Google has announced that it is discontinuing the Google Drive app for Mac/PC as of May, 2018 and has replaced it with two options: Drive File Stream or Google Backup & Sync.
Rest assured, all your files are safe. Drive File Stream & Google Backup & Sync are very similar to the soon-to-be-retired Google Drive application, with minor differences.
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1. If you do all of your work within the Chrome browser (or on a Chromebook), stop here: this doesn’t apply to you.
2. If, in addition to working with Google’s native document file formats (e.g. Docs, Sheets, and Slides), you also edit non-Google document types (e.g. Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint; Adobe PDF and Photoshop; Apple Pages, Numbers, Keynote) and save them in Google Drive,
Either email us at help@meadowbrook-ma.org and we will help you out OR
3. Proceed with these instructions to remove the old Google Drive app and download and install the new Google File Sync application:
a. Run one final sync of your drive documents using the Google Drive app for Mac/PC that is already installed on your computer
b. Confirm there are no sync errors
c. Sign out of the Google Drive app
d. Uninstall the Google Drive app
e. Delete your old Google Drive folder from your computer, and
f. Download and install Drive File Stream [ Download for Mac ] [ Download for Windows ]
About Google File Stream:
File Stream works in conjunction with Google’s Chrome web browser to give you the ability to find and open files saved in Google Drive using your computer’s desktop environment.
File Stream also gives you the ability to automatically keep your recently edited documents and to make documents available offline manually (i.e. when you don’t have an Internet connection and still need to work). Here’s how:
After installing File Stream on your computer, you may want to enable offline access to files. If so, follow these instructions to enable the offline access feature in Chrome, and then go here to enable offline access for your documents.
If for any reason you have questions about File Stream or offline access to documents, or if File Stream doesn’t quite meet your needs, please let us know and we can discuss other options.