Before I provide the installation instructions, you may ask yourself "why do I need this when i can access Drive through my browser?".


Many of us prefer to work with files locally on our Macs.  Using Google Drive for Desktop enables a copy of all of your Google Drive files and folders to be accessible on your Mac without having to open your browser.  An example would be that you're working on a Word document on your Mac.  You want to save it to Google Drive, but the process of doing so is cumbersome.  With Google Drive for Desktop you simply have to click on Save As, locate Google Drive on the Sidebar of Finder and then save it there directly.  The file will automatically sync with the cloud instance of Drive.  This is also very useful when pushing large amounts of data to Drive.



On your Mac, open Drive in your browser.

Click the Settings (cog icon) button on the upper right, next to the ? button.

Click on Get Drive for desktop, then the button for Mac.

  1. The GoogleDrive.dmg file is now in Downloads and can be used to install Google Drive. Open the file.
  2. Sign in to Google Drive.                                                                                            Sign In to Google Drive
  3. Allow Google Drive to use the information listed.                                     Google File Stream Allow Information Dialog Box
  4. The process should take a couple of minutes; once done you will have successfully installed Google Drive File Stream.