Aug 29, 2021

How can I select only specific folders to sync with the latest version of Google Drive desktop?

When I install the new Google Drive software for desktop (Windows); it automatically starts syncing with my entire drive. I only want to sync certain folders. Where can I define the folders to sync with the new software?

Details

Drive for Desktop,Windows

Locked

Informational notification.

This question is locked and replying has been disabled.

Community content may not be verified or up-to-date. Learn more.

Last edited by PeteranDi Sep 20, 2021

Recommended Answer

Aug 29, 2021

Backup and Sync has been replaced by Drive for desktop.

The main differences are: Last updated October 1 2021

You can no longer sync selected folders in https://drive.google.com/drive/my-drive to your computer. It's all or nothing
- Stream is an option to make selected folders or files Available offline
- You can choose folders from the computer to sync to: https://drive.google.com/drive/computers
You can no longer ignore file extensions when syncing files from your computer
You can no longer choose whether synced items can be removed or not
- During migration this could result in unexpected downloads of files previously deleted on the computer but retained in Google Drive
A virtual drive is created as part of Stream files and is ever present
- The virtual drive remains for Mirror files, but is redundant
Streamed files cannot be indexed for search.

Please check the following pages for further information

Google Blog about the transition to Drive for desktop https://blog.google/products/drive/drive-for-desktop/

Use Google Drive for desktop https://support.google.com/drive/answer/10838124

Compare list of features https://support.google.com/drive/answer/10309431

Last edited Nov 19, 2021

Original Poster Patrick S. 7190 marked this as an answer

JTues

Jan 20, 2022

This was the wrong move from the Google Drive team. I will be using OneDrive from now on.

Jaroslav Buchtík

Jan 21, 2022

I'm annoyed by the incomprehensible Google drive setup. I just want to sync my selected directory from my local D: \ drive on Google's servers and have them available on the Android device using the installed application. I don't want to display a virtual fictitious network drive "Google drive" on my computer, I don't need it. Is such a setting possible?

Nowhere does it say that a virtual disk will be created on my computer during mirroring, showing duplicate files that I have synchronized.

I understand merging two functions in one application, but virtual disk display could be optionally disabled. For example, display it when streaming and disable it when mirroring.

Last edited Jan 21, 2022

Frank Hatstat

Jan 27, 2022

I am with you. The logic and communications of those that developed the Google Drive app is atrocious. They are a prime example of why tech is failing us, e.g. plane crashes, cloud crashes, etc.

mrP

Feb 2, 2022

I agree. I used to be able to install and select certain folders. For example, on my work computer in the office, I would sync only folders that I needed. And on my laptop, I would select folders that I need. However, I would have all my files synced to my Synology NAS. I thought I would try DRIVE again today and the issue is still there. Complete oversite on Google's part. Drive used to be so much better and easier to use. Now it's is a pain.

User tired_of_goog

Feb 3, 2022

Yeah, as we've all noted here, google sucks. We should all be doing our best to migrate away from its services.

I spent the entirety of today migrating from backup and sync to google drive. Here are some tips:

If you haven't migrated yet from backup and sync (i.e. you waited because you didn't have the time to deal with google's BS), make sure you create a backup of all of your data as well as ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Drive. Also, make sure you have no external drives connected during migration because that can (did for me) mess it up. At one point I had to go back to my pre-migration full drive backup and copy back over that Library folder listed above because the migration assistant would no longer trigger. Additional notes: the migration software is a POS and won't do anything useful like tell you what big files it wants to synchronize. Consider going through manually to find them (and then adding them back after migration completes) if you have low upload bandwidth and don't want the migration to freeze.
If you would like to mirror, rather than stream (like I did), but have some folders that, e.g., have a ton of data that you don't want synced locally: one option is to temporarily move those folders to the trash in your Google Drive. This will temporarily "hide" them from the sync engine. They can be restored within 30 days. Post migration, you can quit the Drive app and then restore the folder with large files in your drive. You'll still need to do something with it before turning the sync engine back on. See #3:
If you don't want to temporarily delete them (or if you need something to do with them after temporarily deleting and restoring), consider creating a new google account, adding it to your Google One Family account, and then transfering ownership of the _no_sync directory to this second google account. Call the account, e.g, myname_nogdrive_sync. (To transfer ownership you have to use the share dialog twice: first share, then reopen the share dialog and click transfer ownership). The files will remain shared with the original account even after ownership transfer.
Look for a better company

Also interesting things I discovered today: copy to my drive creates a shortcut rather than a copy, but one can still use the Google Drive API to copy files. Maybe that will be turned down soon, too. (So it looks like Google can do whatever they want with your data, but you certainly can't do whatever you want with your data).

Berl Kaufman

Feb 13, 2022

OneDrive from Microsoft has this capability and it's really easy to use, at least on Windows (haven't tried it on my MAC). It's built in to File Explorer. When you open Onedrive on File Explorer, you can right click on any folder and choose to keep it in the cloud or make it available offline. Very easy to use. Just tested it and it works flawlessly.
I'm going to migrate away from Drive (POS) onto OneDrive immediately.

David Naylor 3960

Mar 23, 2022

I moved to OneDrive because of this major nuisance

Ideajim

Mar 23, 2022

Same here, I've played all afternoon on this. MS wants my business.

User 3451555152406381849

Mar 29, 2022

To the best of my knowledge this is not possible. I am also shopping for an alternative that does offer this feature. I just don't have enough space on my laptop for all the data in the account.

What's strange is that this exclusion feature is so easy to implement and Google still chose not to allow it (even without a UI - e.g. with some config file or whaterver).

Malte Humpert

Apr 3, 2022

Yeah been trying to use the new drive since Backup and Sync no longer works. Unfortunately I can't use the new version since I don't have enough memory to save all 800GB of files on my computer. I would like to only have certain files from My Drive sync to my computer. Why does it have to be all or nothing. So stupid. So i guess now i'll have to manually keep updating folders every now and then by deleting them on google drive and then re-uploading them from my computer to google drive periodically. Welcome to Google, ruining one good product at a time. Still miss Picasa...

User 15374128507277048049

Apr 16, 2022

So the new version removes features and makes Google Drive basically unusable. What a f--king joke

User 9921949644643361243

May 10, 2022

Why make it worse? This was actually an important feature! I can't believe I just spent 3hours trying to find a feature that just magically disappeared.