Re: Drive for desktop on Mac OS (Ventura)

MagpiesMike · 02-07-2023 10:17 AM

Hello everyone,

I've been supporting a client as their users upgrade their Mac OS to the latest version, Ventura. Users were prompted some time after the upgrade to modify the Drive for desktop solution to align to the new Mac OS approach to managing cloud based storage solutions. After that change users experienced extremely poor performance when opening as well as saving documents located on Google Drive. We reviewed the documentation provided by Google on how to manage this change. See below:

Use File Provider with Drive for desktop

The section titled "Why am I being asked to enable Google Drive?" does not seem to be accurate based on our experience. The steps we followed were to

Open Finder, Select Google Drive and navigate to Get Info
Click the check box Shared Folder
Change the local user rights from Read Only to Read Write

These two changes appeared to have an immediate impact on performance. Our sense is that users were previously downloading/mirroring copies of all documents they were working on rather than streaming them. Also note that when dragging a document from Google Drive the desktop (and possibly other local drive locations), the document is moved from Drive to the Mac; removing the document from Drive. Holding the Option key while dragging the document makes a copy of the document locally.

QUESTIONS:

Is this the appropriate way to address the change? It would be challenging if it was a large population of users.
Is there any additional documentation on the change that we are missing?
Is there any detailed documentation on the function of Drive for desktop for users? We only found out about the copy v. move feature by chance.

Thanks to this communities support on this topic.

christiannewman

Apple's change has definitely caused some challenges with Drive for Desktop.

Aside from issues with generally poor performance, I've encountered:

teams of multiple users, some of whom were streaming, and some mirroring, even though both had configured Drive for Desktop to stream
locally edited files not syncing back to Drive
error messages and sync issues with editing large files (enabling offline mode and marking those files as available offline helped)
inability to delete folders (MacOS says the it's 'in use' even when it's not - fix is to empty the folders, move them to My Drive, unshare from all useres/groups, then delete them)

You'd think Apple would've worked with Google (and Dropbox, Box, etc) proactively to prepare for such a major change... but perhaps they didn't?

Tom_Sch

We ran into the same issue and I mentioned that already. Google did a bad job in communicating this over and over. And yes Apple should have helped more, but if you take a look at the history all companies had enough time to prepare this and MS was the first to implement this. Even though they had a rough start it is working now. I am sure Google is able to do the same. TBH sometimes I think Google doesn't want a great experience on any other devices than their ChromeOS things. If they want happy users can reallocate some devs to be prepared in time for such a change.

MagpiesMike

UPDATE: I've spent time with Google Support and below is what I've learned.

this is a known issue caused by Apple that Google has and continues to work on addressing. Google has attempted to address the issues with the latest release of Google Drive for desktop. However, in some scenarios there is a Terminal command line routine that may need to be run to resolve the issues ("touch ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/DriveFS/fp_left_beta").
the approach I described on how to resolve the issue manually under Get Info are the right steps. This will need to happen on each user's device manually, if not resolved by the upgraded Drive for desktop version
Apple's OS change is driving new behaviors in Google Drive. As an example the "move v. copy" is what Apple wants to happen. I'm still working with Support to determine if there is any available documentation on features/expected behaviors

I agree with Christian, this seems to be a big miss on Apple with this change.

elproto0

I'm trying to help a client organization that uses Workspace. This problem has disrupted the workflow of those people who have upgraded to Ventura. I read your fix using Get Info. The problem is that I can't locate Google Drive in the finder, except in the sidebar. In older versions, I could find it in the user's Home folder. Can Drive be mounted as a volume in Venture?

MagpiesMike

elproto0,

In short, I'm not sure that it can be mounted as a volume. The only place I found Google Drive was in the sidebar, as you mentioned. Wish I had more guidance for you.

Mike

RasmusH

Hey Mike, thank you for the update. My team is having major issues as well due to the file changes on MacOS. Did the Google support you spoke to give the green light to the solutions for listed? We are a bit hessitant as there has been no official message from Google as far as i can tell.

MagpiesMike

RasmusH,

Yes, the Google Support person I worked with did say that this is the right solution. I agree though, it would be nice to have an support message published by Google that walks through the solution. Best of luck with the resolution - certainly feel free to reach out with any other questions you have.

nickdilz

This Terminal command worked for the last few weeks, but now that Google updated Drive I can't get Drive to work at all. Is anyone else that used this fix experiencing the same thing? @MagpiesMike is it still working for you post-update? Is there a way to undo it?

Many thanks,
Patrick

MagpiesMike

Nick,

My client has not raised any issues since we identified the fix. I will reach out and if I find out they are having new problems, I'll let you know. Sorry for the delayed response.

Mike

crickwaters

@MagpiesMike, What does creating emptyfile, fp_left_beta, do?

bryanmonty

Hi,

We are having issues that sound very similar to what is here. We are working with Google support, but so far have been unable to get our three macs to all work seamlessly with Drive since upgrading our OS. Some files seem to sync, but other larger files do not.

Has anyone gotten official steps from Google as to how to proceed?

Thank you,

Bryan

Dubare

I posted the below over on the Google Drive support page, hoping this issue gets escalated;

This issue is plaguing our agency also. I've been running the terminal command cited above for the last month on affected Macs as a hotfix but as of yesterday, they all seem to be reverting to the 'broken' state again. After re-applying the terminal command did nothing, I deleted Google Drive and all the related ~/Library files I could find for GD, then reinstalled it, it worked for about 24h .... then reverted back!

Very concerned about this issue as we share POSIX file paths hundreds of times a day to collaborate between and within teams, now an efficient process has turned into a massive waste of time as our team try to find files by looking at malformed paths.

Google and Apple, please get it together as you're costing your customers significant time and money with this issue.

elucia

I have been having this problem for weeks.

I have 3 Google Workspace accounts. I work primarily on my desktop iMac, but I am using Google Drive for Desktop so that I can access my accounts on my MacBook Pro when I travel (which I do a lot).

I DO want to MIRROR all three accounts (not stream) on the desktop iMac because I simply do not want my work all in the google cloud and my 4TB hard drive on the desktop is plenty of storage space.

Recently, however, I am getting DUPLICATE "My Drive" files on my iMac Finder (HD / Users / My User Name / My Drive).

The duplicate drives look like this:

"My Drive (account name)" is then duplicated to: My Drive (account name) (1)"

New files and folders that I work on during the day may or MAY NOT make it into the duplicate "My Drive" folder!! And....if I Save, Create, or Download a file to my Finder / My Drive, it does NOT show up on the browser version of my Google Drive(s).

I've managed to talk to a live human being at Google support for Google Workspace; they tried several times, with no solutions. They told me to call Apple. Apple tech support OF COURSE said it was a GOOGLE problem, and to call Google.

I have literally spent dozens of hours over the past few weeks, and I am going crazy with this. Trying to run (launch) a business, losing files, wasting so much time and losing money.

When I tried your solution, MagpiesMike, of going to Get Info on My Drive, the Drive folder has a SLASH through the Cloud icon folder. If I click on "Shared Folder" will that STOP the Mirroring and will I then be just Streaming?

Again, I DO want to Mirror all files on the iMac.

Thanks very much for your input on this problem. I sure wish Apple and Google would get it together. I'm so tired of spending so much money and being dependent on these systems that then stop working!

Karen_Gould

This situation is a huge problem for me and my company. I have now opened my fourth ticket with Google. This is the information I provided after being told that by Google Apple was diligently working to resolve the problem.

During the call with Shiva on Friday, March 3rd, Shiva said that this issue we are having is a known issue and that Apple is involved. Apparently, Apple changed the file path for files that were being synced to Google Drive ( or something along those lines - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254365509). Shiva said that Apple is actively working on resolving the problem with updates every couple of hours and that the solution was anticipated by March 5th. Shiva put me on a list to receive updates.

I received one update March 2 that said:

Hello Google Admin,

Your Case #43810779 for has been updated.

Case Subject: Google Drive syncing issues and missing contents

Case Comment :

After reviewing the information you provided, we believe that you may have been affected by an issue that has already been resolved. Please review the details below to confirm that we've correctly identified your issue - Some Shared Drive files and folders are not appearing in Google Drive for Desktop:

Affected Product(s):

Drive

Status:

Fully Resolved

Description:

Some Shared Drive files and folders are not appearing in Google Drive for Desktop.

How to diagnose:

1. Sign in to Google Drive for Desktop

2. Sync your files

3. Some Shared Drive files and folders are not appearing in Google Drive for Desktop

Workaround:

There are two workarounds:

1. Force refresh the affected folder.

* Windows: Shift+Right Click > Refresh folder

* Mac: Ctrl+Right Click > Refresh folder

2. Log out and log back in.

Current update:

At 2021-11-01 15:05 UTC (1 year ago):

The fix for this issue has been fully released with Drive for desktop version 52 as of October 27th, 2021.

Previous updates:

At 2021-10-20 17:45 UTC (1 year ago):

A version containing the fix is currently rolling out in production. All users will likely have access to the fix release by the end of October.

----

At 2021-09-28 04:52 UTC (1 year ago):

The release schedule indicates that the next Drive for Desktop version will be released this week, however this may change.

----

At 2021-09-08 04:01 UTC (1 year ago):

Product Engineering has submitted code for the fix. The code must undergo testing, and follow the scheduled release cycle before it reaches users.

Please review your case and take any actions as requested. If you have any questions or require immediate assistance, please reply to this email to contact Google Workspace Support.
You can also view and comment on your case by logging into our support portal

Thanks for choosing Google Workspace.
—The Google Team

I called Apple and Apple said this is a Google problem and sent me back to Google with no information.

For clarity this is what is happening in my organization:

Files are being updated on a local computer with Google Drive installed and are being saved to the Google Drive folder on their computer that is syncing to a shared drive on Google Drive.

We had no issues whatsoever until after Apple's Ventura update.

In December/January two of my users discovered that other users were unable to see their files on the shared drive even though they could see the files on their computer and the files resided in the Google Drive folder on their computer.

To resolve the problem we did the following:

Paused and restarted syncing. - No change

Signed out of Google Drive and signed back into Google Drive - No change

Per specific Google Drive Technician Support we then did the following:

Uninstalled Google Drive, Reinstalled Google Drive, cleared the Google Drive cache

The problem was resolved for both users but all the work that was done and had not yet synced with Google Drive was lost.

I was told Google had addressed the problem and that there should be no more new instances of this problem.

Then in late February we had a recurrence of the issue. We tried everything except uninstalling and reinstalling Google Drive because there was no way we could risk losing all the work that had not been synced.

We have 10 designers updating many files daily. We don't know if the files have not been synced unless a different designer than the one who last worked on the file goes to work on the file and notices that the file is out of date.

One of the most recently impacted users has touched at least 60 projects and multiple files within those projects.

As of right now I have five designers that we know have been impacted by this issue.

If we back up all of the files they have touched and then uninstall, reinstall Google Drive and clear the Google Drive cache to rectify the problem with syncing we are left with another HUGE issue.

We don't know what we can safely attempt to resync from the backed up files without risking overwriting the newer work done daily by designers without the syncing issues. We have no way to identify programmatically or without an endless amount of checking and rechecking whether it is safe to sync the files that were not synced while the user was impacted.

And I still have five designers who have not experienced the issue as far as we can tell but could be impacted at any time for all we know.

This discussion thread on the Apple Community forum is very disheartening as it suggest rolling back to Monterey as a solution. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210737

I hope this Google Workspace discussion can bring about some change soon!

elucia

Thanks Karen for very accurately describing what I have had to go through as well: trying to figure out where missing files are, which files are current...I've lost files after following the same instructions to uninstall, reinstall, etc. etc.

Google says call Apple, Apple says call Google.

Meanwhile I am tearing my hair out and losing much time and money.

THANKS Apple and Google....why can't you just play nicely together? We're trying to run businesses here.

Google Workspace has been great for me...now...it's a nightmare.

Dubare

Spoke to Google Workspace Support and here is what they said;

So upon checking thoroughly and cooperating with my supports, currently, there is no other workaround that we can provide to fix the location for the Google Drive for Desktop as per the recent update with Apple introduce the File Provider for Google Drive for Desktop where in OS version 12 above, the location of the Drive for Desktop is already controlled by the Apple products itself. You can refer to this article for reference https://support.google.com/drive/answer/12178485 - Use File Provider with Drive for desktop. Google

Also, as additional information, we can guarantee that this expected behavior from the Google Drive for Desktop path location will be temporary as per Product Engineering update, there is already an ongoing patch to fix this kind of behavior where Google and Apple engineers are collaborating together to apply this as soon as possible. You may visit this page as well to get realtime information regarding the update https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/search/label/Drive%20for%20desktop

sf_comm

For users having issues with the files being moved, creating a symlink from the old location to the new location is a fix I've used. In my case, teams of editors working on a project with files on certain file path. The command to create a symlink is here:

#replace with username without brackets
ln -s /Users/[user-path]/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-[google-username]/ /Volumes/GoogleDrive
#example
ln -s /Users/jdoe/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-jdoe@example.com/ /Volumes/GoogleDrive

Chrstian

I tried it pointing the CloudStorage folder from my external drive but havent gotten it to work.

I made the CloudStorage folder on the external drive and point it to the location of where the CloudStorage folder is created, i think...

Should I uninstall and reinstall? Is there an order to installing g-drive to make sure the symlink works?

ChuckC

This is exactly what I did to stop all the links being broken and works perfectly. I do want/need to move the cache to an external drive however (as we used to be able to do) but cant for the life of me figure out where the cache setting or location is now.

MClark

Our business operations have effectively come to a standstill as a result of the file path change from /Volumes/GoogleDrive to the user-unique File Provider controlled paths.

We need this resolved as a matter of urgency.

sf_comm

I've used a symlink to solve that issue. Symlinks point file paths to another location. So any broken file path by the move will be resolved. It will have to be run by a user with admin rights.

ln -s /Users/jdoe/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-jdoe@example.com/ /Volumes/GoogleDrive

MClark

Thanks for the suggestion, but unfortunately we have tried this without success. As we are using applications that use absolute links to assets stored on Google Drive, those applications are still seeing the path under /Users, so anyone else opening a working file that links to assets on Google Drive will have broken links

icrew

One of the best ways to get feedback directly to the team working on any Google product is to use the built-in "Send Feedback" functionality. The relevant team is far more likely to see the feedback there than in a thread on this site, honestly. As the name implies, this site is mainly the community of users using Google products--there's not a huge amount of traffic from actual Googlers.

In the case of Drive for Desktop on MacOS, that's under the gear icon in the Drive for Desktop menu:

Hope that helps,

Ian

Karen_Gould

Thanks, Ian. I'll try that too. I have four cases on this topic with the Google Drive support team and I am still not getting any good traction. I have started including the link to this community thread in my case updates.

Karen_Gould

@MClark Thank you for this update to the thread. You have captured the same scenario we are up against.

@sf_comm Thank you your recommendation. Do you have any additional ideas given MClark's and my situation?

@elucia Have you tried the suggestion that @sf_comm made?

sf_comm

Another option is to use MacOS's finder alias. Very similar to a symlink. You can find an alias for the new google drive location in your /home folder.

Copy that to your /Volumes and then rename it without the space. (google drive used to mount there without a space in its name). Admin privileges will be required.

In my use case it works. Just to give context, we have a group of editors using video editor software and the projects save absolute or relative file paths for project files. Which are /Volumes/GoogleDrive/Shared Drives/... [etc] . With the file moves all the paths are broken and if they switched the paths to the new location. It would be unique. A symlink or MacOS finder alias resolves this issue as the project can still find the files using the original path.

MClark

I'm finding that this solution works for existing links in working files, but any new assets linked through Google Drive revert to the /Users directory, therefore the absolute link for other Drive users becomes obsolete.

Karen_Gould

@sf_comm Thanks for the additional suggestion. I will explore how this works for our team with @MClark comments in mind.

sf_comm

@MClark Ok. I see what you're talking about. If the application follows/expands the alias or symlink path, it causes problems. An option is to use 3rd party software to create a Volume from the directory (macos utilities don't allow you to do that) or using a 3rd party app like https://mountainduck.io/ to manage the google drive syncing.

Either way Apple needs to provide the option to set custom paths with the new File Provider.

elucia

Karen, I've read @sf_comm's solution and but it's not connecting with my brain, to be honest! I'm thinking of calling Apple and asking them to walk me through that process because I literally have no idea where to start with it. I am grateful to everyone on this thread for offering your expertise!

MClark

We are having to resort to shutting down all Google software updates, locking down the Google folders in Finder so that nothing can we written to them and installing ver71 until we get some sort of response from the cricket nest that is Google and Apple.

I don't understand how any remote working studio that is utilizing a cloud storage solution is meant to work effectively with a team using File Provider. Am I missing something entirely here? Is this how Apple is trying to force their own employees back into the office?

LukaP

Hi MClark,

We have same problem in our company. Did reverting to ver 71 help you? And its working ? Also how do you stop google drive from updating

Karen_Gould

@MClark Thanks for the update. What is version 71?

For what it is worth as of Thursday my Google case was escalated. We provided a video demonstrating that on a computer a file appears to be synced but when viewing the file in the browser it is clearly not up to date and pdfs are sometime completely empty. We also sent the file ID and the logs.

How to Capture Google Drive for desktop logs for support:
You can collect log files in the app:

On your computer, in the menu bar, click Drive for desktop
Press and hold the Shift key and click Settings

Generate Diagnostic Info.
You’ll get a notification when a ZIP file of the logs is saved to your desktop.

Send the ZIP file to your support agent.

I encourage everyone in this thread to create a case and do the same. I have been sharing the URL of this thread every time I make an update to the case. I'll will keep updating here until this issue is resolved.

Thanks!

MClark

Version 71 of Google Drive is the last version that supported the touch command to leave the file provider beta and retain /Volumes/GoogleDrive. Version 72 cannot be opted out of.

I too have been sending feedback via the Drive app and hope that something gets sorted asap. I'm struggling to understand how there isn't more of a conversation about this around the net... are people perhaps completely unaware of this issue and just thinking something on their end is broken?

Tom_Sch

I agree, but if someone from Google reads this they should be aware that Google Drive is not working reliable at the moment and they should prioritise this at Google. Even without a ton of feedback. Google Drive is such an important tool it should just work! Don't start blaming Apple, just focus on the customer. We are paying and we are important and don't care what is happening behind the curtain. That is their problem. We just want it to work!

I am dealing with a lot of issues as well and we rely on that tool. Being the admin right now is not cool. So hurry up Google... Oh and don't forget to communicate with your customers about updates and changes 😉

Karen_Gould

@MClark Same. Where is everyone on this?

RasmusH

Google just responded to my ticket. They told me they are starting to roll out v. 72 of the desktop app. As far as i know this should include some much needed fixes for ventura!

Tom_Sch

I believe this after testing the new update. 😉

RasmusH

I'm not too sure about the bugs being fixed 😅 Will have to test next week as we are currently hosting a big congress event.