You can improve your Drive for desktop experience with advanced settings.
Customise sync preferences
Use multiple accounts at the same time- On your computer, click the Drive for desktop menu .
- In the top right-hand corner, click your profile picture Add another account .
- Sign in through your browser.
- Restart Drive for desktop.
- On your computer, click the Drive for desktop menu Settings Preferences Advanced settings .
- Scroll to the account that you want to disconnect.
- Click Disconnect account.
- In the pop-up window, click OK.
Important: When you disconnect your account, offline files are removed.
- On your computer, click Menu Settings Preferences Advanced settings .
- Select an account that you want to disconnect.
- Click Disconnect account.
- In the pop-up window, click OK.
- On your computer, click the Drive for desktop menu Settings Preferences Advanced settings .
- Under 'Google Drive streaming location', click Change.
- On Windows: To stream Google Drive files to a folder on your computer, under 'Google Drive streaming location', select Folder. To change the Drive letter, under 'Drive letter', click the down arrow.
- On macOS: To change the streaming location, under 'Google Drive streaming location', click Change.
Important: Under 'Google Drive streaming location', you may find a notification that says 'Folder location is controlled by macOS' and you won't be able to update the mount point. Learn more about Drive for desktop on macOS.
- Select where you want your files to be found.
- Click OK.
- Updates made to streamed files in the virtual Drive.
- File sync to Drive in both directions for mirrored folders.
- Backups to Google Photos.
- On macOS File Provider, files that are not downloaded aren't accessible. Learn more about Drive for desktop on macOS.
- On your computer, click the Drive for desktop menu .
- Click Settings Pause syncing.
- On your computer, click the Drive for desktop menu .
- Click Settings Resume syncing.
To switch from streaming to mirroring:
- Open Drive for desktop.
- Click settings Preferences.
- On the left, click 'Folders from Drive'.
- Under 'My Drive syncing options', select Mirror files.
- Close Drive for desktop.
Tips:
- When you switch, My Drive files download to the folder that you select.
- If there are already files in the selected folder, Drive for desktop tries not to copy the files already in the cloud.
- If the content in a file differs from what's in the cloud, Drive for desktop keeps both.
- Files that aren't already present in the cloud will be uploaded.
- The Google Drive streaming location updates to show a shortcut to your new My Drive folder.
- Shared drives, other computers and backed up USB devices still appear and are still streamable.
Learn more about mirroring and streaming with Drive for desktop.
Important: If your cache directory path is unavailable, you can't use Drive for desktop.
If you stream files from Google Drive to your computer, file data is stored in a local cache on your hard drive.
On Windows and older versions of macOS, Drive for desktop manages the content cache automatically. For work or school accounts, your admin can set a limit for how much space is used by the cache.
On newer versions of macOS, macOS manages the content cache. Since macOS manages the content cache, you can't set a limit for how much space is used by the cache.
- On your computer, click the Drive for desktop menu Settings Offline files.
- To view the cached files under your accounts, click Offline files.
Here's a list of cache limitations that apply to Drive for desktop:
- You can't upload a folder larger than the available storage in the partition where the cache folder is located.
- You can find Drive for desktop's limited Drive quota (even for unlimited accounts), based on the available space in the local drive where the cache is located.
- On your computer, click the Drive for desktop menu Settings Preferences Advanced settings .
- Find 'Local cache files directory'.
- Click Change.
- Select a new cache location.
- Click Change.
- This setting isn't enabled on File Provider for macOS.
- Your local cached files directory can't be:
- A subfolder of a mirrored folder.
- A parent or subfolder of your streaming locations.
Enable or disable real-time presence with Microsoft Office
Learn about real-time presence with Microsoft OfficeBefore you can use real-time presence with macOS, you must change your system permissions.
- On your Mac, open System preferences Security and privacy Privacy Accessibility.
- At the bottom, click the lock to make changes.
- Tick the Google Drive box.
Learn more about Drive for desktop with Microsoft Office.
Important: If someone turns off their real-time presence, you won't know if that person is working in the file.
- On your computer, click the Drive for desktop menu Settings Preferences Advanced settings .
- Untick the 'See if someone else is editing a shared Microsoft Office file' box.
- Click Save.
Customise Google Photos settings
Learn about upload size- Storage saver slightly reduces the quality of your photos but uses less storage space.
- Original quality maintains the quality and size of your photos and videos.
- On your computer, click the Drive for desktop menu Settings Preferences Advanced settings .
- Find the controls marked 'Upload size'.
- Select your preference:
- Storage saver
- Original quality
- On macOS, click the Drive for desktop menu Settings Preferences Advanced settings .
- To automatically upload your photos and videos to Google Photos, tick or untick 'Systems photo library'.
- Large libraries take a longer time to upload and transfer large amounts of data.
- On your computer, click the Drive for desktop menu Settings Preferences Advanced settings .
- Tick or untick the file type boxes to sync or ignore RAW files and screenshots.
Customise general settings
Turn off automatic launch on Google Drive- On your computer, click the Drive for desktop menu Settings Preferences Advanced settings .
- Untick the box next to 'Launch Google Drive when you log in to your computer'.
- On your computer, click the Drive for desktop menu Settings Preferences Advanced settings .
- Based on your preference, select Auto-detect or Direct connection.
- On your computer, click the Drive for desktop menu Settings Preferences Advanced settings .
- Click the box next to 'Download rate' or 'Upload rate'.
- Enter your values:
- Values can range between 1 and 100,000,000.
- The unit is in kilobytes per second.
- On your computer, click the Drive for desktop menu Settings Preferences Advanced settings .
- Under 'Configure hotkey', select the key combination text.
- Enter the key combination.
- On your computer, click the Drive for desktop menu Settings Preferences Advanced settings .
- Under notification settings, tick or untick 'Prompt me to back up devices':
- If turned on, Google Drive prompts you when it detects a USB device, such as a flash drive or a camera for backup. If you choose to ignore the detachable device in the prompt, Drive will remember your preference and list the device under 'Ignored USB devices'.
- On your computer, sign out of Drive for desktop.
- Click the Drive for desktop menu Settings Preferences Advanced settings Disconnect account.
- In the pop-up window, click OK.
- Click the Drive for desktop menu Settings Quit.
- Use standard procedures to uninstall Drive for desktop from your computer.
- If you need help, consult the OS instructions for your computer.
Tip: If you use Drive for desktop through an organisation like your work or school, your admin may manage or restrict some settings. Learn more about admin-managed settings.