Troubleshoot slow performance in Drive

This article is for administrators. To troubleshoot problems with your own Google Drive, go to the user Help Center.

If your users think that Google Drive is running slow, there are steps you can take to troubleshoot the problem.

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Step 1: Check the user's browser

Try a different browser

Open another browser that is compatible with Drive and see if the issue continues. Drive works best with:

• Chrome browser
• Mozilla Firefox
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 11
• Microsoft Edge
• Apple Safari

Other browsers might work, but some features might not be available.

See System requirements and browsers.

Close unused tabs

The more tabs you have open, the harder your browser has to work.

To close tabs you aren't using:

• On the tab, click Close .
• On Microsoft Windows, Linux, and devices running Chrome OS, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+w.
• On Apple Mac, you can use the keyboard shortcut ⌘+w.

Clear cache and cookies

As your browser stores more cache and cookies, it could slow down. Clearing the cache and cookies can fix issues with items taking longer to load.

See Clear cache & cookies.

Turn off extensions and plugins

Browser extensions and plugins can sometimes cause issues with Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Forms. Turn off any extensions and plugins and see if the issue continues.

See Install and manage extensions.

If you're using a browser other than Chrome browser, see their support site for instructions.

Step 2: Check the user's computer

Restart the computer

Restarting the computer removes unneeded data and can help increase speed and improve the internet connection.

Try a different computer

Have the user sign in to Drive on a different computer. If the problem still occurs, then you can look into other issues, such as network settings or Wi-Fi connectivity.

Check the operating system requirements

If the user is having problems synchronizing files using Drive for desktop, check that they're using a compatible operating system.

See System requirements and browsers.

Step 3: Check the user's Drive account

Check storage quota in Drive

If a user runs out of storage space in Drive, they will not be able to store anything new. Not enough storage might make users think that Drive is running slow.

Have the user remove any files they don't need and see if the issue continues.

See Clear Google Drive space & increase storage.

Check file sizes in Drive

Larger files can be slow to open and work with. For example, if you have a large number of cells or calculations in a spreadsheet, it might take longer to load and users might think that there is a problem. Try opening files of different sizes and see if the problem occurs for each file.

For file-size details, see Files you can store in Google Drive.

Advanced troubleshooting

After you check the user's browser and computer, you can take more advanced steps to try and solve the issue.

Check the status of Google Workspace services

You can see if there are any outages or issues with Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Forms.

See the Status Dashboard.

Check firewall settings

To ensure that your users can access Drive or Google Docs editors, be sure your firewall rules connect to the correct hosts.

See Drive firewall and proxy settings.

Check for network issues when syncing with Outlook

If your organization uses Google Workspace Sync for Microsoft Outlook, Notes in Outlook can synchronize with Google Drive, which might cause slow performance in Drive.

See Troubleshoot network traffic issues.

 

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