Alfred cannot find Google Drive files in folders Shared with me and added as a shortcut to My Drive

[jiho]

Hi,

 

Thanks again for Alfred. I won't repeat my previous post but here is another problem related to remote storage.

 

I have an up-to-date Google Drive app, an account that was switched to the File Provider API (Google Drive stores data in `~/Library/CloudStorage/`) and `~/Library/CloudStorage/` is added to Alfred search path.

 

I can find files from My Drive mirrored to my computer (of course: those are just regular files).

 

When a folder is shared with me through Google Drive and I add it to My Drive, it shows as an alias in My Drive. The alias points to `~/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-myemail@gmail.com/.shortcut-targets-by-id/something-something` so it is in Alfred' search path.

 

When such a folder is streamed (i.e dynamically fetched from the server), as shown by the cloud icon next to file names

 

Spotlight finds the file but shows it with the Google Drive icon, not the expected (PDF in this case) icon. But Alfred does not display anything:

 

 

And the troubleshooting output is

Starting Diagnostics...

File: 'MSCA_DN_Handbook_2022_final_.pdf'
Path: '/Users/jiho/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-myemail@gmail.com/.shortcut-targets-by-id/1D8UL4F_CKgMQtuKagU5E4AlODJPjylZH/ML4Plankton_2022_shared'

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check file cache database...

✅ File cache integrity is ok

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check if file is readable...

✅ Alfred has permissions to read this file.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check if volume '/' is indexed by macOS...

✅ Indexing is enabled on this drive

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check direct file metadata...

✅ Direct metadata available

Display Name: MSCA_DN_Handbook_2022_final_.pdf
 Other Names: 
Content Type: com.adobe.pdf
   Last Used: 2022-09-26 08:36:22 +0000

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check mdls file metadata...

❌ macOS metadata missing essential items

kMDItemFSContentChangeDate = 2022-09-26 08:36:22 +0000
kMDItemFSCreationDate      = 2022-09-27 18:50:35 +0000
kMDItemFSCreatorCode       = ""
kMDItemFSFinderFlags       = 0
kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon     = 0
kMDItemFSInvisible         = 0
kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden = 0
kMDItemFSIsStationery      = 0
kMDItemFSLabel             = 0
kMDItemFSName              = "MSCA_DN_Handbook_2022_final_.pdf"
kMDItemFSNodeCount         = 1337947
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID      = 20
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID       = 501
kMDItemFSSize              = 1337947
kMDItemFSTypeCode          = ""

-----------------------------------------------------------

❌ Troubleshooting failed

 

(Although I am not sure how relevant this is, since starting the troubleshooting possibly triggers the download of the file.)

 

 

Even when the files are synchronised to my computer, as shown by the lack of cloud icon and the green tick instead

the behaviour is the same (surprisingly: I would have at least expected Spotlight to show the correct icon for the file):

 

And the file troubleshooting output is:

Starting Diagnostics...

File: '6_mesocosms.png'
Path: '/Users/jiho/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-myemail@gmail.com/.shortcut-targets-by-id/1ckL9_Xr8t1mtpSypdjIbgKgSZKrjTUn7/dessins'

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check file cache database...

✅ File cache integrity is ok

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check if file is readable...

✅ Alfred has permissions to read this file.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check if volume '/' is indexed by macOS...

✅ Indexing is enabled on this drive

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check direct file metadata...

✅ Direct metadata available

Display Name: 6_mesocosms.png
 Other Names: 
Content Type: public.png
   Last Used: 2020-01-29 14:23:19 +0000

-----------------------------------------------------------

Check mdls file metadata...

❌ macOS metadata missing essential items

kMDItemFSContentChangeDate = 2020-01-29 14:23:19 +0000
kMDItemFSCreationDate      = 2020-01-29 14:20:41 +0000
kMDItemFSCreatorCode       = ""
kMDItemFSFinderFlags       = 0
kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon     = 0
kMDItemFSInvisible         = 0
kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden = 0
kMDItemFSIsStationery      = 0
kMDItemFSLabel             = 0
kMDItemFSName              = "6_mesocosms.png"
kMDItemFSNodeCount         = 24215027
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID      = 20
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID       = 501
kMDItemFSSize              = 24215027
kMDItemFSTypeCode          = ""

-----------------------------------------------------------

❌ Troubleshooting failed

 

So my questions are:

- do you know why synchronised files are not treated as the ones in My Drive and seen as local files?

- how can I make Alfred aware of these files that Spotlight displays with a Google Drive icon?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Edited October 9, 2022 by jiho
Remove extra attachments

[vitor]

Google Drive doesn’t behave well with Spotlight, which in turn affects Alfred. The Google Drive workflow exists to allow search again (including the correct icon).

 

 

[jiho]

Hi vitor,

 

Thanks, I knew about this. Now, however, Google Drive is transitioning to the File Provider API (my account has recently been switched) and this allows Spotlight to find the files with no extra trick (although the results look strange, as explained above). My question here is how to get the same results in Alfred, which uses the Spotlight index.

 

But thanks again anyhow.

[vitor]

1 hour ago, jiho said:

this allows Spotlight to find the files with no extra trick (although the results look strange, as explained above)

 

The strange results are what makes the extra trick still necessary. Google is using a special API to make the results show up in Spotlight, they’re not exactly indexed, which why they’re also slower to show up.

[brank87]

Having the same issue. Google Drives are already indexed by Spotlight, but not by Alfred. 

Would love to finally be able to access my G Drive files via Alfred. 🙏

 

[Vero]

21 minutes ago, brank87 said:

Having the same issue. Google Drives are already indexed by Spotlight, but not by Alfred. 

 

Google Drive isn't really indexed by macOS, it uses a different mechanism / workaround to return results to macOS. 

 

This is why we recommend the Google Drive workflow, as it continues to work reliably, regardless of what shenanigans Google get up to when releasing new versions of Google Drive