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I'm using the Application Launcher For Drive extension on Chrome and it allows me to open files with certain programs on my local computer when right-clicking a file on the Google Drive website (https://drive.google.com).

It would also be useful to be able to open folders in Explorer (I have already installed Google Drive for Desktop for Windows 10 so the folder exists on my computer).

However, if I try to open the folder with a local program, it says that I need to connect more apps, but the only apps available if I click are from the Google Workspace MarketPlace:

enter image description here

Is there a way to configure Explorer.exe or Google Drive for Desktop, so that it can open folders in the appropriate path on my computer (eg. H:\Shared drives or H:\My Drive)?

Currently, this feature works great for files. For instance, if I right click on a PNG file in the Browser, I get the option to open the file with software I have on my computer:

enter image description here

I'm assuming that this has to do with the file extension similarly as when you right-click on the file in Explorer and select Open With.

enter image description here

I can influence this behavior by changing how file extensions are associated to programs on my computer, but I can't figure out how to do this for Google Drive folders since there is no extensions.

EDIT: As suggested by Wicket, I've tried the following as well :

  • To make a backup folder.

enter image description here Outcome: Still no option to open the folder locally.

  • To make the folder available offline

enter image description here Outcome: Didn't change anything relative to the Open With option.

This makes me think, this is more of a problem with the extension than anything. It's like the extension doesn't know how to deal with a folder.

Note that I've emailed the developer of the extension about this and I'll post updates here when I get an answer.

DecimalTurn
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  • The stuff in google drive is [VIRTUAL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_file_system). If you had 4tb in google drive, it isn't actually going to put 4tb on your drive (what would be the point?). The extension in the browser downloads a given file and then launches whatever you want. The same is true in explorer.exe. Google drive is VIRTUAL.. what you think you see isn't actually there until a shell extension downloads it and puts it there. When you say `so the folder exists on my computer`.. no, it might not.. – Señor CMasMas Apr 28 '23 at 18:57
  • @SeñorCMasMas Yes, it can be "virtual" for files in the sense that they do not occupy space on the hard drive, but the folder/directory are created by the Google Drive for desktop app and they do exist in the sense that they can be interacted the same way as regular folders in Windows. For example, my images are located in the following folder `H:\My Drive\Public images` and I can navigate to it manually using Windows Explorer. – DecimalTurn Apr 28 '23 at 19:03

2 Answers2

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Installing Google Drive for Desktop should have added Virtual Google Drive to Explorer under "Quick access" and have assigned it a drive letter. Typically this would be called "Google Drive (G:)". Double clicking this drive would open your Google drive folders inside Explorer.

See also Adding Google Drive for Desktop to the Windows Explorer sidebar.

Otherwise, for select sub-folders which are not easily accessed from Explorer, you could in the Google Drive web interface, right-click on the folder, then click "Add shortcut to Drive", click "Add shortcut" again in the dialog to store it in your "My Drive" folder (or elsewhere if you wish). Now in Explorer you can navigate to "My Drive" and double-click the shortcut to enter the folder.

harrymc
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  • I'll admit that it's a good workaround to avoir having to navigate many subfolders, but the fact that it needs to create a new shortcut everytime (that will have to be deleted) is a bit problematic. – DecimalTurn May 28 '23 at 23:25
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Apparently, you want to open a local folder from the Google Drive app for the Web (https://drive.google.com).

As far as I know that it's not possible for My Drive and Shared Drive folders.

Something that is commonly misunderstood about Google Drive service is that contrary to how file management is done "traditionally", it works very differently. In Google Drive, folders are actually a special type of document rather than what desktop operative systems like Windows call folders. Files have Media types but folders (see Directory (computing), Wikipedia article) in "traditional" files systems haven't Media types. Just think that to send a folder by email it should be compressed, sometimes this is referred to as "to zip" after ZIP (file format) (Wikipedia article).

Usually, desktop operative systems store files in a single storage unit, and use the concept Path (computing) (Wikipedia article). On the other hand, Google Drive stores files in multiple storage units and could also store files across multiple data centers. To explain this, Google has made multiple attempts over the years to explain this. One example is this Youtube video How does storage work across Google data centers? posted in the Google Cloud Tech channel. The video was posted on July 21, 2021.

Another misunderstanding is what is a software application and the other types of software needed to run a computer. In relation to what this question is specifically asking, explorer.exe is not a software application. To learn what explorer.exe is, please check out File explorer (Wikipedia article).

It's very likely that you will have to make use of a web browser extension that is capable to extract the file path of your folder, somehow communicating with the operative system of your device to build a full file path. Once the full file path was built, it should be passed to a process that tells your computer to open a folder. This is not a simple task as involves handling several security protection measures. Keeping up to date with something like this doesn't look to be something that nowadays Google might be interested to develop as they focus on stuff that will be used by millions of users. Very rarely do they invest, and keep running in the long term, a niche feature.

I wonder if this might be possible for local backups; I have not used this option. If you decide to explore this possibility by yourself, start by reading Use Google Drive for desktop (help article from Google Drive Help Center).

Below there are the specific instructions to upload "other folders" from your computer (copy-pasted as plain text).

Options for other folders on your computer

Configure other folders on your computer

  1. Open Drive for desktop.
  2. Click Settings and then Preferences.
  3. On the left, click Folders from your computer.
  4. From this menu, you can add folders to sync with Drive and backup to Photos and edit preferences of folders that are already synced.

If you go for creating your own tool, be aware that Google uses obscure front-end optimization tools and like to do A/B testing. One of the effects of this is that the DOM might change "suddenly". Spend time learning about screen scraping/web scraping and choose wisely the programming language/platform that you will use. Be very careful about AI tools like ChatGPT.

Related

Help articles

Help articles from Google Drive Help Center

  • View & open files
    This help article includes the instructions to open files hosted in Google Drive using a local application from the app for the Web.

Questions

Questions about Google Drive for Desktop for Windows and (Windows) File Explorer

Folders (directories)

Questions from Stack Overflow

Wicket
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  • Let us [continue this discussion in chat](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/145667/discussion-between-wicket-and-decimalturn). – Wicket Apr 29 '23 at 02:39