Unable to Index Google Drive as External Volume

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There are no workarounds for indexing streamed content. The only options are to Mirror, or move the folders out of the stream to another location and then use Sync preferences in Folders from your computer.

All I can suggest is to use the app feedback to let Google know your thoughts.

Regards,

Peter

I believe that I may have just found the solution to what everyone has identified as the problem with indexing (i.e., non-indexing) the main Google drive folder on a Mac running Monterey.

Solution that worked for me:

Steps: I went to System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Full Disk Access -> then check the box adjacent to GoogleSoftwareUpdateDaemon

Here is a screenshot:

After I checked the box noted above (illustrated in the screenshot above), my Mac Pro 2013 running Monterey began indexing my main Google Drive folder, such that I could perform a search for files and folders within Finder.

Couple of notes:

1. I already previously had a box checked adjacent to Google Drive.App in the same location under Full Disk Access as described above (so you might want to make sure that box is checked on your computer).
2. Shown here:
3. Prior to the Steps noted above, I had also gone to System Preferences -> Spotlight -> Privacy … and then dragged the main Google Drive folder into area marked “Prevent spotlight from searching these locations” … I waited a minute … and then I highlighted that main Google Drive folder within that preferences spotlight box and clicked the minus button to remove it … because I had read in another forum that such removal would prompt the Mac to begin re-indexing that main Google Drive folder. I am not 100% sure if this preferences spotlight add/remove trick is what fixed it, or if the Steps noted above is what fixed it. I think it was the Steps noted above (at the top of my post) that fixed the indexing issue, but I am making note of this trick just in case you want to do this as well.
4. Screenshot here:

Hope this helps.

kvgorham,

If you set up the new computer with Big Sur (v. 11.6.2) Google Drive will work as it always has prior to Monterey. I know because I have just done this. I share everyone's sense of urgency that the problem with Monterey be resolved as quickly as possible but this at least allows life to continue as we once knew it until that happens. I believe Big Sur is still fully supported and at the moment I haven't encountered any application or functionality that require the upgrade to Monterey (though I expect there are some and there will certainly be more).

An alternative would be to be sure the new computer you add for your assistant has a big enough hard drive to accommodate setting Google Drive to "mirror" rather than "stream," which will allow full search functionality on Monterey. I have also done this with a new computer and can confirm that it completely solves the problem.

Again, this is not meant to indicate enabling Spotlight searching of Google Drive configured to "stream" installed on a computer running Monterey is not urgently needed.

This is the fix! Select Mirror files! Maybe this isn't ideal for folks but I thought this is how it was before where we could access files while offline anyway.

I can confirm that after downgrading to Big Sur my iMac 2017 is indexing Google Drive again (streaming not mirroring). I used Internet recovery (restart, then press and hold the Cmd + Option + R ) to downgrade my Mac.

Not sure if I'm the last one figuring out this trick, but just to make sure you know this:

An alternative way to make this work is by clicking on the Google Drive icon on top, then the Magnifier icon. The search box works almost as good as Spotlight.

I know the extra click step is not ideal, but until Apple\Google decides to fix this, it may help. I have 400GB+ streamed storage, and this seems to work smoothly.

Google drive updated today to 57.0.5.0 (Apple Silicon).

Finally, it's Working fine for me on Spotlight and Finder Search. 😀

Finally it works!

Versione 59.0.3.0 (Apple Silicon) and Monterey

A few points of clarification:

1. It was apparently possible to have Big Sur in a configuration that didn't allow indexing/searching of google drive, but this could be remedied by changing the configuration using one of several methods. The problem did NOT exist for me when running Big Sur, nor does it exist today for a colleague sitting 6 feet away still running Big Sur and the same version of google drive as me.
2. The problem occurred upon upgrading to Monterey, with no change in the google drive version.
3. It is not "streamed content" that is being searched. The problem occurs even when the content is set for offline access, meaning in some form, a copy exists locally. Conversely, until Monterey, Spotlight searched google drive content whether or not stored locally--apparently it was able to index the google drive "short cuts"), and running Monterey, Spotlight can still search Dropbox content, whether set to be accessed locally or not.
4. A post in another forum indicated the poster had spoken with someone at google support and been told that they were aware of the problem, and in fact some support staff that worked on Macs were suffering from the problem, and they too were hoping for a fix from Apple.

In summary, it seems pretty clear that it was a change that occurred between Big Sur and Monterey that created the issue, and will require a further change to Monterey to remedy.

Spotlight very likely can only index physically mounted drives, and the Google Drive app is creating a convenience network mapping between Google's servers and its faux mount point in macOS. Although this gives the appearance of local files, it may not satisfy Spotlight's indexing criterion.

Once exception is iCloud Drive, which Spotlight does index because it is mirrored in ~/Library/Mobile Documents, and Apple has designed it to do this.

Hi guys,

I just noticed the following setting. This needs to be enabled manually.

Spotlight integration

When this is enabled, search text you enter in Spotlight will be sent to Google in order to find matching Drive files.

I just tried it. It's not perfect as it takes long before I get any result. After typing and waiting, (maybe 30seconds or longer) you see the Google Drive icon spinning to search for results. After that, it show results in 'Other'.  

Please check and try!

I was able to get an Alfred work around to work to search Google Drive streamed files on an MacBook Pro running Monterey. Apparently I can't post hyperlinks here, but if you google "Searching Google Drive with an Alfred workflow" and look for the blog post from November 22, that shows the solution that is working for me.

Try deleting the .Spotlight-V100 folder from the drive.

Then, attempt to index it again.

Any fix in Google Drive 56? I found this post reporting it got solved a couple days ago https://support.google.com/drive/thread/148373461?hl=en&msgid=159943440

This is a new issue with Monterey. Seems it was possible for this to occur under previous MacOS but could be fixed using the mdutil command indicated by ramadhs. This, however, seems to clearly be a new issue introduced with Monterey (see the comments at the link above). I expect (hope) Apple is aware and working on this, because it really impacts productivity. I don't know the best way to make noise with Apple, but it was suggested on a google forum that the issue be posted at this link: https://www.apple.com/feedback/macos.html, and perhaps it would help to have as many squeaky wheels as possible.

[Link Edited by Moderator]