Is there a Google Drive client available?

I'd like to install a Google Drive client for Xubuntu (12.04).

I'm getting non-English Google results, and I didn't find grive in the Xubuntu repositories.

Does anyone know of a client that works well for Ubuntu or it's supported derivates (or installation instructions for grive?)

Solution 1:

For Ubuntu 12.04 to 14.10

Apparently grive exists on a ppa - I installed it and it works reasonably well. This is preferable in my opinion over the google-docs-fs solution, since that doesn't put your files permanently on your drive, and grive does. Also, grive isn't a commercial venture like InSync - which is described as "free during beta".

The PPA for grive can be found on webupd8's site using these instructions:

Grive: Open Source Google Drive Client For Linux ~ Web Upd8: Ubuntu / Linux blog

One limitation that the current version of grive has is that it doesn't automatically sync your drive directory. But I found this blog post describing a script to fix this and make grive sync whenever a file in the drive directory is changed.

(This answer is originally based on @uri's comment, which has since disappeared)

EDIT: grive is now officially dead, but grive2 is a fork of the original version with some improvements.

Solution 2:

_{This answer contains an answer for all current Ubuntu versions, starting with recent versions at the top.}

Ubuntu 17.10 and later (GNOME Online Accounts)

Open System Settings and select Online Accounts -> under the Add an account heading select Google and authenticate with your Google password.

Make sure the "Files" permission is granted:

Now your Google Drive will appear in the Files application (nautilus), like this:

Access Google Drive files offline

Google Drive allows you to access some files offline, but on desktop this feature only works on Google Chrome. If you have the browser, install the Google Docs Offline extension offered by google.com. Return to Google Drive and navigate to gear icon -> Settings -> Offline, and enable Create, open and edit your recent Google Docs, Sheets and Slides files while offline.

Ubuntu 14.04 and later (for all desktop environments)

Open Drive is a Google Drive client for desktops written in Electron. It's fast, secure and easy to use.

Features

• Automatic synchronization between files
• Automatically updates modified files.
• Gives notifications.
• Runs in the system tray.
• No need to spend money.

To install Open Drive in all currently supported versions of Ubuntu open the terminal and type:

sudo snap install odrive-unofficial

Ubuntu 16.10 - 17.04 (GNOME Online Accounts)

GNOME 3.18 and newer (in Ubuntu 16.10 and later) has native desktop integration that will let you easily browse, manage, open, upload, and download your files. Just add your Google account in GNOME's online accounts application to get started.

To enable Google drive desktop integration in Ubuntu 16.10-17.04 follow these steps:

1. Install GNOME System Settings and GNOME Online Accounts.

    sudo apt install gnome-control-center gnome-online-accounts
   

2. Launch GNOME Online Accounts.

    gnome-control-center online-accounts   
   

   Make sure you close Unity Control Center first. If you have Unity Control Center open and you call gnome-control-center online-accounts, then it opens the Unity Control Center window instead of the GNOME one.

3. In the new Online Accounts window that opens click the Add an online account button, then in the Add Account window click the Google icon to add your Google account and authenticate with your Google password. Make sure Files is enabled by being toggled to the ON position.

You should now be able to access your Google Drive files from the Files (nautilus) app.

The same steps also work in Ubuntu 16.04 if it has GNOME 3.18 or newer installed. The current version of nautilus in Ubuntu 16.04 is nautilus 3.18.4.is.3.14.3-0ubuntu5.

Solution 3:

Unfortunately, Not with an official client. An unofficial driver exists online.

Note that there is no 12.04 PPA. I've contacted the maintainer asking for one to be made.

There is currently no official Linux client supported by Google.

For Linux

Google Drive isn't currently available for the Linux operating system. Linux users can still access Google Drive on the web – drive.google.com New Window or through the Google Drive mobile app.

Refer to http://support.google.com/drive/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2375082

There is an unofficial Gdrive FS in a PPA:

1. execute sudo add-apt-repository ppa:invernizzi/google-docs-fs to add the PPA.

2. once the command finishes, run sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install google-docs-fs to install GdriveFS. Please be patient as this step may take a while.

3. Create a folder within your home folder called "Drive".

4. Execute: gmount Drive [email protected], replacing your username as necessary, to mount your Google Drive. This must be run in a terminal. Test show that this application works fine, and is filemanager-independent, being an FS driver.