How to Integrate Google Drive with Other Apps on Linux

Edited 1 week ago by ExtremeHow Editorial Team

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Google Drive is a popular cloud storage service that allows you to store files online and access them from anywhere. Integrating Google Drive with various applications on Linux can increase your productivity by seamlessly transferring files between different services, automating backups, and more. Although Google does not provide any direct Google Drive client for Linux, there are many ways to integrate Google Drive with other applications and make it work effectively on Linux systems.

1. Why integrate Google Drive with apps on Linux?

Before we dive into the integration process, it's important to understand why you would want to integrate Google Drive with other applications on your Linux system:

• Seamless file access: Access your Google Drive files directly from your file manager, without having to download them first.
• Automatic sync: Automatically keep files in sync between Google Drive and your local storage.
• Backup: Use Google Drive as a simple backup solution for your important files.
• Collaboration: Work collaboratively on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations directly from your Linux machine.

2. Accessing Google Drive from the command line with gdrive

gdrive command-line tool allows you to access and manipulate your Google Drive files from the terminal. It's a powerful tool for those who prefer a command line interface over a graphical application.

2.1 Installation

1. First, download the gdrive binary using the following command:

   curl -O -J https://dl.google.com/drive/laravel/gdrive-linux

2. Grant executable permissions to the downloaded binary:

   chmod +x gdrive-linux

3. Move the binary to /usr/local/bin for global access:

   sudo mv gdrive-linux /usr/local/bin/gdrive

2.2 Using GDrive

Once gdrive is installed, authenticate it with your Google account by following these steps:

1. Run the authentication command:

   gdrive about

   This command will output a URL.
2. Open the URL in your browser, log in with your Google account and allow access.
3. Copy the provided authentication code and paste it back into your terminal.

You can now start using gdrive. For example, to upload a file, you can use:

gdrive upload <file-name>

gdrive list

3. Integrating Google Drive with the GNOME desktop

If you’re using the GNOME desktop environment, you can integrate Google Drive directly into the GNOME Files application.

3.1 Setting up a Google account in GNOME

1. Open the “Settings” application on your GNOME desktop.
2. Select "Online Accounts."
3. Click the "Add Account" button and select "Google."
4. Log in with your Google credentials and allow GNOME access to your Google account.

Once set up, you will see your Google Drive as a mounted drive in the GNOME Files application (“Nautilus”). You can easily drag and drop files between your system and Google Drive.

4. Using Rclone for advanced integration

Rclone is a command-line program that lets you manage files on cloud storage services like Google Drive. It provides extensive features for syncing and organizing files.

4.1 Installing rclone

To install Rclone on Ubuntu or other Debian-based systems, follow these steps:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install rclone

4.2 Configuring Rclone with Google Drive

1. Run the rclone configuration command:

   rclone config

2. Select "n" for a new remote.
3. Enter a name for the remote (for example, "mydrive").
4. Select "Drive" from the storage options.
5. Follow the on-screen prompts to authenticate Rclone with Google Drive.

4.3 Using rclone

With Rclone configured, you can perform the following types of tasks:

• Copy the files from Google Drive to your local system:

  rclone copy mydrive:/remote-path /local-path

• Sync files between Google Drive and your local system:

  rclone sync /local-path mydrive:/remote-path

5. Automate Google Drive sync with scheduled tasks

Once you have Rclone or another tool set up, you can automate the syncing process using cron jobs.

5.1 Setting up a cron job

1. Open your crontab file for editing:

   crontab -e

2. Add a line to your sync job. For example, to sync every hour:

   0 * * * * rclone sync /local-path mydrive:/remote-path

Make sure the paths are correct and that Rclone is installed and configured correctly. This setup will ensure that your local files are automatically backed up to Google Drive.

6. Conclusion

It is very possible to integrate Google Drive with other applications on Linux, even though Google does not provide a native client. Tools like gdrive and Rclone with desktop integration provide many ways to manage and automate file transfers between your Linux system and Google Drive.

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