0

I'm using Ubuntu 20.04 and my file manager is showing an extra tab on the side panel (see image) called nomaanx16@gmail.com. Right clicking on this gives me the option to mount/unmount so I'm guessing this is a partition but I'm not sure. This was created when I trying to use a certain email client and I have since deleted the client. I'm not sure what to do with this partition. How can I get rid of this? Also, are packages like this email client allowed to create partitions on my system? How can I prevent this?

enter image description here

pixis
  • 25
  • 3

2 Answers2

2

Not every partition (or filesystem, or network share, or...) is local, meaning located on your computer ;) There are a number of protocols that allow you to access remote files as if they were on a local filesystem. Nautilus (the file manager) supports connecting to remote locations via SSH, FTP, WebDAV, NFS and others.

It looks like the mail client in question created such a reference. If I had to guess, it probably points to the cloud storage space connected with your Google account (Google Drive). You can mount this network share and then browse the files there as if they were on your local machine - or you can leave it alone, at your discretion.

EDIT: How you can remove this reference depends on how exactly the mail client created it. It may be a connection to your central online accounts.

You can find those in the GNOME settings ('Settings' in the menu at the top right or gnome-control-center). There should be a section 'Online Accounts'. If in this section there is an entry for 'Google', you can click on that entry and select what this account should be used for (mail, calendar, contacts etc.). If 'Files' is activated in this list, Nautilus shows a reference like you described. You can deactive the checkbox for 'Files', or just delete the Google account from your online accounts alltogether.

This is probably the simplest way to remove the reference - if the mail client used this way to integrate Google. If this way doesn't work, some detective work may be in order to find out what exactly the mail client did and how to reverse it.

Henning Kockerbeck
  • 7,829
  • 1
  • 29
  • 35
  • thanks for the explanation! now that I'm not using the client this is no longer in use and is empty. How do I get rid of it? – pixis Jul 29 '22 at 20:27
  • related question: normally I see my partitions using gparted. This one does not show up there so how I see what type of partition this is, how much memory it has etc.? – pixis Jul 29 '22 at 20:33
  • @pixis I'm not sure such network connections can be removed that easy. Unless you're comfortable to navigate and edit config files and such, you might want to just keep it. Regarding your second question, you may want to stop thinking about it as a partition, because it isn't one (from this perspective) ;) We're talking about a [network share](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shared_resource), which can be realized by a number of technologies (as I mentioned, for example FTP, SSH, SMB/CIFS, NFS, WebDAV and so forth). – Henning Kockerbeck Jul 29 '22 at 20:40
  • Thanks again. I think I understand now what you mean by network share as opposed to partition. I wouldn't mind going into config files to get rid of this. It would be great if you can add something on this in your main answer! – pixis Jul 29 '22 at 20:43
  • @pixis I added some explanation about how it _may_ be possible to remove the reference. But this depends strongly on how exactly the mail client added it, because there are several ways to do that. – Henning Kockerbeck Jul 29 '22 at 21:04
  • I was able to remove the account from settings but the reference still shows in the side panel. It's harmless but annoying. Thanks so much for the help. – pixis Jul 29 '22 at 21:57
0

I found this solution to be helpful, the account did reappear after being removed.

Delete Gnome Online Account manually

breathe_in_breathe_out
  • 101
  • 1
  • Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Nov 20 '22 at 23:46