Drive File Stream
How can Drive File Stream help me work with non-Google files?
Drive File Stream is particularly useful if you store files in your Google Drive (e.g. Microsoft Office files, PDFs, Photoshop files etc.). By using Drive File Stream you can:
Easily open and work on non-Google files in their native applications: For example, you can open a Word file in Microsoft Word and make changes. When you save the file, the changed version will be automatically uploaded back to Google Drive. This eliminates the need to download and upload non-Google files.
See when other people are editing Microsoft Office files stored in Google Drive: Drive File Stream has a real-time presence feature that can show you when other people are making changes to a Microsoft Office file. This helps prevent version conflicts.
Access non-Google files offline: You can nominate specific folders and files to be available via Drive File Stream when you are offline.
Store files using a desktop sync client
If you like to open and work on files from your desktop and also store them in Drive, install Google Drive for Mac/PC. This desktop sync client is convenient for storing a large collection of files that would otherwise take a long time to upload.
(If you decide later to uninstall the client, your Drive files won’t be affected and can still be accessed from Drive on the web.)
Google Drive for Mac/PC is only available if your Google Workplace administrator has turned it on for your organization or team.
To use the client, you install Drive on your computer, which creates a desktop folder named Google Drive. This folder works like any other folder on your computer, except that anything you put in it automatically syncs to the web and to any other devices with Drive installed.
Install Drive on your computer:
Go to the Drive download page.
Click on Download & install Drive File Stream and select Mac and PC.
Choose a destination for the installation file, click Save.
Open the file and follow the instructions to install Drive.
Move files to the Drive desktop folder:
Now that you’ve installed Drive on your computer, you can store files right from your desktop.
Decide which files you want to store in Drive.
(Optional) Organize the files in folders the way you want them to appear in Drive.
Move the files and folders into the Drive folder on your computer. From now on, these files exist in the Drive folder and are synced with other devices that also have Drive installed.
If your Internet connection breaks or you need to go offline in the middle of a sync, Google Drive for Mac/PC picks up where it left off when you’re back online.
Access non-Google files offline
If you like you can make non-Google files available offline. This so if you are out an about or the file is large and slow to open you always have the file there to work on. The file will always stay synced to your Google Drive.
Make the file/folder available offline
Locate the file/folder you want to be offline. The file/folder can be located in My Drive or in a Team drive.
Right-click on the file.
Under Drive File Stream chose Available offline
If you want to make a Google file available offline you can do this under the settings menu in Drive or on the specific file in Sheets, Docs, Slides landing pages. Right-click on the file and click on the slider.