Where apps hide your files

Google Drive for desktop: files and cache

Updated 2026-10-28 · 5 min read

Drive for desktop uses two places on your Mac: a CloudStorage folder that macOS manages for your files, and a hidden DriveFS folder for the app itself. Here is which is which, where cached files really sit, and how to get space back.

The two locations

Your files, as you browse them in Finder:

~/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-<your Google account email>/

The app's own support folder, with logs, crash reports and settings databases:

~/Library/Application Support/Google/DriveFS/

On macOS 12.1 and later, Drive for desktop uses Apple's File Provider system. Google's macOS help gives ~/Library/CloudStorage as the location and says you can't change it. In Finder the folder appears under Locations in the sidebar as Google Drive. Inside it you will find My Drive, any shared drives, and other synced folders.

Where the cache actually is

Older guides point at DriveFS as the cache, and Google's admin documentation still gives ~/Library/Application Support/Google/DriveFS as the default cache path. The same page adds that the cache path, cache size limit and mount point settings do not apply to macOS 12.1 and later: on those versions, macOS controls where cached data goes.

In practice that means the content of files you have opened or made available offline is held by macOS inside the CloudStorage location, not in a DriveFS folder you can empty by hand. DriveFS remains the app's working folder.

Open them

In Finder choose Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G) and paste either path. In Terminal, list names only:

ls ~/Library/CloudStorage
ls ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/DriveFS

The GoogleDrive- folder appears once an account is signed in. On a Mac with Drive for desktop installed but no account added, only DriveFS exists.

What is in DriveFS

On a Mac running Drive for desktop 132 with no account signed in, the folder held:

Item	What it appears to be
cef_cache	Cache for the app's built-in web views
Crashpad	Crash reports
Logs	Diagnostic logs
Resources	Files the app uses for its interface
metrics_store_sqlite.db, root_preference_sqlite.db	Small databases for metrics and preferences
global_feature_config, pid.txt	Feature flags and the running process ID

Google does not document these names, so treat the descriptions as a map. Signing in adds account data, and the names can change between versions, so run du -sh ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/DriveFS/* to see which item is large before drawing conclusions. Do not open the database files; they are private and the app keeps them in use.

Stream versus mirror

Drive for desktop has two modes for My Drive. Stream files keeps files in the cloud and downloads them when you open them. Mirror files keeps a full copy of My Drive in a folder on your Mac that you pick when you switch.

To check or change the mode, open Drive for desktop from the menu bar, click Settings, then Preferences, choose Folders from Drive on the left and look under My Drive syncing options. Mirror is the mode to use if you want files to exist with no network at all.

Space: what grows and how to get it back

Streaming stays small unless you keep files offline. In Finder, right-click a file or folder in the Google Drive folder: in Drive for desktop 132 the menu offers Make available offline and Make available online only (older versions and Google's help call the first one Available offline). Items kept on the Mac show a green check, and folders you no longer need offline are the first place to reclaim space. Google's help also warns that syncing shared files can fill your disk, even though they do not count against your Google storage.

Mirroring costs the full size of My Drive. Google's steps for going back to streaming are: make sure local files have finished syncing, switch to Stream files, close Drive for desktop, then delete the old mirrored folder yourself.

Do not delete DriveFS or anything inside it to save space. Google's admin documentation warns that clearing the cache before an upload finishes means that file is lost.

Moving it

The CloudStorage location is fixed by macOS. The mirror folder is the one location you choose, at the moment you switch to mirroring. Administrators' cache path overrides apply only to older macOS. Do not move DriveFS by hand or with a symbolic link.

A new Mac

Your data lives in Google's cloud, not in DriveFS. On a new Mac install Drive for desktop and sign in, and the folders come back. Files you made available offline download again. A mirrored folder is a full copy of My Drive, so a Time Machine backup of it is a real local backup; a streamed folder is mostly placeholders.

Why search misses these files

Google's macOS help says that with File Provider, Spotlight searches only a subset of your files, including any downloaded ones. Files that exist only in the cloud may not appear, and DriveFS itself is inside ~/Library, which Spotlight does not show.

Checking sizes safely

These commands only report sizes and change nothing:

du -sh ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/DriveFS
du -sh ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/DriveFS/*

On the Mac checked for this guide, with no account signed in, the whole folder was 29 MB. If yours is similar, DriveFS is not your space problem: look at mirrored folders and offline items instead.

If Drive stops syncing

Check the Drive menu bar icon for the sync status first. If you are tempted to disconnect the account and add it again, wait until nothing is waiting to upload. Google's help notes that when a streaming account is disconnected, its offline files are removed.

Finding these files next time

Everywhere lists the DriveFS folder by name straight away, and once it has Full Disk Access it covers ~/Library/CloudStorage too, so typing a document's name finds its Drive copy beside any local ones. It searches names only, not the text of documents, and ⌘↵ opens the match in Finder.

Common questions

Where does Google Drive for desktop store its cache on a Mac?

On macOS 12.1 and later, Drive uses Apple's File Provider and macOS manages cached file content inside the ~/Library/CloudStorage location. The app's own folder, ~/Library/Application Support/Google/DriveFS, holds logs and settings and was the default cache path on older macOS.

Where are my Google Drive files on a Mac?

In ~/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-<email>, shown as Google Drive under Locations in the Finder sidebar. In Mirror mode, My Drive is also copied in full to the folder you chose.

Can I safely delete the DriveFS folder?

Not as a way to save space. Google warns that clearing the cache before an upload finishes loses that file, and on recent macOS the file content is not stored there anyway.

Why does Google Drive take so much space on my Mac?

Usually because of Mirror mode, which keeps a full copy of My Drive, or files and folders made available offline. Right-click them in Finder and choose Make available online only to release the local copies. Syncing shared files can also fill the disk.