The feature Google Drive Back up & sync (formerly called "Google Drive for your Mac/PC" or "Drive Sync client") can synchronize Google Drive files and folders from your My Drive to a local folder on your computer. Learn more: Google Workspace admin help – Choose a sync solution.
If a file or a folder belonging to an AODocs library is added to a user's My Drive, they can use the Drive Sync client and synchronize the file locally on their computer. Keep in mind that all the files and folders managed by AODocs are owned by the AODocs storage account of the library.
AODocs doesn't support the use of "Back up & sync" and strongly recommends you to disable it for the following reasons:
- Local files infected by viruses (cryptovirus or ransomware type) can synchronize corrupted files back to Google Drive if the user has edit rights on these files.
- The behavior of the synchronized files locally is not trivial and can cause a misunderstanding with end users, especially when the user is not the owner of the document. It generally leads to:
- document duplicates
- document subscription cancellation (user doesn't see the document from Google Drive)
- Managing incidents related to "Back up & sync" requires logs to be retrieved from the user’s computer.
- In large organizations, the use of Back up and sync can have a negative impact on the internet bandwidth.
We recommend disabling the "Back up & sync" feature at your domain level.
As a Google Workspace super admin:
1. Open the Google Admin console.
2. Click Apps.
3. Click Google Workspace.
4. Click Drive and Docs.
5. Scroll down and click Features and Applications.
6. In the Drive section, select the checkbox Do not allow Backup and Sync in your organization.
7. Click Save.
Note: If you are a Google Workspace Business customer, you can disable this feature by Google Organization.