How To Sync Multiple Google Drive Accounts on Your Computer

Having a Google Drive account makes it easy for you to store, share, and manage your files online. As with all Google features, one Google user can have only one Google Drive, meaning that you’ll have to make another Google account to gain access to new storage.

Google Drive’s free tier comes with 15 GBs of storage. Upgrading to Google One, which is essentially Google’s paid service tiers, you can get 100 GBs of storage for $1.99/month, 200 GBs of storage for $2.99/month, and a whopping 2 TBs of storage for $4.99/month. So if you just need more storage then consider upgrading to a Google One account as the pricing is very reasonable for what you get.

Many people have multiple Google accounts – some accounts are personal, some are for business, and you may also want to set up an account for a particular hobby. But what happens if you want to connect these accounts and manage your files together?

Unfortunately, Google doesn’t allow syncing multiple Google Drive accounts. However, there is a way to work around this issue. This article will provide you with a way to manage all your Google Drive files at once.

Sync Multiple Google Drive Accounts via Your Internet Account

You can use Google’s share feature to sync two or more Google Drive (free tier) or Google One (paid tiers) accounts. To get started, you’ll have to pick a “primary” account and open a folder in it.

You can then give all your other accounts access to this folder, which will act as a centerpiece of your Google Drive management.

Follow these steps to sync two or more Google Drive accounts:

1. Choose a primary Google Drive account.
2. Sign in to another Google account (the one you want to sync from) and go to Google Drive.
3. Click on the New on the top left side of the screen.
   
4. Select ‘Folder’ when the dropdown menu appears.
   
5. Name this folder anything you want but it will have to be unique to the account you are currently using. For example, “syncing folder [your email address].”
6. Drag and drop all the files that you want to share in this folder. If you have some files that do not require syncing, you don’t have to move them here.
   
7. Right-click on this folder and select “Share.”
   
8. Type in the email address of your primary Google Drive account. You’ll need to grant permission to organize, read, and write in this folder.
9. Press ‘Send’.
   
10. Google will send you an email and ask about permissions.
11. Open another browser or a private browser window.
12. Log in to your primary account
13. Open the email from Google.
14. Select ‘Open,’ then select the Shared with me folder.
15. Right-click on the folder.
16. Select “Add to my drive.”
    

The synced folder will now appear on your drive on your primary account. To access it, press “My Drive” on the left side of the Google Drive home page.

When you create a folder and share it for the first time, you can add multiple accounts to it. Repeat the above process, and in step 8, enter the email addresses of all the accounts you want to sync with the folder with. Then do steps 8-16 for each account that you want to sync the folder with.

Now your multiple Google Drive accounts will have access to this folder. You can then manage all the content inside the folder from whichever account you want. Use your primary account to access any of the folders you shared.

Merging Multiple Google Drive Accounts Using Google Drive Backup and Sync

If you’ve installed the Google Drive Backup and Sync app, you can use a similar process to manage files from multiple accounts. To do this, you should:

1. Open Backup and Sync.
2. Click “More” (three vertical dots).
3. Select “Preferences.”
4. Go to the “Settings” menu.
5. Click on “Disconnect Account.”
6. Press OK when prompted.
7. Sign in to another Google Drive account (not the primary one).
8. Select the folders that you want to backup and sync to your Drive account.
9. If you want to sync everything from your computer, check “Sync my drive to this computer”. If you want a particular folder, check it individually.
10. Hit “Next.”
11. Select “Continue” to link the new files and folders with the Google Drive folder that you have on your desktop.

This will make one big Google Drive folder on your desktop with both old and new files. However, since you disconnected your main account, you won’t be able to add or remove files from this new folder.

So, instead of syncing devices, this will just merge everything into one big Drive folder. You can then manage it from your desktop.

Switching Between Drive Accounts

Fortunately, Google does make it easy to switch between accounts on a web browser. If, for some reason the instructions above didn’t work out for you, we’ll show you how to switch between your accounts quickly on Chrome.

Here’s how to switch accounts on Chrome:

1. Open Chrome and visit Google Drive.
2. Click on the profile icon in the upper right-hand corner.
   
3. Select one of your Gmail accounts from the list.
   
4. A new tab will open with the other Google Drive account.

If you need to sign into your other Google Drive account just click the ‘Add Another Account’ option and sign in.

Now, it’s easy to share documents between accounts. Simply open the file and click the ‘Share’ icon. Input the email address connected to the Google Drive account and click ‘Send.’ Then, click on the tab for the other Google Drive account and the document will appear in your Shared documents folder.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I transfer all of my files from one Drive account to another?

If you want to transfer all files from one account to another, you can. The simplest way is to share all of your files. Click on one then use the Ctrl+A or Cmd+A keyboard shortcut to select all files. Then, right-click and choose ‘Share’ from the dropdown menu. Share all of the files at one time to your other Google Drive account.

Until the Feature Arrives, Work Around the Issue

The closest you can get to syncing multiple accounts is sharing a folder. This is not exactly the same as fully syncing or merging the accounts, but it will help you to manage files in one space from different accounts.

The other method can help you collect all the files into one place, but you will only be able to manage it from your computer. Until Google Drive officially allows users to sync multiple Google Drive accounts, these workarounds are the best option for achieving the same sort of result. If you’re looking for more storage space, consider upgrading a Google Drive account to a “Google One” account as you get a lot of storage space for the money, starting at $1.99/month for 100 GB’s of storage. To see the Google One plan options, log into your Google Drive account at drive.google.com then clock on BUY STORAGE in the left-hand panel.

If you found this article useful, you might also like other TechJunkie articles, including How to Automatically Backup Your Hard Drive to Google Drive and How To Move Google Drive Files to a New Account.

Tell us about your experience syncing up two Google Drive accounts. Did the process do what you expected? Do you have any tips or tricks for syncing two Google Drive accounts? If so, please tell us about it in the comments below!