The single feature that turns Google Drive from a website you visit into a real working part of your business is the Drive for Desktop app. Once it is set up correctly, every Shared Drive appears as a folder in your Mac Finder or Windows Explorer. Files open in their native applications - Excel, Word, Photoshop, whatever - and changes sync back to the cloud automatically. The setup is straightforward; the gotchas are in the streaming vs offline behaviour.
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How Do You Get Shared Drives Onto Your Computer? (Quick Answers)
Q: How do I sync Google Shared Drives to my Mac or PC?
A: Install Google Drive for Desktop from drive.google.com/download. Sign in with your Workspace account. Once it is running, “Google Drive” appears as a virtual drive in Finder (Mac) or as a mounted drive in This PC (Windows), with My Drive and every Shared Drive you have access to as folders inside it. You can open, edit, and save files in their native apps; changes sync to the cloud automatically.
Q: What is the difference between streaming and offline access in Google Drive for Desktop?
A: Streaming is the default - files appear on your computer but are only downloaded when you open them, which saves hard-drive space. Offline access (“Make available offline”) forces a permanent local copy so the file works without internet. Use streaming for the bulk of your Drive and offline for the specific files you need on a flight or in a low-connectivity workspace.
Q: Can I sync more than one Google Workspace account on the same computer?
A: Yes. In the Drive for Desktop preferences, click “Add another account” and sign in with the second account. Both will appear in Finder or Explorer side-by-side, with separate folder trees. This is the right pattern for business owners juggling multiple brands or for staff who need both a personal and work Drive on the same machine.
My Drive vs Shared Drives: Why It Matters
Before touching the Desktop app, the foundational concept: My Drive and Shared Drives are not interchangeable.
- My Drive is your personal cloud folder. Files you create here are owned by your user account. If you leave the business, the files leave with you (or get orphaned).
- Shared Drives are owned by the organisation. Files live with the business regardless of who created them. When staff leave, the files stay.
For company data - templates, client work, contracts, project files - the right home is always a Shared Drive. My Drive is for personal scratch work and drafts.
This matters for sync because the behaviour of the Desktop app is the same for both: any Shared Drive you have access to appears in your Finder or Explorer alongside your My Drive. But where you save the file determines whether it survives a staff change.
Installing Drive for Desktop
The walkthrough:
- Open drive.google.com/download in a browser
- Click “Download Drive for Desktop”
- Install the .pkg (Mac) or .exe (Windows) - it requires admin permissions for the kernel-level filesystem extension
- Launch the app and sign in with your Workspace account
- On first launch, the app asks whether to use Streaming or Mirroring mode (more on this below) - streaming is the right default for most people
- Open Finder or Explorer - you will see a “Google Drive” mounted volume with “My Drive” and “Shared drives” inside
Once installed, the app runs in the background. It shows up as a small Drive icon in the menu bar (Mac) or system tray (Windows) - click it to see sync activity and access settings.
Streaming vs Mirroring: Pick the Right Mode
This is the most important decision in the setup and the one most people get wrong.
Streaming (recommended default):
- Files appear on your computer but are not downloaded until you open them
- Saves enormous amounts of hard-drive space - a 2TB Shared Drive can show up as a few hundred MB of cache
- Requires internet to open most files (cached files work offline temporarily)
- Right choice for laptops with limited storage and any device that mostly works online
Mirroring (only My Drive supports this):
- Every file in My Drive is fully downloaded and kept synced
- Hard-drive usage equals Drive usage - if you have 500GB in My Drive, that is 500GB on your laptop
- Files work offline by default
- Only available for My Drive (not Shared Drives), which is another reason to default to streaming
For laptops and most business setups, leave it on streaming and use “Make available offline” for specific files or folders.
Making Files Available Offline
When you need a file (or a whole folder) to work without internet - a flight, a remote site, a client meeting - mark it as offline-available:
- Right-click the file or folder in Finder/Explorer
- Hover over “Offline Access” (or “Available offline”, depending on OS version)
- Select “Available offline”
Drive will download a permanent copy. The file works the same way - you open it in Word or Photoshop or whatever - but it does not need internet to load, and edits queue up to sync when you reconnect.
This is the right pattern for:
- Client files you will edit on a flight
- Templates and assets you need at low-connectivity locations
- A reference library of internal docs that should always be available
- Files large enough that you do not want to wait for the streaming download every time
Be selective. Marking the entire 2TB Shared Drive as offline-available will fill your laptop’s SSD in an afternoon.
Running Multiple Workspace Accounts on the Same Machine
Common pattern for owners who manage multiple brands, or staff who have both a work and a personal Drive:
- Click the Drive icon in your menu bar or system tray
- Open Preferences (gear icon → Preferences)
- Click the user icon at the top → “Add another account”
- Sign in with the second Workspace account
- Both accounts now appear as separate Drive volumes in Finder or Explorer
Each account keeps its own Shared Drives, offline settings, and streaming cache. Switching between them is just a different folder. This is far cleaner than logging out and back in to swap accounts.
Common Sync Gotchas
A few things to know before they bite you:
- Antivirus interference - Some antivirus tools quarantine Drive’s filesystem extension as suspicious. If files are not appearing, check your AV’s quarantine list before assuming Drive is broken.
- VPN conflicts - Drive’s sync uses specific Google endpoints; aggressive VPNs sometimes block them. If sync stops, test by temporarily disabling the VPN.
- Sleep-then-mass-edit pattern - Editing 500 files offline and then connecting can trigger a large sync burst. Drive handles it, but expect a busy hour while it catches up.
- Conflicting edits - If two people edit the same .docx in the same minute via desktop sync, Drive creates a “Conflicted copy” rather than merging. Use Google’s native formats (Docs, Sheets, Slides) for real-time collaboration, not Office files via Drive.
None of these are showstoppers; they are just things to keep in mind when setting Drive up for a small team.
Key Takeaways
- Drive for Desktop is the app that turns Google Drive from a website into a working file system - Shared Drives appear in Finder or Windows Explorer like any other folder
- Use Streaming mode (the default) unless you have a specific reason to mirror - it saves disk space and works for almost every business case
- Use “Make available offline” for specific files you need without internet, not for whole Shared Drives
- Multiple Workspace accounts can run side-by-side - the right pattern for owners managing several brands or staff with personal + work Drives
- Save company data into Shared Drives, not My Drive - files in My Drive disappear when the user does
Want Expert Help With This?
Trusted by 10,000+ small businesses across 50+ countries. Our mission is to give you control over your technology strategy.
Start My Concierge Membership: Get unlimited, “all-you-can-eat” tech support for you and your team. We deploy Drive for Desktop across your fleet, configure the right sync mode per user, and handle multi-account setups for owners with several brands. Start Here
Just Need a Quick Fix? Got a Drive sync issue right now? Get rapid, fixed-price support. Get Quick Fix
