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. Just tried my first download. I successfully completed the goal of downloading a.pdf directly to Google Drive, but it was not a smooth procedure. After manually moving the downloaded 'file' to the Google Drive folder where I wanted it, I then had to rename it to remove the.png extension that was added to it. Download files from Google Drive using a computer or an Android device. Download a file. Go to drive.google.com. Click a file to download. To download multiple files, press Command (Mac) or Ctrl (Windows) while clicking other files. Right-click and click Download. Note: You can't drag a file or folder directly to your desktop. Install Drive on your Mac or PC, download the mobile app to your phone or tablet, or visit anytime at drive.google.com.Search everything. Search by keyword and filter by file type, owner and more. Drive can even recognize content in your scanned documents and images. We get you started with 15 GB free. Learn more at drive.google.com. It's easy to download a folder from Google Drive on to your PC or Mac computer, and the process is the same regardless of your device. This story is a part of Business Insider's Guide to Google Drive.
How To Download Files To Google Drive On Mac And Windows
Mac and Windows are the most popular operating systems for any user. Although there is a never ending war between Mac and Windows according to some people, they love both because both of the operating systems are useful in their track. Besides that, let’s assume that you are an avid Google Drive user and want to backup everything to Google Drive. There are different ways to backup different things to Google Drive on Mac and Windows. However, if you want to download files to Google Drive on Mac or Windows, here is a simple guide.
Let’s presume that you have a laptop that comes with only 128GB of SSD. Obviously, you always need to delete unnecessary files from your computer to make more space and store necessary data. In case you need to download a lot of heavy weight files to your computer and you do not want to use an external hard disk to store them, you can use Google Drive for sure. But two things you should remember e.g. those downloaded files need to be uploaded to Google Drive correctly. Otherwise, it may damage your file. Secondly, you must have Google Drive app on your Mac or Windows computer. Otherwise, you cannot select the location where you need to save your downloaded files. If you can cope with those two conditions, you can head to the following steps to get it done.
How To Download Files To Google Drive On Mac And Windows
What mentioned in the following paragraphs is two different methods for two different browsers, i.e. Google Chrome and Apple Safari. You can use any of these tutorials based on your preference. For example, if you use Google Chrome more often than Safari, you can head over to Google Chrome tutorials and vice versa.
Apple Safari
At first, open Apple Safari browser on your Mac computer. Following that, click on the Safari button and select Preferences. Alternatively, you can press Command + comma sign (,). On the General tab, you can find an option called File download location. Click on the drop-down menu and select Other.
Now, you need to select Google Drive as your download location. That’s it! From now on, all the downloads will be saved in Google Drive.
Google Chrome
If you do not use Apple Safari on your Mac or use Windows computer, you can follow these steps that are compatible with Chrome. The steps are same for Mac and Windows, but the following screenshot belongs to Mac’s version of Google Chrome.
At first, open Google Chrome and respective Settings page. Now, click on the Advanced button to expand the advanced settings. Among all the settings, you can find Downloads option. Under that, click on the Change button.
Therefore, you need to select a location where you want to save your newly downloaded files.
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge is one of the best browsers for Windows 10 users. If you do not want to spend time in developing websites, Microsoft Edge is probably the best option for you. It has the speed, smoothness, usability, etc. that a standard user needs. Therefore, if you are using Microsoft Edge on a Windows 10 computer, and you want to use Google Drive as your download folder, you need to follow these steps.
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At first, open the Microsoft Edge browser. After that, click the three-dotted menu button, and select Settings. In the General section, you can find a label called Downloads. You need to click the corresponding Change button, and choose Google Drive as your default download location.
That’s it! It is as simple as said.
Chromium-based Microsoft Edge
Microsoft recently launched a Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser, which will replace the standard Edge browser in coming days. The previous Edge browser doesn’t support a lot of extensions those are quite important to enrich the user experience. Although the stable version is still under development, you can install Dev or Canary version to test the browser. If you have already installed the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser, and you want to use Google Drive as your default download location, these following steps would be helpful for you.
At first, open the browser, and click the three-dotted menu button, which is visible on your top-right corner. Click the Settings button from the list. After that, switch from Profiles tab to Downloads tab. Alternatively, you can enter this in the URL bar – edge://settings/downloads and hit the Enter button.
Click the Change button and select Google Drive.
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox tops the list of most secured web browser for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, etc. It is the nearest competitor of Google Chrome. If you want to change the download location and use Google Drive as the default download folder, these following steps would be helpful.
At first, open the Firefox browser and go to Options. You should find it in the Menu list. In the General tab, find out Downloads tag. Make sure the first options aka ‘Save files to’ option is selected.
After that, click the Browse button and select Google Drive.
That’s all! Hope these simple steps would be helpful for you.
Expand cloud storage on Mac
Google Drive is an online storage solution by Google. It allows you to store and sync data across your devices with its 15 GB of free storage space, while its integration with Google Docs for Mac gives your friends or coworkers access to the files or folders you designate for sharing.
There’s an official Google Drive app for Mac too — an upgraded 2017 version of which is called Backup & Sync and is sometimes referred to as the new Google Drive. Google Drive Backup and Sync download is free and you can expect to install it and have it running in no time and little effort.
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How To Set Up And Use Google Drive For Mac?
With Google Drive, you can create and edit documents online. But if you rely on Drive for files backup and sync, it’s much more convenient to use the app. To start using Google Drive on Mac, the first thing you need is a Google Drive account.
How to create a Google Drive account?
If you have an account on any of Google services, like Gmail, YouTube, or Google Play, then you actually already have a Google Drive account.
Simply log in to a Google Drive website or app with your existing credentials. Or create a Google account for free by following these steps:
Go to google.com/drive and click on the blue Go to Google Drive button
Click Create Account
Follow the onscreen instructions to create a new Google account (this will also serve as your new Gmail email address)
How to install Google Drive for Mac?
Once you have a Google account, you can download Google Drive for Mac and use it. Here’s how you can do the Google Backup and Sync download:
Go to google.com/drive and click Download near the top of the page
Click on the Download button under Backup and Sync
Read and agree to the terms of service to start the download of Google Drive for Mac
The Google Drive Installer will be downloaded to your Mac’s Downloads folder
When the download is complete, double-click the installer (the file is called InstallBackupAndSync.dmg). Then click and drag the Backup and Sync From Google icon to the Applications folder. Boom, done!
How to sync Google Drive on Mac for the first time?
The first time you open Google Drive on Mac, you have to go through a few steps to get it set up properly. After that accessing Google Drive will be effortless. But to get things up and running:
Launch Google Drive from the Applications folder by clicking on Backup and Sync From Google
A warning sign will appear cautioning that Google Drive is an application you downloaded from the internet ➙ click Open
On the welcome to Google Drive window that appears click Get Started
Sign in to your Google account with your Gmail email address and password
The Google Drive Installer will display a number of tips about using the app and then add a special Google Drive folder to your Home directory on Mac ➙ click Next
You can designate items in your Google Drive folder to be shared with anyone ➙ click Next ➙ Done
The installer will finish by adding a Google Drive menu bar icon and a Google Drive sidebar icon to the Finder. This sets up the two key elements for you to work with Google Drive for Mac: Google Drive folder and Google Drive menu bar icon.
Most of the time you’ll use the Google Drive folder — to store items you want to save to the Google cloud as well as share with others. Google Drive menu bar icon is handy for quick access and configuring Google Drive settings.
How to use Google Drive menu bar icon?
The menu bar Google Drive icon gives you quick access to the Google Drive folder on your Mac, opens Google Drive in your browser, displays recent documents that you have added or updated, and tells you if the Google Drive sync has completed. But more importantly, the menu bar icon contains additional Google Drive settings. To set up Google Drive to your liking:
Click on the Google Drive icon in the menu bar and a dropdown menu will appear
Click on the vertical ellipsis in the top right corner ➙ choose Preferences from the menu
The Google Drive Preferences menu lets you configure your Google Drive settings with a three-tab interface.
My Mac tab allows you to decide whether you want to keep the default setting and have all the folders in your Google Drive folder synced automatically to the cloud or designate only specific folders for Google Drive sync.
Google Drive tab manages the connection between your Google Drive folder and the cloud. This is where you go in case of Google Drive not syncing. To sync Google Drive folder with the cloud, make sure you’re signed in to your Google account.
Settings tab gives you options to have Google Drive automatically launch when you log in to your Mac, show confirmation messages when shared items are removed from Google Drive, and upgrade your storage to another plan.
How to use Google Drive on Mac?
Now that your Google Drive setup is complete, you have access to this additional storage for you to do as you wish. However, one of the best uses would be to link your Google Drive to multiple devices — for easy access from all of them.
Also remember that Google Drive lets you create and work with others on documents in Google’s own versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in real-time (called Docs, Sheets, and Slides respectively). To enable collaboration on a Google Docs file, simply tap on Share in the top right corner and enter the names or email addresses of the people you wish to engage.
More tips for making Google Drive better
As convenient as Google Drive is, people often use more than one service for their personal and professional data storage. Some popular alternatives include Apple’s iCloud, Microsoft’s OneDrive, and Dropbox. Using a combination of cloud-based storages increases your Mac’s disk space to being virtually unlimited, as long as you have an active internet connection. But in truth, managing different cloud accounts can turn into quite a hustle.
Luckily, there are apps like CloudMounter that allow you to use all your storage solutions in one place, connecting them to your Mac as if they were your regular external drives.
Download Directly To Google Drive Macbook
Expand your storage with CloudMounter
Stop worrying about choosing the best storage solution. You can use all of them from one spot with CloudMounter. Give it a try!
This trick lets you deal with cloud data in the same manner as you’d with local one, and even move files between the clouds. Another great benefit of using CloudMounter is the latest encryption algorithm that guarantees the security of your cloud files. Plus, it allows encrypting sensitive data on the cloud and doesn’t share your login info with any third parties.
CloudMounter works perfectly with all major cloud services and could very well become your ultimate cloud manager if you’re constantly dealing with storage issues or feel there’s not enough free space on your Mac’s SSD.
Not even a bit less vital when dealing with loads of data is making sure you have a good backup of the most important files. Get Backup Pro is an elegant backup app just for that.
Google Drive For Mac Os
Get Backup Pro is fast, reliable, and offers a mix of four different backup methods: simple copy, clone, incremental, and versioned. With this app, you can back up folders or files that you think are important, cut the size of archives up to 60% by conducting compressed backups, effortlessly migrate data to a new disk with bootable backups via cloning, and schedule Stealth mode backups — with Get Backup Pro automatically closing once all scheduled processes are finished.
It goes without saying that cloud storage encourages collaboration and file sharing. If you work with different files online and often need to share links, Dropshare should be your app of choice for fast and secure file exchange.
Dropshare is a platform that works brilliantly with your favorite cloud services and lets you upload files in bulk with its easy drag & drop functionality, as well as securely share files, documents, and photos with password-protected expiring download links, and even set your own keyboard shortcuts to complete routine tasks faster.
If you’re still asking yourself how to use Google Backup and Sync — 15 GB of free storage space, excellent collaboration features, and ability to access your files from any of your devices will surely give you lots of ideas on how to make the most of it. With clouds come possibilities, but you‘re the one who really decides what is Google Drive going to be on your Mac.
Best of all, you can find CloudMounter, Get Backup Pro, and Dropshare mentioned above on a free 7-day trial through Setapp, a platform of more than 150 useful Mac utilities that could change the way you work day to day. Ready for action on cloud Google?
Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.
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