Don’t know how to sync Google Drive in Mac successfully without causing any error? This article will use step-by-step instructions to show you how to set up Google Drive and Mac sync and how to choose a proper sync mode in the Google Drive desktop app.
Google Drive, as one of the best file-sharing services available in the cloud storage market, makes it easier for you to store data online and quickly share it with anyone you want through links or Gmail.
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.
The previous Google Drive desktop app, Drive File Stream, is called Drive for desktop now. The app allows you to sync files and folders between the Google Drive cloud and your local devices like PC, Mac, iPhone, or Android phones.
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.
This ensures that files in the cloud and local devices are always kept up-to-date with the latest version and can be easily accessed from any device with the Internet. The Google Drive sync with Mac is a continuous process that keeps running in the background. You can check the status of your synchronization and the most recently synchronized files at any time from the Google Drive icon on your Mac.
With a Google Drive account and 15 GB of free cloud storage in hand, you can easily figure out how to sync Google Drive on Mac by following the clear guide below to install the desktop app on your Mac, set up a Google Drive folder on your Mac, and choose a sync mode as you like. Here’s the detailed operation of how to sync mac with Google Drive.
Download the Drive for desktop application from Google Drive’s official website. Then open the downloaded file in the Downloads folder and follow the pop-up window to install the app on your Mac.
Sign in to the Drive for desktop with your Google account. Then click the Google Drive icon in the Menu bar above and click the gear icon in the pop-up window to choose “Preferences” in the dropdown menu.
On the “Google Drive” page, choose the sync mode you need. The Drive for desktop app allows you to sync My Drive files with the “Stream files” and “Mirror files” modes. By choosing one of these sync modes, your files will be displayed in online or offline mode on your Mac.
Now the app will sync Google Drive with Mac Finder immediately. And you can directly access your Google Drive files in a Google Drive folder from the Finder.
Tip: You may not be able to let Google Drive sync Shared Drive to desktop in “Mirror files” mode. But you can manually make the files and folders in your Shared Drive offline by choosing “Make available offline” for each file.
On all accounts, whether you choose the Stream or Mirror mode to sync Google Drive with Mac, your local storage would very likely be occupied by the app and the files after synchronization.
If you want to make your Google Drive files synced to a safe place without taking up local storage, you can try to use a professional web-based multiple cloud storage manager named MultCloud to sync Google Drive to another of your clouds seamlessly and securely with a single click without any installation.
As a leading cloud file manager, MultCloud offers a safe and easy-to-use interface for you to add, use, and manage 30+ major cloud storage services with multifunctional features for free.
To show you how easy it is to sync Google Drive with another cloud by the Cloud Sync function of MultCloud, here we take how to sync Google Drive to iCloud Drive on Mac as a brief example. You could use this method to sync files between any clouds that you can think of as well.
1. Create a MultCloud account on the website and log in. You can also sign in with your Google/Facebook account. 2. Choose the Google Drive icon to allow MultCloud to access your Google Drive account. Then click “Add Cloud” to add another iCloud Drive account to MultCloud.
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3. After adding your clouds to MultCloud, go to the “Cloud Sync” page. 4. Select your Google Drive account or files and folders as the source, and select the iCloud Drive account or a folder in it as the destination.
5. Click the “Options” below to choose the sync mode you need and click “Save”.
6. Click the purple button “Sync Now” and MultCloud will sync files between Google Drive and iCloud Drive immediately without taking up your local storage or your network speed.
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With the simple but clear guide on how to sync Google Drive with Mac easily, now you can sync any file you want between Google Drive and your Mac with no difficulty. What’s more, the instruction in this article is also suitable for syncing Google Drive to PC of Windows 11/10/8/7.
Besides, since MultCloud has no limit to the number of added clouds, you can manage multiple Google Drive accounts and other clouds efficiently in MultCloud as soon as have a try.