File Stream Instructions for Mac Users

In this guide:

  • Why Use File Stream?

  • How to get started with File Stream

  • Migrate your files to Google Drive using File Stream

  • How to set up Word, Excel, Smart Notebooks, etc to be available offline

Why Use File Stream?

File Stream replaces “Google Drive for Mac”. It has a couple of advantages:

  • It makes it very easy to migrate all your files to Google Drive (which you need to do since our file server is being retired this summer).

  • File Stream makes the contents of your Google Drive appear as a local drive on your computer(s), allowing you to open, edit and save all your non-Google files from any computer that you have File Stream installed on. That means your Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Smart Notebook files can all be stored in Google Drive and accessed in a couple of clicks.

  • As a school, we have committed to migrating all faculty data to Google Drive for file storage by the end of the 2017-18 school year. That means you must migrate your files to Google Drive by the end of the year or they will not be backed up. (Administrative data will follow in the future)

How to get started with File Stream

1. Go to “Spotlight” and type in “File Stream.” You will then be prompted to sign in and a File Stream icon will appear on the upper right side of your laptop screen

(if File Stream doesn’t show up, please let us know - send an email to help@marlborough.org)

 

 

2. Go to Finder

 

3. Select “Devices,” then “Google Drive.”

 

4. Select either “My Drive” or “Team Drives.”

Congratulations! You now have access to your Google Drive and Team Drives on your local computer! Now, migrate any files you store in your Documents folder, on your Desktop, or anywhere else on your computer to Google Drive using File Stream.

NOTE: If you are storing personal files on your Marlborough computer, please take a moment to separate them out from your Marlborough data, and only move school-related files to Google Drive. You are welcome to store personal files on your computer, but please understand that you are fully responsible for backing them up, and we do need to occasionally erase hard drives to perform upgrades and fix problems.

How to migrate your files to Google Drive using File Stream

If you haven’t already done so, please set aside some time (Spring Break?) to migrate your files to Google Drive. Marlborough will be retiring the file server this summer, so any files you have not migrated by then will become unavailable. This includes all your Marlborough data that you might currently be storing in your Documents folder, and also your Desktop - these files should all be moved to Google Drive (and probably cleaned up prior to moving).

To migrate your files to File Stream, we recommend that you spend some time organizing and pruning them, then simply copy and paste those folders from your Documents or Desktop to the newly available Google Drive folders in Finder (found under the Devices section of the sidebar in Finder). Once the copy has complete and you have verified you can see the files in Google, you can delete the local copies from Documents and Desktops folders.

Be aware that if you have a lot of files, it might take some time to copy them all to Google. We are seeing copy rates of about 1Gb every couple of minutes.

How to set up Word, Excel, Smart Notebooks, etc to be available offline

Once File Stream is installed, go to Finder / Devices / Google Drive, select a folder that contains a Word, Excel, SMART Notebook, or PDF file that you want to be able to access and update offline.

6. Open the folder and then:

  1. Select the file:

 

b. Do a two finger click and change from “Online only” to “Available offline:”

 

c. The file should now have a green check mark on it, indicating that it will sync and be

available to edit offline. All offline edits will show up in your online version as well. Note that you can do this with folders too, just be aware that each folder that you make available offline will take up space on your hard drive.