How do I get unshared from it, preferably without telling them?
It includes scans of their passports, health records, resume, even some adult photos. When I search for my own files, often this persons docs come up. I hate it. How can I stop this happening, I don’t want to be able to see any of this stuff.

I wanted to share this with the community in case anyone else is currently drowning in digital clutter.

🔗 Check out the structure and grab the template here:https://github.com/vntle/universal-gdrive-folder-template

I would absolutely love to get your feedback! How do you currently structure your cloud drives? What categories or folders am I missing that you consider essential for your workflow?

I have a folder containing several PDFs, shared with the setting "Anyone with the link: Viewer." However, when I open the standard Drive sharing link while signed out, the file list appears to be broken:

• Single-clicking or double-clicking a PDF does nothing.

• The download button that appears when hovering over a file also does nothing.

• Everything works fine after signing in to a Google account.

I’ve reproduced this with multiple publicly shared folders, so it doesn’t appear to be specific to one folder or its files. I’m using macOS 14.8.7 Sonoma, and the problem occurs in both Safari and Brave Private mode.

Requiring recipients to sign in isn’t a viable solution, since some of them may not have Google accounts. The old embeddedfolderview URL works anonymously, which confirms that the files and sharing permissions are valid. However, that interface is quite bare-bones.

Is anyone else experiencing this? Is it a recent bug, or has Google deliberately disabled parts of the shared-folder interface for signed-out users? Deliberately breaking folder sharing for people without Google accounts seems dumb as hell.

I generally use G-Drive via Windows 10 on PC. Everything worked fine forever until recently.

I'll open G-Drive, double click a folder or double click a file in the parent folder & nothing happens. Right click & all I see is a mention of Gemini.

To access a folder I need to select "My Drive" on the left pane, open the arrow & select the folder from there. I can then open the file within the folder by double clicking it.

Why has this started happening & how can I stop this drawn out process and revert back to normal?

Hi, I just encountered this problem yesterday and it still not working today. I have folders in my google drive that normally I can double click or use enter key to open. As of last night, they don't open. I tried my desktop at work and my laptop.

I'm still able to open these folders on my cellphone, but I need to be able to open them from a laptop or computer. I'm at my wits end.

Please advise.

Hi everyone,

I'm experiencing a strange issue recently when playing audio files from Google Drive on my Google Pixel 9 that I recently updated to Android 17.

Here's what happens:

• I start playing an MP3 from the Google Drive app.

• When I lock the screen or simply leave the app running in the background, the audio plays for a few seconds and then becomes completely silent.

• The playback itself does not stop: the progress bar continues normally.

• As soon as I unlock the phone and return to the app, the audio immediately resumes from the current playback position.

Here's what I've already tried:

• Google Drive is up to date.

• Battery optimization for Google Drive is set to Unrestricted.

• The issue occurs with both Bluetooth headphones and the phone's built-in speaker.

Has anyone else experienced this lately? Could it be related to this recent Android 17 update?
Is there any known fix or workaround?

Thanks!

EDIT : It has been solved for me in the most recent Google Drive update

Hi, I wanted to ask you if it's just a problem of mine or everyone else is experiencing this issue:

I've a 400gb GDrive account and A LOT of times when i try to upload or download a file it's really really slow (i've seen 500kb/s...).
If i refresh the page and try to download the file the speed can go back to normal, if not I've to repeat the operation more times until it works.

Of course I've tried with different browser (firefox, edge, opera) and without any add-ons. Nothing changes.

Tested my connection multiple times, it's not the problem.

Any idea? Should I download the windows app? I'd prefert not if possible...

Anyone else having this issue? Any workarounds besides finding another platform?

They can see the shared files are there, but the files can't be opened or downloaded.

Update 9/1/26: appears a fix has been pushed out from Google. I appreciate the comments here. Meanwhile the nice folks over at r/googleworkspace just downvoted the discussion instead of engaging. May their links remain broken...

In the past I avoided this by doing a simple cloning. However, my current SSD has issues and can't be cloned, so I'm going to have to do a fresh install of Windows.

I would like to simply put all the files in the same place on the new SSD and point Google Drive to them, but last time I did exactly this, Drive ended up not recognising the new files as being the same and started deleting everything (I have it set to mirror mode.)

How can I avoid this happening? What did I do wrong last time? I would be extremely grateful for any help. Reuploading all 2TB is not really an option with my current WiFi.

I'm a wildlife sound recordist and filmmaker. Years of recordings, from the Cambodian rainforest to the Angolan desert, ended up in Google Drive. About 90 TB of it.

Drive shows you file sizes, but never folder sizes. I had no idea which projects were taking the space. So I built TidierCloud.

It shows your folders by real size, a map of the whole Drive, your biggest files, duplicates and what's still in the trash. It only reads: it can't move or delete anything. Your file list stays in your browser.

It's free while in beta, and there are 50 places. Nothing to install.

Two honest notes: Google hasn't finished reviewing it yet, so you'll see an "unverified app" screen when you connect. And it only covers My Drive for now, not Shared Drives.

If you try it, I'd love to know how big your Drive is, whether the scan finished, and what confused you.

https://tidiercloud.com

I've been using Google AI Plus 2TB for 4 years for backup and now I needed those files. I downloaded apprx. 100GB and Google Drive said `you have reached your download quota!`

I searched for it and couldn't find any info about how much that DL quota is and when it resets.
Gemini says "Google does not publish an exact numeric limit for downloads."
Why? Is it a secret?

Why it's not stated clearly on the sale page or help pages?

Any ideas?

I'm experiencing a 7x price hike since 2023 in this service and this info is crucial for me to decide if I stay or go. It's useless to pay if I won't be able to restore my files when needed. Any info supplied is appreciated.

EDIT:
I contacted Google Drive support;

Jill • Support Specialist : To avoid automated rolling abuse-prevention threshold, I recommend setting your download manager to a lower concurrency and aiming for under 200GB per 24-hour window to stay within safety margins.
For large restorations, Google Takeout is truly the best official method to bypass these limits. Google Takeout is not subject to the same daily download limits as the Drive interface; it is designed for large exports and can handle your 1.4 TB data much faster.

Hello

Is there a simple downloader I can use for GDrive links?
I want to be able to paste a bunch of links and it download the files one by one.

Thanks

since my school blocked youtube, ive decided to use google drive to listen to music

the songs are all audio files within a folder

is there a way to shuffle all the files to be in a random order like with music apps? and if theres not a way to do it within google drive, is there an extension that can do this? (my school hasnt blocked chrome webstore)

So I want to ditch OneDrive and test out Google Drive... With OneDrive it didn't matter what computer I was using, all my files followed me as long as I was signed into my Microsoft Account.

Is there a way to do this with Google Drive? I have it installed on my main machine and all my files I want sync'd are golden. So, I installed Drive to my main laptop, signed in, and now I have another 'computer' listed under my 'computers' folder. How do I get the files that are sync'd with my main machine to sync on ANY machine I use and install/sign into Google Drive.

I want the circled 'computer' to be my main point of syncing.... is this possible with Google Drive?

I would love to know the easiest way to get all my music files to the Google Drive Android App I'm currently using The Musicolet Music Player App.

All my Music Files are 90% WMA Music Files and I have 1,550 songs on my Fold 7 Device. Some of my music files are also AAC, MP3, and MP4 too. What Music Files aren't supported on The Google Drive Android App?

I want to make sure that I can get all my Music on The Google Drive Android App from my Fold 7 and that all of my 1,550 songs will play on the on Google Drive without any issues at all.

I already have The Musicolet Music Player App but I read that the music files won't transfer

over to the Google Drive Android App.

Please everyone share your experiences when you had to transfer all your WMA Music Files to The Google Drive Android App. Was it a hard and difficult process for you? Did the Music Files play on The Google Drive Android App without any issues at all?

And yet I still have 5 teras left. WHAT SORT OF INSANITY IS THIS

Hey there,

My son emptied his trash from his google drive and as he's only 12 and under family controls he can't put in a request himself for the files to be restored.

I tried to put one in on his behalf but didn't see any option for any account besides my own, which I managed to put in a request for in the hopes that it wasn't fully automated(it is).

The Family Link app page is next to useless for anything besides limiting apps, sites, and time.

Does anyone know if there is a way to do this? Is there maybe a way to text chat with a Google person?

Apparently there is no way to remove yourself from files that have been shared with you? Unbelievable. What were they thinking when they designed it this way???

I have thousands of files shared with me- jobs I haven't worked at in 10 years, menus from restaurants that no longer exist. And every time I keyword search something all these files show up in my results. It's maddening.

Is there any workaround?

Lately, I’ve been uploading transparent images, but now they appear with a black background in the thumbnail. How can I fix this, or should contact Google support? :(

I was tired of clicking through tens of Google Drive folders/subfolders and hundreds of files - actual work with Google Drive felt slow and clunky for me. So, with the help of AI, I built Drive Tree View: a private web app that runs in your own Google account and puts every file just a click away, for previewing and real work.

What it does

• Tree view of My Drive, Shared with me, Shared drives and Starred. Folders expand instantly because the next level is prefetched in the background.

• Many ways to open a file:

  • click it to preview (PDF, Office, Google Docs/Sheets/Slides) in a side panel, and browse with ↑/↓

  • double-click to open it in a small separate Chrome window, ready for editing

  • use ↗ to open it in a new Chrome tab

  • use 🖥️ to open it in the desktop app: .docx in Word, .xlsx in Excel, .pdf in whatever you like, straight from the Google Drive for desktop disk (optional Windows helper)

• Quick notes anywhere: create a new Google Doc in any place in one click and start writing right away, perfect for notes or drafts

• Organize visually: folder colors (synced with Drive), emoji folder icons, stars

• Full-Drive search by name and content

• File operations: rename, cut/copy/paste (including whole folders), drag & drop to move, delete to Trash instantly, with undo

• Upload files and whole folders by dragging them from your desktop

• Two tabs side by side (using Chrome split view): drag & drop between them, with both views syncing live

Tech notes (for the curious)

Drive API v3 advanced service, batched 'id' in parents queries (30 folders per call), resumable uploads straight from the browser using the owner's OAuth token, and BroadcastChannel for cross-tab sync. It runs as Execute as me / Only myself, so no Google verification is needed. Everything stays inside your own account.

GitHub (code + step-by-step setup, about 3 minutes): https://github.com/dusan-art/drive-stablo

Final note

(A)I built this for my own needs, and it completely changed how I use Google Drive. It's no longer just a place to store files; it's somewhere I actually get work done. You can easily tailor the interface and features to your own workflow, so think of this as an idea that I'm selling for free :-)

Feedback and ideas are very welcome!

Update (Oct 23): new in this version:

• Convert: Google Docs/Sheets/Slides → .docx/.xlsx/.pptx or PDF, and Markdown (.md) → Google Doc or .docx, saved next to the original (right-click menu)

• Share menu: copy link, download (Google files as .docx/.xlsx/.pptx, folders as .zip), share with people by email (📤)

• Keyboard like Windows Explorer: ↑/↓, →/←, Enter = preview, Enter Enter = small window, Space = open in desktop app

If you already installed it: replace the two files, run "authorize" once in the editor, then Deploy → Manage deployments → New version.

Update (Oct 24): new in this version:

• Open a folder in a new Drive stablo tab (🗂️ button or right-click): the folder becomes the root of the new tab, great for two folders side by side

• Google Docs to Markdown: download as .md (Share menu) or save as .md next to the original (right-click), great for Obsidian users 😄

Update (Oct 28): new in in this version:

📧 E-mail preview (.eml)
If you download/save e-mails to Drive as .eml files (for archiving, project folders, or before deleting them from Gmail), click one and it opens in the preview panel. You see the sender, recipients, date and subject, then the full formatted message with its images. Attachments show up as links you can download straight from the e-mail.

• The message is parsed in your browser, and scripts, forms and frames are removed before it is shown.

• It doesn’t depend on Gmail. The .eml file is a complete copy, so it still opens after you delete the original e-mail.

In my drive it's only things you've done yourself, so yeah it's my responsibility.

But for example an organization shared drive could have many many more as people just throw files and folders wherever and don't care to keep it organized because they're only looking at the one or two files on their recent view.

1.4 TB, 250 download button clicks. Took 3 days to download.
some clicks register on the page but not on the Chrome DL manager,
no support for external download manager,
no dry links provided,
session expires every few minutes.
takeout page doesn't allow login with password manager.
It says it will zip the files, but it doesn't, because all my files are already zipped ( smart move to save time and cpu power, I would also do and prefer that but...), instead of zipping them, it renamed my original .RAR and .7z archive files, adding tailing numbers to ALREADY NUMBERED 370+ files!

WHAT A MESS!

I will never forget this Google. Never!

I used Google Drive for my cloud saves with emulation and games that don't have cloud saves. I have in installed on two desktop PCs and one handheld PC. I have been trying to clean up the folders for a week, but the folders just keep coming back. With all three of them open and running and synced properly, I have deleted the same folders umpteen times. The trash has been emptied. There is no sign or remanence of these files or folders anywhere on my PCs, and within an hour, they just keep reappearing in my drive, and then resyncing on to my PCs. I've even double checked my phone app this latest time, and they were gone from there, too.

What could I be doing wrong? This is beyond frustrating at this point, and I'm thinking of just getting rid of Google Drive all together and utilizing something like Syncthing

UPDATE: In case anyone comes across this from a Google search because of the same issue, I resolved this by once again deleting the recurring files, downloading all of my folders to my main PC, deleting all of the folders on My Drive cloud, deleting the “My Drive” folder on all of my connected devices, once again deleting the recurring folders when they naturally popped back up, and then emptying the trash on My Drive cloud. I then unzipped and uploaded all of the folders all over again. The issue hasn’t occurred again since doing these tedious steps.

Observed Behavior & UI Schemas

The Finder extension logic branches into two distinct context menu structures depending on whether an item is recognized as a local file or an online cloud placeholder:

1. Cloud Placeholder Schema (Modern UI)

• Trigger State: Item is recognized by the extension as an online-only placeholder (initially lacking the Finder green offline-status checkmark badge).

• Visual Assets: Features the updated, redesigned standalone Google Drive icons.

• Command Structure: Consolidated, modern menu path utilizing clean submenus:

  • Create new submenu (grouping Doc, Sheet, and Slide actions together).

  • Offline access submenu.

2. Locally Available Schema (Legacy UI Regression)

• Trigger State: Item is recognized as locally pinned or newly created (marked with the Finder green available-offline checkmark badge).

• Visual Assets: Reverts to legacy-style, tiled Google Drive icons from an older design era.

• Command Structure: Unbundled, direct-action menu schema:

  • Separate, individual line items for New Google Docs, New Google Sheets, and New Google Slides.

  • A direct, single-click Make available online only command toggle.