How to Access/Use Google Drive on Ubuntu 22.04
Google Drive is a renowned storage platform to store and share data. It provides 15GB storage on the free plan and for more storage, you have to purchase the premium packages. Google Drive files can be shared with (Google/non-Google users). The non-Google users can only view the files whereas a Google account is required to make changes/edits to the shared document.
Google Drive is accessible on any system. However, the way of accessing may vary from platform to platform. Our today’s post will enlist the possible ways to access/use Google Drive on Ubuntu 22.04.
- How to Access/Use Google Drive on Ubuntu 22.04
- Online Accounts | Official Support
- Google Drive Ocamlfuse | CLI Client
- Rclone | CLI Client
- How to Remove Access to Google Drive on Ubuntu 22.04
- Tip: Google Drive Alternatives For Ubuntu 22.04
- Bottom Line
How to Access/Use Google Drive on Ubuntu 22.04
On Ubuntu 22.04, Google Drive does not offer any Desktop app or in-system access to your Google Drive data/files. However, there are some alternatives to get the in-system support for your Google Drive easily. The following sections provide all those methods including access through the Browser support. Let’s start with GNOME Online Accounts:
Online Accounts in GNOME Settings | GUI-Based Official Support
Ubuntu has Online Accounts access in its settings. This online account support allows you to sign in to Google and mount Google Drive in your system. Here’s the practical demonstration of this method:
Step 1: Log in to the Google Account
Open Online Accounts from Settings and click on Google:
Log in with your Google account’s credentials:
You have to follow/accept some of the terms from Google and soon you will get the following screen:
Step 2: Mount the Google Drive
After logging in, the Google account will appear on the left pane. Click on it to mount it (to make it accessible):
Soon, the mount option in front of the Google Account appears, which indicates the drive is mounted now:
Upon opening, two directories can be seen, i.e., “My Drive” and “Shared with me”:
Insync | GUI-Based Client
Insync is a third-party GUI client to access/connect Google Drive. Insync synchronizes the Google Drive’s data and makes it available inside its interface. Let’s see how it can be used:
Step 1: Install Insync
Get the latest available deb package of Insync from the Website and download it:
wget "https://cdn.insynchq.com/builds/linux/insync_3.8.7.50516-jammy_amd64.deb" -O insync.deb
Now, install the Insync support using the command below (provide the path of the deb file):
sudo apt install ./insync.deb
Step 2: Launch and Configure Insync
Launch the Insync from the applications menu and choose “Add Google Drive”:
Choose the Google account that you want to use and complete the account setup process:
Once done, the “Insync is ready” pop-up appears:
Upon clicking the pop, the following interface appears which shows that Insync has been connected to the respective Google Drive:
Here, you can choose the syncing path on your Ubuntu. Moreover, you can also select all (or specific) data from Google Drive to be synced on your Ubuntu. When all done, click Next:
Do read/follow the upcoming instructions:
Go through the possibility of conflicts and configure it as per your requirement:
Soon, all the selected items will be synchronized which you can access at any time by opening the same client “Insync”.
Google Drive Ocamlfuse | CLI Client
Google-Drive-Ocamlfuse allows you to mount your Google Drive into your Ubuntu (or other Linux systems). It is a CLI-based tool (using the FUSE phenomenon), where you have to connect to Google Drive and then mount it using the google-drive-ocamlfuse command line utility. Let’s see how it works:
Step 1: Install Google-Drive-Ocamlfuse
Add the following PPA to your system:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:alessandro-strada/ppa
The above command automatically updates the packages index as well (no need to run apt update again).
Now, install google-drive-ocamlfuse via the command:
sudo apt install google-drive-ocamlfuse
Step 2: Set up Google Drive
Run the below command to get to the Google account sign-in:
google-drive-ocamlfuse
The command automatically opens the Google Sign-in page in the default browser:
Upon successful sign-in and permission access, the following prompt appears:
Step 3: Mount Google Drive on Your Ubuntu
It’s time to mount the Google Drive. For that:
- Create a mount point first (it can be any directory).
- Then mount it for Google Drive using the google-drive-ocamlfuse command:
mkdir ~/MyDrive #Creating Mount Point google-drive-ocamlfuse ~/MyDrive #Mounting the Google Drive
Once mounted, go to the file manager and you will see the newly mounted directory on the left pane:
Open it to look/analyze your Google Drive data:
Rclone | CLI Client
Rclone is another CLI-based client. The working is the same as of google-drive-ocamlfuse. First, the integration of Google Account with Rclone is done and then any system directory is mounted for the Google Account. Here’s the process:
Step 1: Install Rclone
Get the deb package of the Rclone from the Official Website:
wget "https://downloads.rclone.org/v1.65.2/rclone-v1.65.2-linux-amd64.deb" -O rclone.deb
Install it using the “apt install”:
sudo apt install ./rclone.deb
Step 2: Configure Rclone / Set up Google Drive as a Remote
Rclone accesses Google Drive by accepting it as a remote. This is achieved by configuring the rclone using the command:
rclone config
Opt for n (New remote) and name the remote (Google Drive, in our case, it can be any name):
Choose the Google Drive as the storage and keep on following the onscreen instructions:
Grant/configure the access parameter for that remote, i.e., Google Drive:
Meanwhile, it opens the browser asking you to sign in to the Google Account:
A success message appears:
Let’s do the remaining configurations (try to keep these parameters as default):
Finally, the Google Drive is added as a remote drive. Type q to quit/exit the configuration panel:
Step 3: Mount the Google Drive
Now it’s time to create a mount point:
mkdir ~/MyGDrive
Mount the Remote using rclone:
rclone mount "<Remote-name>": <Mount-Point>
And here is the mounted drive:
Internet Browser
This is the most used and easiest way to interact with Google Drive. Browser support of Google Drive works the same across the platform.
You have to Sign In to the Google Account using your browser and you will find the list of Google Applications including Google Drive.
Note: You can Log In to Google Drive directly as well.
You will get the following Google Drive’s interactive interface:
How to Remove Access to Google Drive on Ubuntu 22.04
On Ubuntu, the removal of Google Drive’s access is permitted using the Online Accounts and third-party tools. So, to remove the Google Drive access from your Ubuntu, you need to adopt a two-step procedure explained below:
Step 1: Unmount your Google Drive
First, unmount all your drives associated with the Google Drive account. To do so, open the file manager and you will find the mounted drives on the left pane. Click on the eject option one by one to unmount them.
Step 2: Remove the Google Drive Client
When the drive folder is unmounted, you need to remove the Google Drive’s integration. It is either done through third-party tools or using GNOME’s online account. So, this step has further two possibilities:
- For Client-Based Installations
For instance, Google-Drive-Ocamlfuse, Insync, or Rclone:
sudo apt autoremove insync/google-drive-ocamlfuse/rclone
- For Online Accounts Access
If you have attached a Google account to GNOME online accounts, you need to disable it. Follow the path: “Settings > Online Account > Select Account > Choose Remove”:
Tip: Google Drive Alternatives For Ubuntu 22.04
You have a few alternatives as Google Drive does not offer direct desktop client support for Ubuntu. Unlike Google Drive, all the below-stated tools have desktop client support.
| Tool(s) | How to Install Them on Ubuntu? |
| Dropbox |
|
| Mega |
|
| Syncany |
|
| Nextcloud |
|
That’s all about using/accessing Google Drive on Ubuntu 22.04.
Bottom Line
Google Drive can be accessed directly from the browser, which is in most cases. Whereas the desktop application of Google Drive can be obtained by trusting/installing the third-party clients. The tools can be either GUI or CLI.
Google-Drive-Ocamlfuse is the leading CLI client to access/use Google Drive on Ubuntu whereas Online Accounts takes the lead as a GUI client. Choose the one as per your need.
This post has listed the possible ways to access/use Google Drive on Ubuntu 22.04.
