Adding Google Drive to Nautilus File Manager

Google, unfortunately, does not provide a software package for Linux for Google Drive support. However, one can still get support for Google Drive through third-party software or one can use support provided with GNOME Files, aka Nautilus, which is the default file manager for the GNOME desktop software under CentOS 7 Linux. To be able to access files and transfer files to and from Google Drive storage under CentOS 7 Linux, take the following steps:

1. Click on Applications at the top, left-hand corner of the screen and select System Tools.

2. Then select Settings.

3. Select Online Accounts from Settings.

4. In the online accounts list, click on Google.

5. You will then be presented with a Google Account sign in window where you can provide your Google credentials, e.g., an email address or phone number.

6. After you hit enter and log in, you will then be asked to accede to allowing GNOME to access your Google account, which will allow GNOME the following access:

   • Read, compose, send, and permanently delete all your email from Gmail
   • See, edit, create, and delete all your Google Drive files
   • See, edit, create, and delete any of your Google Drive documents
   • Manage your printers
   • See, edit, download, and permanently delete your contacts
   • See, edit, create, and delete your spreadsheets in Google Drive
   • See, edit, share, and permanently delete all the calendars you can access using Google Calendar
   • Manage your photos and videos
   • View and send chat messages
   • Create, edit, organize, and delete all your tasks

     You can scroll down to the bottom of the list and click on the Allow button to accept the agreement. You can then close the Google Account window by clicking on the "X" at the top, right-hand side of the window.

If you then click on Applications and Files, you should see your Google account listed at the left side of the window. You can then copy files to and from your Google Drive folders to the local host or access files already stored in Google Drive.

[ More Info ]

[/network/web/services/google/drive] permanent link

Free 2 GB Google Drive storage increase on Safer Internet Day

Since today is the yearly Safer Internet Day, you can get a free, permanent additional 2 gigabytes (GB) of storage on Google Drive today just by checking the security settings for any Google account you may have, e.g., a Gmail account. If you are signed into your Google account in your browser, when you go to www.google.com, you should see "It's #SaferInternetDay. Stay safe online with a 2-minute Security Checkup". If you click on the "Security Checkup" link you will be prompted to verify your security settings. If you are not signed in, you will see "It’s #SaferInternetDay. Explore tips to help you stay safe online", instead. You can also start the process by going to Security Checkup and signing in to your Google account from that page.

If you missed the storage upgrade opportunity on February 9, Valentina Palladino notes in Today you can get 2GB of Google Drive storage for free that "There's no word on when this 2GB offer will expire, but you have at least one week to complete the security check-up."

It should only take about a minute to complete the process. At the first step of the process you will be prompted to "Check your recovery information" for your account.

Help us get in touch with you if there’s unusual activity in your account or you accidentally get locked out. Don’t worry, we’ll only use this info if we need to reach you about your account.

You will be asked to verify that your recovery phone number, recovery email address, and security question are correct. At the next step you will be asked to "Check your connected devices"

Next, please review the devices connected to your Google Account. Let us know if any of these devices look unfamiliar to you, and we'll work together to ensure no one else has access to your account.

You will be shown a list of devices identified as "Windows", "Linux", etc. depending on what devices you use to access your account, and a city where that device was used to log into your Google account. If they look ok to you, you can click on "Looks good" and proceed to the next step, which is "Check your account permissions". E.g., if you use Google Drive, you may see it listed with "Has some account access, including Google Drive, Google Hangouts". You will see other services listed to which you've given permission to access some information associated with your Google account. You will see the date authorization was granted to a service and you have the opportunity to remove access to Google account information by that service. If they all look ok, you can click on "Done" to complete the process. If you click on "Continue to account settings", if you click on "Your Google Drive storage" under "Account preferences" on the left side of the browser window, you should see that you've been granted another 2 GB of storage on Google Drive.

The files that you store in Google Drive are always encrypted in transit between your systems and Google's servers and also while stored in Google’s data centers. By confirming the settings for your account, also, you help to ensure the security and privacy of the data that you store using Google's services.

References:

1. Today you can get 2GB of Google Drive storage for free
   Yet another annual promotion from Google, marking Safer Internet Day 2016.
   By Valentina Palladino
   Date: February 9, 2016
2. Google Is Awarding 2GB Of Free Drive Space To Promote Safer Internet Day
   By: Amit Chowdhry
   Date: February 9, 2016
   Forbes

[/network/web/services/google/drive] permanent link

Synching Google Drive from the command line

If you want to synchronize files stored on a computer with the Google Drive cloud from the command line, the only way to do so currently using the application provided by Google appears to be to kill the googledrivesync.exe process that handles the synchronization and then restart it. You can kill the processes - there are actually two of them running with the same "googledrivesync.exe" name - from the command line with taskkill /f /fi "imagename eq googledrivesync.exe" and then restart them with the command "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Drive\googledrivesync, assuming that the googledrivesync application is stored in the default location of "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Drive\.

[ More Info ]

[/network/web/services/google/drive] permanent link

Google Drive files not syncing - not connected

If Google Drive files are not synchronizing between systems or files are not appearing when you view the conents of your Google Drive storage area from a browser by going to drive.google.com, it is possible the system that should be synchronizing the files has lost its connection to Google Drive. Clicking on the Google Drive icon in the system tray should reveal if that is the case. It can be easy to remedy the connection problem, but you may have to wait a fair amount of time before all files are synchronized after you reestablish the connection.

[ More Info ]

[/network/web/services/google/drive] permanent link