8 fast fixes for common Google Drive problems

Ah, the cloud. It sounds so light, so fluffy, so worry-free — doesn’t it?

Here in the real world, though, cloud services aren’t always so simple. With Google Drive, specifically, whether you’re storing and managing multimedia assets or dealing with documents and spreadsheets, there’s a decent chance you’ll run into some manner of murkiness along the way.

Drive does lots of things well, but it certainly has its share of, shall we say, quirks. I’ve heard it all over the years — and now, I’ve put together a collection of some of the most common Drive challenges I’ve encountered along with some fast ‘n’ simple solutions to overcome ’em.

Read through these fixes, hang onto any that seem relevant for future reference, and get ready to watch your cloud-related worries float away.

*Google Drive problem #1: Difficult downloads*

For something that’s primarily a storage service, you’d think the basic act of, y’know, transferring files with Drive would be effortless. Unfortunately, though, Drive is somewhat notorious for making downloads a massive pain in the patootie — at least, when more than one file is involved.

When you select multiple files on the Drive website and then try to download ’em all simultaneously, the site begins to package the files into a compressed zip archive — and then, all too often, takes an eternity to finish that process and start your actual download. It’s a frequently frustrating experience and the last thing you want to deal with when you’re just trying to save some stuff and move on.

There’s not much you can do about the process itself, but you can avoid the website entirely and transfer files in a simpler, faster, and more reliable manner. You’ve got a few different options, all of which put the Drive website method to shame.

First, if you’re using