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Google Drive on Linux Mint 22 and 27: set it up in 2026

Linux Mint 22.x can still show your Google Drive in Nemo. The next release, Linux Mint 27, is not expected to. Here are the steps for today, what changes when you upgrade, and three ways to get your Drive that work on both.

By Ambifold · Published · Last checked

Disclosure: we make Ambifold, one of the options below. It is a two-way sync app for Linux, in a private beta by invitation until the public beta, planned for 1 December 2026. We have tried to describe every option fairly. If something here is wrong or out of date, please tell us at support@ambifold.com.

In short

  • On Linux Mint 22.x, sign in to Google in Online Accounts and your Drive appears under Network in Nemo. It is a network folder: nothing is stored on your computer, and users report it slow and sometimes unable to open.
  • Linux Mint 27 “Adrien”, the next release, is planned for Christmas 2026 and built on Ubuntu 26.04. Online Accounts leaves the default install, and Mint's project lead has written that it “no longer supports Google Drive”.
  • Three ways work on both: an rclone mount (Drive as a folder, online only), two-way sync with rclone bisync (in the terminal), or a background sync app such as Insync, overGrive or Ambifold. If you need your files offline, choose sync.

1. Mint 22.x: Drive in Nemo with Online Accounts

Linux Mint 22.x comes with an app called Online Accounts (its full name is GNOME Online Accounts GTK, made by Mint's XApp project). Once you sign in to Google there, GVfs, the part of the system that lets file managers open network and online storage, shows your Drive in Nemo. On our Linux Mint 22.3 Cinnamon computer, both came installed with the system. LMDE 7, Mint's Debian edition, has the same feature.

The steps

  1. Open the menu, type Online Accounts and open it.
  2. Choose Google. Your web browser opens Google's sign-in page.
  3. Sign in, and allow the access Google asks for. The app asking is GNOME, the project behind Online Accounts.
  4. Back in Online Accounts, check that the Files switch of your Google account is on.
  5. Open Nemo (Files, in the menu). Your Drive appears under Network in the sidebar. Click it to open it. You can also press Ctrl+L and type google-drive://you@gmail.com/, with your own address.

These steps are for the Cinnamon edition, the one we tested. On the Xfce and MATE editions, if Online Accounts is not in the menu, install “GNOME Online Accounts GTK” from the Software Manager. Their file managers, Thunar and Caja, also open Drive through GVfs, so it should appear there instead of in Nemo.

Known problems

  • Online only. Your files stay in Google's cloud and are fetched when you open them. Without a connection, you can't open them.
  • Slow folders. Some users find it slow to move from folder to folder.
  • It fails now and then. On the Mint forums, users describe a Drive entry that won't open (“could not be mounted”) and then works again later.
  • Odd file names. Some apps show a file's Drive ID, a long string of letters and numbers, instead of its name. Nemo itself shows the real names.
  • Some apps can't save to it, or save strangely. Users report it with KMyMoney and, in one case, LibreOffice.

If Drive won't open in Nemo

  • Check that you are online, wait a few seconds and click it again.
  • Check that the Files switch is still on in Online Accounts.
  • Remove the account in Online Accounts, add it again, then log out and back in.
  • If an app can't save to Drive, save the file in a local folder first, then copy it into Drive in Nemo.

If it keeps failing, or you need your files offline, use one of the three ways below. They don't depend on Online Accounts.

2. Mint 27: what changes

On 13 October 2026, Mint announced its next release: Linux Mint 27 “Adrien”, planned for Christmas 2026, based on Ubuntu 26.04, with Cinnamon, Xfce and MATE editions. Its number stands for the coming year, and there will be no more point releases. Older pages, including Mint's own earlier news, call it “Mint 23”: that was a temporary number.

Ubuntu 26.04 no longer has the Google Drive part of GVfs. It depended on a library that had gone unmaintained, so GNOME switched it off; our guide to Google Drive on Ubuntu 26.04 and Linux Mint explains why. In September, Mint's project lead wrote that Online Accounts “no longer supports Google Drive”, and that the next release no longer installs it by default. It stays available in the repositories, for other kinds of accounts, but that will not bring Drive back to Nemo.

What this means for you:

  • On Mint 22.x, nothing changes. Mint 22 is supported until 2029.
  • On Mint 27, expect Nemo's Drive entry to stop working, whether you upgrade or install it fresh. Set up one of the options below before you upgrade, so you are not left without your files.
  • A community rewrite of the Drive backend has test packages for Ubuntu 26.04 (see the community backend). We don't know yet whether it works on Mint 27. It replaces parts of your system, so we would wait for reports from Mint users.

We will update this guide when Mint 27 is released. On Ubuntu, see how to sync Google Drive on Ubuntu 24.04 and 26.04.

3. Three ways that work on both

These work the same on Mint 22.x and Mint 27, because they don't use Online Accounts. The first is a mount: Drive appears as a folder, but the files stay online. The other two are sync: real copies of the folders you choose, on your disk, that work offline. Our guide to mount or sync explains the difference in more detail.

A mount with rclone

rclone is a free, open-source command-line tool for dozens of cloud services. Its mount command shows your whole Drive as a folder in your home folder, which you can open in Nemo and in every app.

1. Install a current rclone. Mint 22's software sources have rclone 1.60.1, from 2022, and Ubuntu 26.04, the base of Mint 27, has the same version; rclone's install page warns that such packages are often out of date. If you installed that version from the Software Manager, remove it first with sudo apt remove rclone: both put rclone in the same place, so one of its updates would later bring 1.60.1 back. Then run rclone's install script, which installs the latest version (v1.75.2 when we checked):

sudo -v ; curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash

2. Create your own Google client. rclone's documentation says its shared Google client “will stop working during 2026”, so you need your own client ID and secret. Our guide to creating your own Google Drive client ID walks you through it, with pictures (rclone's own page: making your own client ID).

3. Connect your Drive. Run:

rclone config

Then answer: n for a new remote; the name gdrive; drive for the type; paste your client ID and secret; 1 for full access; press Enter to skip the service account; n for advanced config; y to sign in with your web browser. After you allow access in the browser, answer n when it asks about a Shared Drive, y to keep the remote, and q to quit.

4. Mount it.

mkdir -p ~/GoogleDrive
rclone mount gdrive: ~/GoogleDrive --vfs-cache-mode full --daemon

Your Drive is now in the GoogleDrive folder in your home folder. --vfs-cache-mode full keeps the files you open in a cache on your disk, which most apps need to open and save files normally. To limit the space it uses, add, for example, --vfs-cache-max-size 10G. To unmount:

fusermount -u ~/GoogleDrive

5. Mount it at every login. Open Startup Applications from the menu, click + and choose Custom command. Enter the mount command with the full path of the folder, for example rclone mount gdrive: /home/yourname/GoogleDrive --vfs-cache-mode full --daemon (with your own user name), and set a startup delay of about 10 seconds, so that the network is up first.

Keep in mind: a mount needs a connection, and files you haven't opened are not on your disk. Google Docs, Sheets and Slides appear as .docx, .xlsx and .pptx copies, so edit the originals in the browser.

Two-way sync with rclone bisync, by hand

rclone's bisync command keeps a local folder and a Drive folder the same, in both directions. It runs once each time you start it, so you schedule it yourself. With the gdrive remote from above, pick a folder that exists in your Drive (create it on the web, or with rclone mkdir gdrive:Work) and a new, empty local folder. Use the rclone you installed from rclone.org above: the 1.60.1 in the software sources is older than bisync's big fixes in v1.64 and v1.66, and lacks three of the options below. Preview the first run, then run it:

mkdir -p ~/Work
rclone bisync ~/Work gdrive:Work --resync --drive-skip-gdocs --dry-run
rclone bisync ~/Work gdrive:Work --resync --drive-skip-gdocs

The first run needs --resync: it copies whatever is missing on each side. After that, leave --resync out, or deleted files keep coming back:

rclone bisync ~/Work gdrive:Work --drive-skip-gdocs --resilient --recover --max-lock 2m
  • --drive-skip-gdocs leaves Google Docs, Sheets and Slides in Drive.
  • --resilient and --recover let the next run carry on after an error or an interruption, instead of asking for a new --resync. --max-lock 2m lets a later run clear the lock left by a run that was cut short.
  • From now on, deletes sync too: a file you delete on one side is deleted on the other at the next run. In Drive it goes to the trash; on your computer it is gone for good, unless you add a backup folder with --backup-dir1, as our bisync guide shows. Add --dry-run to any run to see first what it would do.
  • By default, bisync stops if one run would delete more than half of the files on either side. Find out why before you use --force to get past it.
  • If a file changed on both sides, bisync keeps both, with “conflict” and a number added to their names.

To run it every few minutes, use a cron job or a systemd timer, and make sure that two runs never overlap. Our guide to rclone bisync for Google Drive covers the timer, filter files and what can go wrong. Before you point it at files that matter, read our two-way sync safety checklist.

A background sync app

A sync app runs all the time, notices changes on both sides, and handles the first sync, conflicts and errors for you. Its folders are ordinary folders, so they show in Nemo like any other. Three that run on Linux Mint (ours is last):

Insync

A mature commercial sync app that has supported Linux for years. It offers packages for Linux Mint 22.x and an optional Nemo add-on, syncs My Drive, Shared drives and “Shared with me”, handles several accounts, and also syncs OneDrive and Dropbox. You sign in with Google in your browser, with no client of your own to create.

Keep in mind: it is paid, with a licence for each cloud account and a 7-day trial, and closed source. Its latest Linux version when we checked was 3.9.11.

overGrive

A Google Drive sync client made for Linux. It lists Mint among its supported distributions and Cinnamon among its desktops, downloads and uploads changes automatically, and can turn Google Docs into office files whose edits sync back to Drive as revisions of the original.

Keep in mind: only one account can be active at a time, each account needs its own licence (there is a 14-day trial), it is closed source, and you create your own Google API client during setup, which its guide walks you through. Latest version: 3.6.0 (25 May 2026).

Ambifold (our app, in private beta)

A background app that keeps the folders you choose in two-way sync with Google Drive, as real files on your disk. Before the first sync it shows a preview of what it will copy each way, and nothing happens until you confirm; the first sync never deletes anything. If one sync would delete more than half of the files on either side, it stops and shows you the list. Files it replaces or deletes on your computer go to a backup folder for 30 days, and files it deletes in Drive go to Drive's trash. A tray icon shows its status, its settings page opens in your browser, and it runs rclone inside.

Keep in mind:

  • It is in a private beta, by invitation until the public beta, planned for 1 December 2026.
  • It syncs My Drive only: Shared drives and “Shared with me” are not supported yet.
  • Google Docs, Sheets and Slides stay in Drive by default.
  • It checks Drive for changes on a schedule, so a change made in Drive arrives in about 1 to 5 minutes: nearer one while you are working, up to five after a few quiet hours. It notices changes on your computer within seconds, but each sync re-reads every folder in the pair, which on a large Drive can take a couple of minutes.
  • The free edition (from 1 December 2026: one Google account and up to three folders) connects through your own Google client. The app walks you through creating it. More accounts and folders need Pro: see pricing.
  • It is made for Linux Mint 22.x and Ubuntu 24.04 or newer. Our automated tests install and run it on Ubuntu 26.04, the base of Mint 27; we will test Mint 27 itself when it is released. Its code is private.

The status and limits on our home page and the download page have the details. Our comparison of Google Drive clients for Linux also covers FreeFileSync, which syncs as jobs you start or schedule, and other mounts such as ExpanDrive and google-drive-ocamlfuse.

4. Which to choose

If you…Try
open a Drive file now and then Drive in the browser, or Online Accounts on Mint 22.x.
want to browse your whole Drive in Nemo without copying it Online Accounts on Mint 22.x; an rclone mount on any version.
need your files offline, or use apps that don't like network folders A sync tool: rclone bisync, Insync, overGrive or Ambifold.
are at home in the terminal and want it free rclone: mount, bisync or both.
want sync that runs by itself, set up in a window Insync (also Shared drives, OneDrive and Dropbox), overGrive (one account at a time) or Ambifold (a free edition, a preview first and a stop before mass deletes).

Many people combine the two kinds: they sync the folders they work in every day, and browse the rest of their Drive on the web or through a mount. Whatever you choose, never let two tools sync the same folder, and keep a backup of files that matter.

5. FAQ

Does Google Drive work on Linux Mint?

Yes, but not with an app from Google: Google's Drive for desktop is not made for Linux. On Mint 22.x you can open Drive in Nemo through Online Accounts. On any version, rclone or a sync app such as Insync, overGrive or Ambifold works.

Can I see Google Drive in Nemo?

On Mint 22.x, yes: after you sign in to Google in Online Accounts, your Drive appears under Network. On any version, an rclone mount or a sync app's folder is an ordinary folder that Nemo shows like any other. Insync also offers a Nemo add-on.

Will Google Drive work in Linux Mint 27?

Not through Online Accounts, from what Mint has said. The three ways above don't depend on it, so they should carry on working. We will update this guide when Mint 27 is out.

Can I use Google Drive offline on Linux Mint?

Only with a sync tool, which keeps real copies of the folders you choose on your disk. Online Accounts and rclone mount fetch files when you open them.

Should I stay on Mint 22 to keep Drive in Nemo?

You can: Mint 22 is supported until 2029, and the integration still works there, with the problems above. Whatever you use, don't make a network folder the only copy of files that matter to you.

6. Sources

All checked on 16 October 2026.

7. Changes to this guide

  • : first published.
  • : a link to our new guide to Linux Mint 27 “Adrien” (what Mint has said about it, and why there is no Mint 23).

Private beta

Want your Drive folders as real files on Linux Mint?

Ambifold keeps the folders you choose in two-way sync with Google Drive, in the background. We are inviting small groups of Linux Mint and Ubuntu users in October and November 2026, before the public beta, planned for 1 December.

Ask for an invite See its limits first