most typical points and how one can resolve them:
Syncing not working
If information aren’t syncing between your Drive and your Mac, observe these steps:
- Examine your web connection
- Restart your Google Drive app by clicking the Drive icon within the menu bar and quitting via the gear icon.
- Reopen Google Drive.
- Examine your out there storage and manually pause and resume sync.
Google Drive app not opening
In case your Google Drive isn’t launching:
- Power give up the app by going to the Apple icon in your menu bar or by urgent Possibility + Command + Esc.
- Restart your Mac and take a look at opening the app once more.
- Reinstall the app if these strategies don’t work by deleting Google Drive out of your Functions folder and re-downloading it from the official web site.
Recordsdata not showing in Finder
Sometimes, you may discover discrepancies the place sure information aren’t showing in Finder. This might be resulting from a few causes, together with:
- You’re utilizing Streaming mode, the place information that haven’t been opened gained’t be saved regionally.
- It’s worthwhile to restart Google Drive.
- Your Finder preferences want updating. Open Finder > Settings > Sidebar and ensure Google Drive is chosen below Areas
Why you may want to make use of Google Drive app on Mac
Google Drive is a handy device for saving your information in cloud storage that’s hooked up to your Google account. These are just some of the explanation why you may need to apply it to your Mac:
- You need the comfort of getting access to your full Google Drive in a folder in Finder.
- You prefer to rapidly sync between native and cloud information.
- It’s worthwhile to change the information’ statuses from “out there offline” to “on-line solely” ceaselessly.
- You like to have direct entry to your Google Drive information saved to a number of Google accounts.
Extra ideas for making Google Drive higher
As handy as Google Drive is, individuals typically use multiple service for his or her private {and professional} information storage. Some common options embrace Apple’s iCloud, Microsoft’s OneDrive, and Dropbox. Utilizing a mixture of cloud-based storage will increase your Mac’s disk house to being nearly limitless, so long as you might have an lively web connection. However in reality, managing totally different cloud accounts can flip into fairly a hustle.
Get a number of cloud storage in Finder
Fortunately, there are apps like CloudMounter that mean you can use all of your storage options in a single place, connecting them to your Mac as in the event that they have been your common exterior drives.
This trick helps you to take care of cloud information in the identical method as you’d with native information, and even transfer information between the clouds. Plus, it permits for the encryption of delicate information on the cloud and doesn’t share your login information with any third events.
Again up solely these information you need
Get Backup Professional is quick, dependable, and affords a mixture of 4 totally different backup strategies: easy copy, clone, incremental, and versioned. With this app, you may again up folders or information that you just suppose are vital, reduce the dimensions of archives as much as 60% by conducting compressed backups, effortlessly migrate information to a brand new disk with bootable backups through cloning, and schedule Stealth mode backups.
Add something anyplace with one drag-and-drop
It goes with out saying that cloud storage encourages collaboration and file sharing. When you work with totally different information on-line and sometimes have to share hyperlinks, Dropshare ought to be your app of alternative for quick and safe file change.
Dropshare is a platform that works brilliantly along with your favourite cloud providers and allows you to add information in bulk with its straightforward drag & drop performance, in addition to securely share information, paperwork, and photographs with password-protected expiring obtain hyperlinks, and even set your personal keyboard shortcuts to finish routine duties sooner.
The right way to use Google Drive on Mac: Solved
When you’re nonetheless asking your self how one can use Google Drive — 15 GB of free space for storing, wonderful collaboration options, and the power to entry your information from any of your units will certainly provide you with a number of concepts on how one can benefit from it. With clouds come potentialities, however you‘re the one who actually decides what Google Drive goes to be in your Mac.
Better of all, you may get different helpful apps — CloudMounter, Get Backup Professional, Bartender, and Dropshare — on a free 7-day trial via Setapp, a platform of greater than 250 helpful Mac instruments that would change the way in which you’re employed everyday.
FAQ
Can I take advantage of Google Drive on my MacBook Professional?
Google Drive can be utilized on a MacBook Professional, the place information might be saved within the cloud however might be accessible proper in Finder.
How do I take advantage of Google on my MacBook Professional?
To make use of Google in your MacBook Professional, go to the App Retailer and set up the Google Drive app.
Does Apple have a drive like Google Drive?
Apple has the same drive to Google Drive referred to as iCloud Drive, the place you may retailer your photographs, paperwork, and Apple native app content material from apps like Notes and Reminders. It really works completely in sync with the broader Apple ecosystem, so all the pieces is constant throughout your units.
The right way to use G Drive exterior laborious drive on Mac?
To make use of a G-Drive exterior laborious drive in your Mac, you’ll first have to verify it’s suitable. As Mac {hardware} has modified drastically through the years, you’ll want to verify it may possibly join and mount to your machine. If it must be reformatted, you should utilize Disk Utility earlier than you start utilizing it.