Downloading files that gdlink shortcuts point to

#1

I have a number of files which were shared with me via Google Drive - I have Google Drive Shortcuts that exist in my local Google drive.

InSync appears to just sync the shortcut as a .gdlink file. Is there a way to have InSync sync the actual file that the .gdlink file points to, rather than the .gdlink? It’s tedious to have to click on each .gdlink file manually, and then find and click on ‘download file’ from the Google Drive web page when there are hundreds of these symlinks in my Google drive.

I know rclone can download the actual files instead of the .gdlink files - I’m wondering if InSync can do the same.

1 Like
Gdlinks not working
#2

Hi @Troy_Telford :slight_smile: This is one of the requested features and I have sent this to our product team for consideration.

Just curious-- if the files are shared with you (assuming it’s on Shared with Me), what are the benefits of creating a shortcut and syncing it on your My Drive?

#3

Think of it this way: I get a link to a directory that’s shared with me. In that link are many large files. I only want a few of them, so I drag the ones I want to a folder on “my” drive – which creates the shortcuts in a directory on “my” google drive.

The whole point is to download the files I want, not every file in a directory that’s been shared with me. I also don’t want to deal with having to rename all of the files, which is what often happens if I copy the data instead of linking the file

It’s pretty important when my ISP is really strict about how much bandwidth I can use per month. I’d rather download 80 GiB, not 200 GiB.

#4

I see! We do have a feature that lets you sync files selectively. If you go to Shared with me and double-click to expand the folders, you can sync only the ones you need. If you want to sync multiple files at once, click on “cloud selective sync” on the upper right then expand the folders.

I hope that helps in the meantime! :slight_smile:

1 Like
#5

I also feel that’s important to have that feature – my friend shared photos with me and I want to use them in Adobe InDesign – but I need to go to the web browser (insync is not integrated in my macos shell) and then download files manually. I think that this workflow is not a smooth one :wink:

1 Like
#6

Thank you @Tomasz_Mirowski for sharing your thoughts! I will be forwarding this to our product team as feedback on how useful this feature would be for users like you!

#7

Absolutely, this feature is crucial. Having .gdlink links on a local drive doesn’t serve much purpose.

1 Like