Download Google Drive Desktop Client

1. Get Google Drive For Desktop
2. Google G Drive For Windows
3. Google Drive Desktop App Windows

Google Drive

Check your computer's storage to ensure that you have enough space to download the data. Go to Google Drive. Select the gear icon at the top to open Settings. Navigate to the Offline section and check the box next to it. Open Google Drive again. Right-click the documents you'd like to use offline. Turn on the Available offline option. Google Drive is the organizational tool par excellence and, some would argue, the glue that keeps many people's online life together. Google Drive is Google's file storage, sharing, and synchronization tool, and like Google's other core Suite services, it's totally free at the most basic level. This is the companion extension for the Chrome Remote Desktop website (This extension enables you to install, view, and modify the Chrome Remote Desktop native client from the web UI. Chrome Remote Desktop allows users to remotely access another computer through Chrome browser or a Chromebook.

Paths are specified as drive:path

Say hello to Insync, your desktop Google Drive! A cross-platform sync client. Insync is a Google Drive syncing client that lets you access your Google Drive through (any) desktop. Insync is supported on Linux, Mac, and Windows. Sync multiple Google Drive accounts. Insync also lets you sync files from multiple Google Drive accounts. Safely store and share your photos, videos, files and more in the cloud. Your first 15 GB of storage are free with a Google account.

Drive paths may be as deep as required, eg drive:directory/subdirectory.

The initial setup for drive involves getting a token from Google drivewhich you need to do in your browser. rclone config walks youthrough it.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called remote. First run:

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

Note that rclone runs a webserver on your local machine to collect thetoken as returned from Google if you use auto config mode. This onlyruns from the moment it opens your browser to the moment you get backthe verification code. This is on http://127.0.0.1:53682/ and thisit may require you to unblock it temporarily if you are running a hostfirewall, or use manual mode.

You can then use it like this,

List directories in top level of your drive

List all the files in your drive

To copy a local directory to a drive directory called backup

Scopes

Rclone allows you to select which scope you would like for rclone touse. This changes what type of token is granted to rclone. Thescopes are definedhere.

The scope are

drive

This is the default scope and allows full access to all files, exceptfor the Application Data Folder (see below).

Choose this one if you aren't sure.

drive.readonly

This allows read only access to all files. Files may be listed anddownloaded but not uploaded, renamed or deleted.

drive.file

With this scope rclone can read/view/modify only those files andfolders it creates.

So if you uploaded files to drive via the web interface (or any othermeans) they will not be visible to rclone.

This can be useful if you are using rclone to backup data and you wantto be sure confidential data on your drive is not visible to rclone.

Files created with this scope are visible in the web interface.

drive.appfolder

This gives rclone its own private area to store files. Rclone willnot be able to see any other files on your drive and you won't be ableto see rclone's files from the web interface either.

drive.metadata.readonly

This allows read only access to file names only. It does not allowrclone to download or upload data, or rename or delete files ordirectories.

Root folder ID

You can set the root_folder_id for rclone. This is the directory(identified by its Folder ID) that rclone considers to be the rootof your drive.

Normally you will leave this blank and rclone will determine thecorrect root to use itself.

However you can set this to restrict rclone to a specific folderhierarchy or to access data within the 'Computers' tab on the driveweb interface (where files from Google's Backup and Sync desktopprogram go).

In order to do this you will have to find the Folder ID of thedirectory you wish rclone to display. This will be the last segmentof the URL when you open the relevant folder in the drive webinterface.

So if the folder you want rclone to use has a URL which looks likehttps://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XyfxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxKHChin the browser, then you use 1XyfxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxKHCh asthe root_folder_id in the config.

NB folders under the 'Computers' tab seem to be read only (drivegives a 500 error) when using rclone.

There doesn't appear to be an API to discover the folder IDs of the'Computers' tab - please contact us if you know otherwise!

Note also that rclone can't access any data under the 'Backups' tab onthe google drive web interface yet.

Service Account support

You can set up rclone with Google Drive in an unattended mode,i.e. not tied to a specific end-user Google account. This is usefulwhen you want to synchronise files onto machines that don't haveactively logged-in users, for example build machines.

To use a Service Account instead of OAuth2 token flow, enter the pathto your Service Account credentials at the service_account_fileprompt during rclone config and rclone won't use the browser basedauthentication flow. If you'd rather stuff the contents of thecredentials file into the rclone config file, you can setservice_account_credentials with the actual contents of the fileinstead, or set the equivalent environment variable.

Use case - Google Apps/G-suite account and individual Drive

Let's say that you are the administrator of a Google Apps (old) orG-suite account.The goal is to store data on an individual's Drive account, who ISa member of the domain.We'll call the domain example.com, and the userfoo@example.com.

There's a few steps we need to go through to accomplish this:

• To create a service account and obtain its credentials, go to theGoogle Developer Console.
• You must have a project - create one if you don't.
• Then go to 'IAM & admin' -> 'Service Accounts'.
• Use the 'Create Credentials' button. Fill in 'Service account name'with something that identifies your client. 'Role' can be empty.
• Tick 'Furnish a new private key' - select 'Key type JSON'.
• Tick 'Enable G Suite Domain-wide Delegation'. This option makes'impersonation' possible, as documented here:Delegating domain-wide authority to the service account
• These credentials are what rclone will use for authentication.If you ever need to remove access, press the 'Delete serviceaccount key' button.

• Go to example.com's admin console
• Go into 'Security' (or use the search bar)
• Select 'Show more' and then 'Advanced settings'
• Select 'Manage API client access' in the 'Authentication' section
• In the 'Client Name' field enter the service account's'Client ID' - this can be found in the Developer Console under'IAM & Admin' -> 'Service Accounts', then 'View Client ID' forthe newly created service account.It is a ~21 character numerical string.
• In the next field, 'One or More API Scopes', enterhttps://www.googleapis.com/auth/driveto grant access to Google Drive specifically.

• rclone -v --drive-impersonate foo@example.com lsf gdrive:backup
• The arguments do:
  • -v - verbose logging
  • --drive-impersonate foo@example.com - this is what doesthe magic, pretending to be user foo.
  • lsf - list files in a parsing friendly way
  • gdrive:backup - use the remote called gdrive, work inthe folder named backup.

Note: in case you configured a specific root folder on gdrive and rclone is unable to access the contents of that folder when using --drive-impersonate, do this instead:

• in the gdrive web interface, share your root folder with the user/email of the new Service Account you created/selected at step #1
• use rclone without specifying the --drive-impersonate option, like this:rclone -v foo@example.com lsf gdrive:backup

Team drives

If you want to configure the remote to point to a Google Team Drivethen answer y to the question Configure this as a team drive?.

This will fetch the list of Team Drives from google and allow you toconfigure which one you want to use. You can also type in a teamdrive ID if you prefer.

For example:

--fast-list

This remote supports --fast-list which allows you to use fewertransactions in exchange for more memory. See the rclonedocs for more details.

It does this by combining multiple list calls into a single API request.

This works by combining many '%s' in parents filters into one expression.To list the contents of directories a, b and c, the following requests will be send by the regular List function:

These can now be combined into a single request:

The implementation of ListR will put up to 50 parents filters into one request.It will use the --checkers value to specify the number of requests to run in parallel.

In tests, these batch requests were up to 20x faster than the regular method.Running the following command against different sized folders gives:

small folder (220 directories, 700 files):

• without --fast-list: 38s
• with --fast-list: 10s

large folder (10600 directories, 39000 files):

• without --fast-list: 22:05 min
• with --fast-list: 58s

Modified time

Google drive stores modification times accurate to 1 ms.

Restricted filename characters

Only Invalid UTF-8 bytes will be replaced,as they can't be used in JSON strings.

In contrast to other backends, / can also be used in names and .or . are valid names.

Revisions

Google drive stores revisions of files. When you upload a change toan existing file to google drive using rclone it will create a newrevision of that file.

Revisions follow the standard google policy which at time of writingwas

• They are deleted after 30 days or 100 revisions (whatever comes first).
• They do not count towards a user storage quota.

Deleting files

By default rclone will send all files to the trash when deletingfiles. If deleting them permanently is required then use the--drive-use-trash=false flag, or set the equivalent environmentvariable.

Shortcuts

In March 2020 Google introduced a new feature in Google Drive calleddrive shortcuts(API). Thesewill (by September 2020) replace the ability for files or folders tobe in multiple folders at once.

Shortcuts are files that link to other files on Google Drive somewhatlike a symlink in unix, except they point to the underlying file data(eg the inode in unix terms) so they don't break if the source isrenamed or moved about.

Be default rclone treats these as follows.

For shortcuts pointing to files:

• When listing a file shortcut appears as the destination file.
• When downloading the contents of the destination file is downloaded.
• When updating shortcut file with a non shortcut file, the shortcut is removed then a new file is uploaded in place of the shortcut.
• When server side moving (renaming) the shortcut is renamed, not the destination file.
• When server side copying the shortcut is copied, not the contents of the shortcut.
• When deleting the shortcut is deleted not the linked file.
• When setting the modification time, the modification time of the linked file will be set.

For shortcuts pointing to folders:

• When listing the shortcut appears as a folder and that folder will contain the contents of the linked folder appear (including any sub folders)
• When downloading the contents of the linked folder and sub contents are downloaded
• When uploading to a shortcut folder the file will be placed in the linked folder
• When server side moving (renaming) the shortcut is renamed, not the destination folder
• When server side copying the contents of the linked folder is copied, not the shortcut.
• When deleting with rclone rmdir or rclone purge the shortcut is deleted not the linked folder.
• NB When deleting with rclone remove or rclone mount the contents of the linked folder will be deleted.

The rclone backend command can be used to create shortcuts.

Shortcuts can be completely ignored with the --drive-skip-shortcuts flagor the corresponding skip_shortcuts configuration setting.

Emptying trash

If you wish to empty your trash you can use the rclone cleanup remote:command which will permanently delete all your trashed files. This commanddoes not take any path arguments.

Note that Google Drive takes some time (minutes to days) to empty thetrash even though the command returns within a few seconds. No outputis echoed, so there will be no confirmation even using -v or -vv.

Quota information

To view your current quota you can use the rclone about remote:command which will display your usage limit (quota), the usage in GoogleDrive, the size of all files in the Trash and the space used by otherGoogle services such as Gmail. This command does not take any patharguments.

Import/Export of google documents

Google documents can be exported from and uploaded to Google Drive.

When rclone downloads a Google doc it chooses a format to downloaddepending upon the --drive-export-formats setting.By default the export formats are docx,xlsx,pptx,svg which are asensible default for an editable document.

When choosing a format, rclone runs down the list provided in orderand chooses the first file format the doc can be exported as from thelist. If the file can't be exported to a format on the formats list,then rclone will choose a format from the default list.

If you prefer an archive copy then you might use --drive-export-formats pdf, or if you prefer openoffice/libreoffice formats you might use--drive-export-formats ods,odt,odp.

Note that rclone adds the extension to the google doc, so if it iscalled My Spreadsheet on google docs, it will be exported as My Spreadsheet.xlsx or My Spreadsheet.pdf etc.

When importing files into Google Drive, rclone will convert allfiles with an extension in --drive-import-formats to theirassociated document type.rclone will not convert any files by default, since the conversionis lossy process.

The conversion must result in a file with the same extension whenthe --drive-export-formats rules are applied to the uploaded document.

Here are some examples for allowed and prohibited conversions.

This limitation can be disabled by specifying --drive-allow-import-name-change.When using this flag, rclone can convert multiple files types resultingin the same document type at once, eg with --drive-import-formats docx,odt,txt,all files having these extension would result in a document represented as a docx file.This brings the additional risk of overwriting a document, if multiple fileshave the same stem. Many rclone operations will not handle this name changein any way. They assume an equal name when copying files and might copy thefile again or delete them when the name changes.

Here are the possible export extensions with their corresponding mime types.Most of these can also be used for importing, but there more that are notlisted here. Some of these additional ones might only be available whenthe operating system provides the correct MIME type entries.

This list can be changed by Google Drive at any time and might notrepresent the currently available conversions.

Google documents can also be exported as link files. These files willopen a browser window for the Google Docs website of that documentwhen opened. The link file extension has to be specified as a--drive-export-formats parameter. They will match all availableGoogle Documents.

Standard Options

Here are the standard options specific to drive (Google Drive).

--drive-client-id

Google Application Client IdSetting your own is recommended.See https://rclone.org/drive/#making-your-own-client-id for how to create your own.If you leave this blank, it will use an internal key which is low performance.

• Config: client_id
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_CLIENT_ID
• Type: string
• Default: '

--drive-client-secret

OAuth Client SecretLeave blank normally.

• Config: client_secret
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_CLIENT_SECRET
• Type: string
• Default: '

--drive-scope

Scope that rclone should use when requesting access from drive.

• Config: scope
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_SCOPE
• Type: string
• Default: '
• Examples:
  • 'drive'
    • Full access all files, excluding Application Data Folder.
  • 'drive.readonly'
    • Read-only access to file metadata and file contents.
  • 'drive.file'
    • Access to files created by rclone only.
    • These are visible in the drive website.
    • File authorization is revoked when the user deauthorizes the app.
  • 'drive.appfolder'
    • Allows read and write access to the Application Data folder.
    • This is not visible in the drive website.
  • 'drive.metadata.readonly'
    • Allows read-only access to file metadata but
    • does not allow any access to read or download file content.

--drive-root-folder-id

ID of the root folderLeave blank normally.

Fill in to access 'Computers' folders (see docs), or for rclone to usea non root folder as its starting point.

• Config: root_folder_id
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_ROOT_FOLDER_ID
• Type: string
• Default: '

--drive-service-account-file

Service Account Credentials JSON file pathLeave blank normally.Needed only if you want use SA instead of interactive login.

Leading ~ will be expanded in the file name as will environment variables such as ${RCLONE_CONFIG_DIR}.

• Config: service_account_file
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_FILE
• Type: string
• Default: '

--drive-alternate-export

Deprecated: no longer needed

• Config: alternate_export
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_ALTERNATE_EXPORT
• Type: bool
• Default: false

Advanced Options

Here are the advanced options specific to drive (Google Drive).

--drive-token

OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob.

• Config: token
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_TOKEN
• Type: string
• Default: '

--drive-auth-url

Auth server URL.Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

• Config: auth_url
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_AUTH_URL
• Type: string
• Default: '

--drive-token-url

Token server url.Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

• Config: token_url
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_TOKEN_URL
• Type: string
• Default: '

--drive-service-account-credentials

Service Account Credentials JSON blobLeave blank normally.Needed only if you want use SA instead of interactive login.

• Config: service_account_credentials
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_CREDENTIALS
• Type: string
• Default: '

--drive-team-drive

ID of the Team Drive

• Config: team_drive
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_TEAM_DRIVE
• Type: string
• Default: '

--drive-auth-owner-only

Only consider files owned by the authenticated user.

Emptying trash

If you wish to empty your trash you can use the rclone cleanup remote:command which will permanently delete all your trashed files. This commanddoes not take any path arguments.

Note that Google Drive takes some time (minutes to days) to empty thetrash even though the command returns within a few seconds. No outputis echoed, so there will be no confirmation even using -v or -vv.

Quota information

To view your current quota you can use the rclone about remote:command which will display your usage limit (quota), the usage in GoogleDrive, the size of all files in the Trash and the space used by otherGoogle services such as Gmail. This command does not take any patharguments.

Import/Export of google documents

Google documents can be exported from and uploaded to Google Drive.

When rclone downloads a Google doc it chooses a format to downloaddepending upon the --drive-export-formats setting.By default the export formats are docx,xlsx,pptx,svg which are asensible default for an editable document.

When choosing a format, rclone runs down the list provided in orderand chooses the first file format the doc can be exported as from thelist. If the file can't be exported to a format on the formats list,then rclone will choose a format from the default list.

If you prefer an archive copy then you might use --drive-export-formats pdf, or if you prefer openoffice/libreoffice formats you might use--drive-export-formats ods,odt,odp.

Note that rclone adds the extension to the google doc, so if it iscalled My Spreadsheet on google docs, it will be exported as My Spreadsheet.xlsx or My Spreadsheet.pdf etc.

When importing files into Google Drive, rclone will convert allfiles with an extension in --drive-import-formats to theirassociated document type.rclone will not convert any files by default, since the conversionis lossy process.

The conversion must result in a file with the same extension whenthe --drive-export-formats rules are applied to the uploaded document.

Here are some examples for allowed and prohibited conversions.

This limitation can be disabled by specifying --drive-allow-import-name-change.When using this flag, rclone can convert multiple files types resultingin the same document type at once, eg with --drive-import-formats docx,odt,txt,all files having these extension would result in a document represented as a docx file.This brings the additional risk of overwriting a document, if multiple fileshave the same stem. Many rclone operations will not handle this name changein any way. They assume an equal name when copying files and might copy thefile again or delete them when the name changes.

Here are the possible export extensions with their corresponding mime types.Most of these can also be used for importing, but there more that are notlisted here. Some of these additional ones might only be available whenthe operating system provides the correct MIME type entries.

This list can be changed by Google Drive at any time and might notrepresent the currently available conversions.

Google documents can also be exported as link files. These files willopen a browser window for the Google Docs website of that documentwhen opened. The link file extension has to be specified as a--drive-export-formats parameter. They will match all availableGoogle Documents.

Standard Options

Here are the standard options specific to drive (Google Drive).

--drive-client-id

Google Application Client IdSetting your own is recommended.See https://rclone.org/drive/#making-your-own-client-id for how to create your own.If you leave this blank, it will use an internal key which is low performance.

• Config: client_id
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_CLIENT_ID
• Type: string
• Default: '

--drive-client-secret

OAuth Client SecretLeave blank normally.

• Config: client_secret
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_CLIENT_SECRET
• Type: string
• Default: '

--drive-scope

Scope that rclone should use when requesting access from drive.

• Config: scope
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_SCOPE
• Type: string
• Default: '
• Examples:
  • 'drive'
    • Full access all files, excluding Application Data Folder.
  • 'drive.readonly'
    • Read-only access to file metadata and file contents.
  • 'drive.file'
    • Access to files created by rclone only.
    • These are visible in the drive website.
    • File authorization is revoked when the user deauthorizes the app.
  • 'drive.appfolder'
    • Allows read and write access to the Application Data folder.
    • This is not visible in the drive website.
  • 'drive.metadata.readonly'
    • Allows read-only access to file metadata but
    • does not allow any access to read or download file content.

--drive-root-folder-id

ID of the root folderLeave blank normally.

Fill in to access 'Computers' folders (see docs), or for rclone to usea non root folder as its starting point.

• Config: root_folder_id
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_ROOT_FOLDER_ID
• Type: string
• Default: '

--drive-service-account-file

Service Account Credentials JSON file pathLeave blank normally.Needed only if you want use SA instead of interactive login.

Leading ~ will be expanded in the file name as will environment variables such as ${RCLONE_CONFIG_DIR}.

• Config: service_account_file
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_FILE
• Type: string
• Default: '

--drive-alternate-export

Deprecated: no longer needed

• Config: alternate_export
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_ALTERNATE_EXPORT
• Type: bool
• Default: false

Advanced Options

Here are the advanced options specific to drive (Google Drive).

--drive-token

OAuth Access Token as a JSON blob.

• Config: token
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_TOKEN
• Type: string
• Default: '

--drive-auth-url

Auth server URL.Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

• Config: auth_url
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_AUTH_URL
• Type: string
• Default: '

--drive-token-url

Token server url.Leave blank to use the provider defaults.

• Config: token_url
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_TOKEN_URL
• Type: string
• Default: '

--drive-service-account-credentials

Service Account Credentials JSON blobLeave blank normally.Needed only if you want use SA instead of interactive login.

• Config: service_account_credentials
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_CREDENTIALS
• Type: string
• Default: '

--drive-team-drive

ID of the Team Drive

• Config: team_drive
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_TEAM_DRIVE
• Type: string
• Default: '

--drive-auth-owner-only

Only consider files owned by the authenticated user.

• Config: auth_owner_only
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_AUTH_OWNER_ONLY
• Type: bool
• Default: false

--drive-use-trash

Send files to the trash instead of deleting permanently.Defaults to true, namely sending files to the trash.Use --drive-use-trash=false to delete files permanently instead.

• Config: use_trash
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_USE_TRASH
• Type: bool
• Default: true

--drive-skip-gdocs

Skip google documents in all listings.If given, gdocs practically become invisible to rclone.

• Config: skip_gdocs
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_SKIP_GDOCS
• Type: bool
• Default: false

--drive-skip-checksum-gphotos

Skip MD5 checksum on Google photos and videos only.

Use this if you get checksum errors when transferring Google photos orvideos. Chrome 58 version free download.

Setting this flag will cause Google photos and videos to return ablank MD5 checksum.

Google photos are identified by being in the 'photos' space.

Corrupted checksums are caused by Google modifying the image/video butnot updating the checksum.

• Config: skip_checksum_gphotos
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_SKIP_CHECKSUM_GPHOTOS
• Type: bool
• Default: false

--drive-shared-with-me

Only show files that are shared with me.

Instructs rclone to operate on your 'Shared with me' folder (whereGoogle Drive lets you access the files and folders others have sharedwith you).

This works both with the 'list' (lsd, lsl, etc) and the 'copy'commands (copy, sync, etc), and with all other commands too.

• Config: shared_with_me
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_SHARED_WITH_ME
• Type: bool
• Default: false

--drive-trashed-only

Only show files that are in the trash.This will show trashed files in their original directory structure.

• Config: trashed_only
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_TRASHED_ONLY
• Type: bool
• Default: false

--drive-starred-only

Only show files that are starred.

• Config: starred_only
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_STARRED_ONLY
• Type: bool
• Default: false

--drive-formats

Deprecated: see export_formats

• Config: formats
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_FORMATS
• Type: string
• Default: '

--drive-export-formats

Comma separated list of preferred formats for downloading Google docs.

• Config: export_formats
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_EXPORT_FORMATS
• Type: string
• Default: 'docx,xlsx,pptx,svg'

--drive-import-formats

Comma separated list of preferred formats for uploading Google docs.

• Config: import_formats
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_IMPORT_FORMATS
• Type: string
• Default: '

--drive-allow-import-name-change

Allow the filetype to change when uploading Google docs (e.g. file.doc to file.docx). This will confuse sync and reupload every time.

• Config: allow_import_name_change
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_ALLOW_IMPORT_NAME_CHANGE
• Type: bool
• Default: false

--drive-use-created-date

Use file created date instead of modified date.,

Useful when downloading data and you want the creation date used inplace of the last modified date.

WARNING: This flag may have some unexpected consequences.

When uploading to your drive all files will be overwritten unless theyhaven't been modified since their creation. And the inverse will occurwhile downloading. This side effect can be avoided by using the'--checksum' flag.

This feature was implemented to retain photos capture date as recordedby google photos. You will first need to check the 'Create a GooglePhotos folder' option in your google drive settings. You can then copyor move the photos locally and use the date the image was taken(created) set as the modification date.

• Config: use_created_date
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_USE_CREATED_DATE
• Type: bool
• Default: false

--drive-use-shared-date

Use date file was shared instead of modified date.

Note that, as with '--drive-use-created-date', this flag may haveunexpected consequences when uploading/downloading files.

If both this flag and '--drive-use-created-date' are set, the createddate is used.

• Config: use_shared_date
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_USE_SHARED_DATE
• Type: bool
• Default: false

--drive-list-chunk

Size of listing chunk 100-1000. 0 to disable.

• Config: list_chunk
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_LIST_CHUNK
• Type: int
• Default: 1000

--drive-impersonate

Impersonate this user when using a service account.

• Config: impersonate
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_IMPERSONATE
• Type: string
• Default: '

--drive-upload-cutoff

Cutoff for switching to chunked upload

• Config: upload_cutoff
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_UPLOAD_CUTOFF
• Type: SizeSuffix
• Default: 8M

--drive-chunk-size

Upload chunk size. Must a power of 2 >= 256k.

Making this larger will improve performance, but note that each chunkis buffered in memory one per transfer.

Reducing this will reduce memory usage but decrease performance.

• Config: chunk_size
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_CHUNK_SIZE
• Type: SizeSuffix
• Default: 8M

--drive-acknowledge-abuse

Set to allow files which return cannotDownloadAbusiveFile to be downloaded.

If downloading a file returns the error 'This file has been identifiedas malware or spam and cannot be downloaded' with the error code'cannotDownloadAbusiveFile' then supply this flag to rclone toindicate you acknowledge the risks of downloading the file and rclonewill download it anyway.

• Config: acknowledge_abuse
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_ACKNOWLEDGE_ABUSE
• Type: bool
• Default: false

--drive-keep-revision-forever

Private web browser. Keep new head revision of each file forever.

• Config: keep_revision_forever
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_KEEP_REVISION_FOREVER
• Type: bool
• Default: false

--drive-size-as-quota

Show sizes as storage quota usage, not actual size.

Show the size of a file as the storage quota used. This is thecurrent version plus any older versions that have been set to keepforever.

WARNING: This flag may have some unexpected consequences.

It is not recommended to set this flag in your config - therecommended usage is using the flag form --drive-size-as-quota whendoing rclone ls/lsl/lsf/lsjson/etc only.

If you do use this flag for syncing (not recommended) then you willneed to use --ignore size also.

• Config: size_as_quota
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_SIZE_AS_QUOTA
• Type: bool
• Default: false

--drive-v2-download-min-size

If Object's are greater, use drive v2 API to download.

• Config: v2_download_min_size
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_V2_DOWNLOAD_MIN_SIZE
• Type: SizeSuffix
• Default: off

--drive-pacer-min-sleep

Minimum time to sleep between API calls.

• Config: pacer_min_sleep
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_PACER_MIN_SLEEP
• Type: Duration
• Default: 100ms

--drive-pacer-burst

Number of API calls to allow without sleeping.

• Config: pacer_burst
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_PACER_BURST
• Type: int
• Default: 100

--drive-server-side-across-configs

Allow server side operations (eg copy) to work across different drive configs.

This can be useful if you wish to do a server side copy between twodifferent Google drives. Note that this isn't enabled by defaultbecause it isn't easy to tell if it will work between any twoconfigurations.

• Config: server_side_across_configs
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_SERVER_SIDE_ACROSS_CONFIGS
• Type: bool
• Default: false

--drive-disable-http2

Disable drive using http2

There is currently an unsolved issue with the google drive backend andHTTP/2. HTTP/2 is therefore disabled by default for the drive backendbut can be re-enabled here. When the issue is solved this flag willbe removed.

See: https://github.com/rclone/rclone/issues/3631

• Config: disable_http2
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_DISABLE_HTTP2
• Type: bool
• Default: true

--drive-stop-on-upload-limit

Make upload limit errors be fatal

At the time of writing it is only possible to upload 750GB of data toGoogle Drive a day (this is an undocumented limit). When this limit isreached Google Drive produces a slightly different error message. Whenthis flag is set it causes these errors to be fatal. These will stopthe in-progress sync.

Note that this detection is relying on error message strings whichGoogle don't document so it may break in the future.

See: https://github.com/rclone/rclone/issues/3857

• Config: stop_on_upload_limit
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_STOP_ON_UPLOAD_LIMIT
• Type: bool
• Default: false

--drive-skip-shortcuts

If set skip shortcut files

Normally rclone dereferences shortcut files making them appear as ifthey are the original file (see the shortcuts section).If this flag is set then rclone will ignore shortcut files completely.

• Config: skip_shortcuts
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_SKIP_SHORTCUTS
• Type: bool
• Default: false

--drive-encoding

This sets the encoding for the backend.

See: the encoding section in the overview for more info.

• Config: encoding
• Env Var: RCLONE_DRIVE_ENCODING
• Type: MultiEncoder
• Default: InvalidUtf8

Backend commands

Here are the commands specific to the drive backend.

Run them with

The help below will explain what arguments each command takes.

See the 'rclone backend' command for moreinfo on how to pass options and arguments.

These can be run on a running backend using the rc commandbackend/command.

get

Get command for fetching the drive config parameters

This is a get command which will be used to fetch the various drive config parameters

Usage Examples:

Options:

• 'chunk_size': show the current upload chunk size
• 'service_account_file': show the current service account file

set

Set command for updating the drive config parameters

This is a set command which will be used to update the various drive config parameters

Usage Examples:

Options:

• 'chunk_size': update the current upload chunk size
• 'service_account_file': update the current service account file

shortcut

Create shortcuts from files or directories

This command creates shortcuts from files or directories.

Usage:

In the first example this creates a shortcut from the 'source_item'which can be a file or a directory to the 'destination_shortcut'. The'source_item' and the 'destination_shortcut' should be relative pathsfrom 'drive:'

In the second example this creates a shortcut from the 'source_item'relative to 'drive:' to the 'destination_shortcut' relative to'drive2:'. This may fail with a permission error if the userauthenticated with 'drive2:' can't read files from 'drive:'.

Options:

• 'target': optional target remote for the shortcut destination

drives

List the shared drives available to this account

This command lists the shared drives (teamdrives) available to thisaccount.

Usage:

This will return a JSON list of objects like this

untrash

Untrash files and directories

This command untrashes all the files and directories in the directorypassed in recursively.

Usage:

This takes an optional directory to trash which make this easier touse via the API.

Use the -i flag to see what would be restored before restoring it.

Result:

Limitations

Drive has quite a lot of rate limiting. This causes rclone to belimited to transferring about 2 files per second only. Individualfiles may be transferred much faster at 100s of MBytes/s but lots ofsmall files can take a long time.

Server side copies are also subject to a separate rate limit. If yousee User rate limit exceeded errors, wait at least 24 hours and retry.You can disable server side copies with --disable copy to downloadand upload the files if you prefer.

Limitations of Google Docs

Google docs will appear as size -1 in rclone ls and as size 0 inanything which uses the VFS layer, eg rclone mount, rclone serve.

This is because rclone can't find out the size of the Google docswithout downloading them.

Google docs will transfer correctly with rclone sync, rclone copyetc as rclone knows to ignore the size when doing the transfer.

However an unfortunate consequence of this is that you may not be ableto download Google docs using rclone mount. If it doesn't work youwill get a 0 sized file. If you try again the doc may gain itscorrect size and be downloadable. Whether it will work on not dependson the application accessing the mount and the OS you are running -experiment to find out if it does work for you!

Duplicated files

Sometimes, for no reason I've been able to track down, drive willduplicate a file that rclone uploads. Drive unlike all the otherremotes can have duplicated files.

Duplicated files cause problems with the syncing and you will seemessages in the log about duplicates.

Use rclone dedupe to fix duplicated files.

Note that this isn't just a problem with rclone, even Google Photos onAndroid duplicates files on drive sometimes.

Rclone appears to be re-copying files it shouldn't

The most likely cause of this is the duplicated file issue above - runrclone dedupe and check your logs for duplicate object or directorymessages.

This can also be caused by a delay/caching on google drive's end whencomparing directory listings. Specifically with team drives used incombination with --fast-list. Files that were uploaded recently maynot appear on the directory list sent to rclone when using --fast-list.

Waiting a moderate period of time between attempts (estimated to beapproximately 1 hour) and/or not using --fast-list both seem to beeffective in preventing the problem.

Making your own client_id

When you use rclone with Google drive in its default configuration youare using rclone's client_id. This is shared between all the rcloneusers. There is a global rate limit on the number of queries persecond that each client_id can do set by Google. rclone already has ahigh quota and I will continue to make sure it is high enough bycontacting Google.

It is strongly recommended to use your own client ID as the default rclone ID is heavily used. If you have multiple services running, it is recommended to use an API key for each service. The default Google quota is 10 transactions per second so it is recommended to stay under that number as if you use more than that, it will cause rclone to rate limit and make things slower.

Here is how to create your own Google Drive client ID for rclone:

1. Log into the Google APIConsole with your Googleaccount. It doesn't matter what Google account you use. (It need notbe the same account as the Google Drive you want to access)

2. Select a project or create a new project.

3. Under 'ENABLE APIS AND SERVICES' search for 'Drive', and enable the'Google Drive API'.

4. Click 'Credentials' in the left-side panel (not 'Createcredentials', which opens the wizard), then 'Create credentials'

5. If you already configured an 'Oauth Consent Screen', then skipto the next step; if not, click on 'CONFIGURE CONSENT SCREEN' button(near the top right corner of the right panel), then select 'External'and click on 'CREATE'; on the next screen, enter an 'Application name'('rclone' is OK) then click on 'Save' (all other data is optional).Click again on 'Credentials' on the left panel to go back to the'Credentials' screen.

(PS: if you are a GSuite user, you could also select 'Internal' insteadof 'External' above, but this has not been tested/documented so far).

1. Click on the '+ CREATE CREDENTIALS' button at the top of the screen,then select 'OAuth client ID'.

2. Choose an application type of 'Desktop app' if you using a Google account or 'Other' ifyou using a GSuite account and click 'Create'. (the default name is fine)

3. It will show you a client ID and client secret. Use these valuesin rclone config to add a new remote or edit an existing remote.

Be aware that, due to the 'enhanced security' recently introduced byGoogle, you are theoretically expected to 'submit your app for verification'and then wait a few weeks(!) for their response; in practice, you can go rightahead and use the client ID and client secret with rclone, the only issue willbe a very scary confirmation screen shown when you connect via your browserfor rclone to be able to get its token-id (but as this only happens duringthe remote configuration, it's not such a big deal).

(Thanks to @balazer on github for these instructions.)

Sometimes, creation of an OAuth consent in Google API Console fails due to an error message'The request failed because changes to one of the field of the resource is not supported'.As a convenient workaround, the necessary Google Drive API key can be created on thePython Quickstart page.Just push the Enable the Drive API button to receive the Client ID and Secret.Note that it will automatically create a new project in the API Console.

Google Drive is the organizational tool par excellence and, some would argue, the glue that keeps many people's online life together. Google Drive is Google's file storage, sharing, and synchronization tool, and like Google's other core Suite services, it's totally free at the most basic level. Integration with Google Docs means that if you were so inclined, you could manage your entire online life in the cloud. If that sounds good and you're looking for a way to get all your online information organized, accessible, and shareable, you could do a lot worse.

Cloud based storage

Google Drive is perfect for storing files and accessing them on the go.

Google Drive is a cloud-based file storage service that allows you to access your files, photos, music, and more across multiple locations and with multiple users. If you've ever regretted that a document was on the computer at home while you were at work, or battled with a pen drive that just won't work, Google Drive may well be the answer to your prayers.

Beyond simply storing your files, Drive also allows you to share them and collaborate with other users in real-time. The only drawback here is that security on this sharing is not as tight or advanced as you might be used to if you've used other file sharing tools in the past.

Google Drive also offers automatic backup and syncing for Mac and Windows users. That means you can create a file on your desktop that will be automatically synced to the cloud, perfect if you work on your computer but want to make sure that others can contribute or see it too.

A fast, clean piece of software, the only thing that will slow Drive down is whatever it is you're storing on it. Keep your files organized and free of duplicates to get the most out of the tool. Access and privacy benefit from all the usual features you'd expect from a Google tool, including 2-step authentication and on-the-ball alerts for any possible security concerns. In the free tier, you'll probably have to at least try to troubleshoot any problems yourself, as getting in touch with a customer support representative is a roundabout process that can take a while. If you're tackling a problem, take advantage of the massive amount of help and training Google provides online.

Finally, it would be remiss not to mention Google Drive's ability to integrate with Google Docs. If you already use this office suite, it makes using Drive to store all your documents a no-brainer and works so perfectly, you wouldn't even consider moving.

Where can you run this program?

Google Drive is available online, with backup and sync available for Windows (7 and above) and macOS. You can also download the Drive app on iPhone, iPad, and Android. The free version offers 15GB of storage spread over your Google Account. After that, you can upgrade to various tiers of paid storage. If you use a Google for Business account, you'll start with a greater amount of free storage.

Is there a better alternative?

Unless you're a OneDrive or iCloud user, many will consider the true alternative to Google Drive to be Dropbox.

In the Drive vs. Dropbox debate, Google takes an early lead because it offers way more free storage than Dropbox - 15GB vs. 2GB - but remember that 15GB is spread across your whole Google account. Even so, it's better than 2GB, and that may sway users with smaller amounts of data to store.

Google Drive also triumphs in terms of security and ease of browsing, but Dropbox has faster upload and sync. Google Photos offers a great add-on to Drive for managing a usual quantity of photos, but if you're dealing with truly huge amounts of data, Dropbox's faster upload may save your patience and your sanity.

Our take

Google Drive is a solid, easy-to-use, and accessible file storage, sharing, and organizational app. If you're looking for a really easy way to store documents, photos, and more and share them with the people who matter in your life, we think it's a great option.

If the majority of your uploads are going to be photos and videos, definitely consider using it in conjunction with Google Photos, but if you're focused on documents and PDFs, then it's perfect as is. The standard amount of storage for free users is more than enough for an average person's non-business use and provided you keep your Drive free of duplicates and general mess, you're unlikely to hit up against the limit.

Get Google Drive For Desktop

Google Drive's search capabilities are another reason we're such big fans. Imagine what you're likely to be storing in your Drive - letters, instructions, lists, song lyrics, schedules, plans, and more. Sure, you'll have an easier time if you categorize them sensibly, but that super-powered Google search makes finding things a breeze. Seeing as how you'll be using Drive to store documents and then access them on the go, this makes perfect sense - and will make your life so much easier!

Should you download it?

Google G Drive For Windows

Yes. If you're a personal user who will use the free version, we think Google Drive is one of the most accessible and user-friendly cloud storage and sharing platforms around. If you think you're going to be storing or uploading a huge number of large files, you might need to look to Dropbox for something faster, but for most users, Google's offering more than ticks all the boxes.

Google Drive Desktop App Windows

1.3.33.7