Google Drive Tips & Tricks, How to Solve File Upload Errors

How to solve File Upload Errors in Google Drive With few Tips & Tricks

Google drive is both an Online and Offline Storage service that gives you 15GB of cloud storage for free. You can use it to create documents and store, share folders and files with other people. Google Drive integrates with Google other apps: Google Sheets, Google Docs, Google Slides, and more

Google drive is available on the PC/ Mac version also for the Mobile version for both IOS and Android platforms.

While storing files on google drive is easy but simultaneously it has some issues with the sync or file storage process.

In this article, we will discuss the Tips and Tricks of how to solve this issue.

Google Drive’s Status Dashboard

Google Drive is pretty good when it comes to uptime, and it’s very rare that the service itself isn’t working. However, check the Dashboard for any outages to Google Drive before taking matters into your own hands. If you see that Google Drive is down, it’s just a case of waiting it out until it’s working again.

Check Your Network

There might be an issue with your network instead. This is especially true if the file uploads but gets canceled in the middle with a network error. Restarting your router usually solves this problem. If that fails, try changing your IP address and also turning off the firewall. Using a VPN may also affect the upload process, so make sure your VPN is turned off.

If you are sure it’s a network error, then resetting your router may fix this. There should be a reset button (usually inside a hole) on your router that you can press and hold for five to ten seconds to reset the router.

Disable Antivirus and Firewall

If you’re using antivirus software or have a firewall, try turning these off to see if your files then start syncing. You might need to first restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Ad blockers like AdGuard and uBlock Origin should in theory work fine with Google Drive. They generally rely on blacklists that block known sources of ads and should allow you to upload files to Google Drive.

However, over the years various problems have been reported with browser extensions like AdGuard, which can sometimes block uploads or even block Internet access for all your Google apps.

If you’re having trouble uploading files and have an ad blocker, try disabling it when you’re on the Google Drive website. Remember, don’t disable the ad blocker outright – just for Google Drive (and other Google sites if experiencing problems) specifically.

Restart Backup and Sync

It’s the age-old troubleshooting tip, but it does often work. Try restarting the Backup and Sync client to see if this resolves the issues. To do this, click the Backup and Sync icon in your system tray. Click the Settings icon (three vertical dots) and click Quit Backup and Sync. Finally, reopen the utility.

If this didn’t work, try restarting your system entirely. Windows 10 users can do that by going to Start > Power > Restart and Mac users can go to Apple menu > Restart.

If you’re still not having any luck, try reinstalling Backup and Sync. To do this, head to Google Drive online, click the Settings icon in the top right (cog wheel), and select Download Backup and Sync.

This will ensure you’re getting the most recent version of the program. Open it up, progress through the wizard, and select Yes when asked if you want to replace your current version.

During the installation, you can choose your Google Drive folder and then resynchronize all your files.

Disconnect and Reconnect Google Account

You can try disconnecting and reconnecting your Google account. Note that this will mean all your files have to resynchronize, so this could take some time.

Click the Backup and Sync icon in your system tray. Click the Settings icon (three vertical dots) and click Preferences… In the left-hand menu, go to Settings > Disconnect account > Disconnect. Once it’s completed, click Got it.

Now click the Backup and Sync system tray icon again. Click Sign in and follow the wizard through to reconnect your account.

Rename Your File

To confirm this, try uploading three types of files separately and see if they upload. If the files upload, then it’s definitely a problem with the file you want to upload. In that case, try changing the name and format of the file if possible. Also, make sure there are no characters in the file name (like ? < > / ).
If the file is huge in size (over 2 GBs), then try splitting it and then upload. A tool like 7-zip can help you with this task.

Still, having problems? It might be that the file you’re trying to sync is the issue. There have been some instances where files won’t sync if they have particular characters in their name.

If your file contains characters like <, >, /, \, ? or * then get rid of them. Depending on your operating system these shouldn’t be allowed anyway, but sometimes a program may erroneously insert them into their file names. In fact, rename the file entirely and only use letters and numbers. See if this pushes the file through.

If that doesn’t work, and it’s possible to do so, save your file in a different format. Google Drive might be getting held up on something in the original format, so this is a good test.

Clear the Cache

The Google Drive cache on your phone or desktop is useful because it makes files load faster, but it can also cause a few unexplained problems. Files may not sync or some of them may not open in your browser. Some problems that remain unsolved with the above steps can be resolved by clearing the cache.

Open Chrome.
From your browser toolbar, click the icon with the three dots > More Tools > Clear Browsing Data.
In the Clear browsing data box, click the checkboxes for Cookies and other site data and other site data and Cached images and files.
Use the menu at the top to select the amount of data that you want to delete. Choose the beginning of time to delete everything. (This option does not appear on all devices.)
Click Clear browsing data.

Force Stop Google Drive (Android/iOS)

If you’ve started an upload, and it’s been stuck at one point for a long time, there’s a good chance that something has gone wrong with the upload and it’s crashed (assuming you’re in a place with stable Internet).

You may have to restart the upload, and the best way to do that is to restart the Google Drive app.

I cant Upload Google Drive Force Stop
To do this on Android, go to “Settings -> Apps & notifications -> See all apps.” Find Drive in the list, tap “Force Stop,” then try your upload again.

On iOS 13, double-click the Home button, swipe right until you find Google Drive, then swipe up on its preview window to close it. Then restart your upload. If you have an iPhone without a Home button, swipe up from the middle or bottom of the screen and hold until you see the app switcher, then swipe right until you find Google Drive. Swipe up on its preview window to close it. On an iPad without a Home button, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to access the Home screen, then swipe up from the bottom right. Swipe right until you find Google Drive, then swipe up on its preview window to close it.

Split Your Upload into Smaller Parts

Google is designed to handle individual files as large as 5TB (unless they’re Google file formats like Docs or Sheets, in which case they’re 50MB). Generally, Google is fine handling single large files and folders, though your Internet might not like it if you try to upload a massive folder with hundreds of GB of data all at once. As you probably know, uploads put much more strain on a network than downloads.

If you find that uploading large folders leads to the Google Drive upload timing out or crashing, then try going into the folder, selecting everything inside, and uploading everything as individual files. Google Drive will queue them up automatically and may handle the files better.

A good idea is to create the folder you want to put the files in on Google Drive before the upload, then chuck the files straight in there so you don’t have to organize them later.

Use Private/Incognito Window

This is usually my first solution for fixing many Web problems, including the upload issue. A private window is isolated and doesn’t use stored cookies that may affect your regular browsing. Just open a private window in your browser and log in to Google Drive. After, upload the file again and see if it works.

Use a Different Browser

Make Sure Images Are Turned On

If the above solutions didn’t help, then try using a different browser. For me, Opera and Chrome work fine, so you can try using one of these browsers and see if it fixes the problem. Additionally, the error might be occurring due to a temporary support issue with your browser or because your browser simply doesn’t support Google Drive. However, the latter can’t be true for popular browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Edge.

If you are using one of the above-mentioned browsers and changing the browser fixed the upload problem, then try updating your browser to the latest version. If that doesn’t help, then wait for the next version update, as it may fix this issue.

Happy Coding 🙂