Google Drive’s latest update uses Apple’s File Provider system service, improving its integration into macOS Monterey. This extension can be used by apps that work in conjunction with a cloud storage service .
macOS Monterey takes over to manage the synchronization of files and folders or to offload less used files from the Mac. That’s what macOS does with iCloud Drive. Its counterparts can use the same mechanism rather than their own solution.
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Version 58.0 of Google Drive in turn connects to this extension, explains Google. In another support page, he lists the behavioral changes caused by this development.
First there’s Drive’s location in the sidebar of Finder windows, which slides down to the “Locations” section. Then moving an item back and forth out of or into the Drive folder no longer copies it, it just gets moved. There is also the fact that macOS takes care of purging files that take up too much space locally, leaving their originals stored on the server side. Or the fact that a Quick Look preview will only work on files present locally.
