How To Sync Google Drive On Linux With OverGrive

Out of the three major tech companies, Google usually supports Linux the most. Despite this, Google Drive still doesn’t have a sync client ported to the platform. The reason? Most people assume that Google only ports their software to Linux if their employees need it, and nobody seems to need Google Drive. If you’re an avid Google Drive user on Linux, and tired of waiting around for Google to port it over, there is another solution. Introducing OverGrive, it’s a premium tool that offers Dropbox-like Google Drive integration into the Linux desktop.

Note: The software comes with a 14 day trial. This allows users to experience all of the features that OverGrive has to offer. After the trial expires, you will need to purchase a license to continue to fully utilize the software.

Installation

Ubuntu

Installing OverGrive on Ubuntu requires enabling the Universe software source. To do that, open up a terminal and enter:

sudo add-apt-repository universe

After adding Universe, the system needs to update software sources. Do this with the update command.

sudo apt update

Lastly, download and install the Google syncing software to your Linux PC.

wget https://www.thefanclub.co.za/sites/default/files/public/overgrive/overgrive_3.2.3_all.deb

sudo dpkg -i overgrive_3.2.3_all.deb

Debian

OverGrive will work on Debian provided that the installation has GTK3. If it doesn’t the software will refuse to launch. Get it by downloading the latest Deb, and installing it via DPKG.

wget https://www.thefanclub.co.za/sites/default/files/public/overgrive/overgrive_3.2.3_all.deb

sudo dpkg -i overgrive_3.2.3_all.deb

Arch Linux

Installing this software on Arch Linux is pretty easy, but requires installing multiple things. First, install the dependencies that OverGrive needs.

sudo pacman -S libnotify python python2-pyinotify python2-pip python2-gobject libappindicator-gtk3

The tools required to install the package are installed. Next, using the Python package installation tool, get the latest version of the Google API:

sudo pip2.7 install --upgrade google-api-python-client

The next step in the installation process with OverGrive for Arch Linux is to go to the website, and download the Arch Package. Once downloaded, use the CD command to enter the Downloads folder. Then use the pacman package manager to install the package into the system.

cd ~/Downloads

sudo pacman -U overgrive-*-any.pkg.tar.xz

Fedora

To get OverGrive for Fedora, first install these tools to the system. They’re important for the program to run, and OverGrive will fail to start without them.

sudo dnf install libappindicator-gtk3 python-devel python-pip python-inotify python-gobject-base

Then, upgrade Fedora to the latest version of the Google API (or install it if you don’t have it):

sudo pip install --sudo zypper install libappindicator3-1 libappindicator3-devel libappindicator-gtk3 typelib-1_0-AppIndicator3-0_1 gir1.2-appindicator3-0.1 python-httplib2 python-devel python-pip python-pyinotify python-gobjectsudo zypper install libappindicator3-1 libappindicator3-devel libappindicator-gtk3 typelib-1_0-AppIndicator3-0_1 gir1.2-appindicator3-0.1 python-httplib2 python-devel python-pip python-pyinotify python-gobjectupgrade google-api-python-client

Lastly, download the latest version of the RPM and install it with dnf.

cd ~/Downloads

sudo dnf install overgrive-*.noarch.rpm

OpenSUSE

Suse has a ton of programs that must be installed to the system in order for OverGrive to install and work properly. Open up a terminal, and use the zypper package manager to satisfy these dependencies.

sudo zypper install libappindicator3-1 libappindicator3-devel libappindicator-gtk3 typelib-1_0-AppIndicator3-0_1 gir1.2-appindicator3-0.1 python-httplib2 python-devel python-pip python-pyinotify python-gobject

OverGrive works with Google, so the Google Python API is required. Install it with:

sudo pip install --upgrade google-api-python-client

With everything installed, grab the latest RPM and install it with zypper.

sudo zypper install overgrive-*.noarch.rpm

Using OverGrive

Launching OverGrive brings up a wizard that will walk the user through the initial setup for syncing. The first thing to do is to connect your Google Account. Select “connect account”. This will automatically open the Google Oath sign in tool. Enter your Google account information, and log in like normal. With a successful login, you’ll be asked to “copy this code” and “paste it into your application”.

Go back to the program, and paste the code in the text box next to account. Click the validate button to confirm the code. After entering in the code, click continue to start using the program. To start downloading from Google, click the “start sync” button.

Automatic Downloading At Startup

Files don’t download automatically with this tool. Instead, you’ll need to go through the app’s settings and enable the program to start up automatically. Automatic start can be enabled by checking the box that says “start Google Drive when you start your computer”.

Additionally, be sure to check the “automatically synchronize with Google Drive” box.

Converting Google Docs To Libre Office Files

One of the best things about Google Drive is that it automatically converts office files into the Google Doc file format. Unfortunately, there aren’t many programs on Linux that can open these file types. To solve this problem, OverGrive can convert your Google Doc files to a local format (like the open document format and etc).

To enable this feature, check the box “convert Google Docs to local” files. From then on, OverGrive will convert all Google Doc related files before putting them on your Linux PC.

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