Occasionally Google makes changes to improve its products or comply with changes in the operating system.  

 

A change with Google Drive for macOS happened recently that will cause any Google Drive aliases to no longer work.  You can read more about it in this Google documentation.

 

The steps to resolve the aliases that no longer work are outlined below.

 

Once your Google Drive for macOS application is updated, you will receive the message below:

 

 

ACTION: Click OK to acknowledge the pop-up, then click OK at the prompt about Google Drive syncing

 

 

Important Changes:

 

• Moving files or folders in/out of Google Drive will MOVE the file/folder and not copy it.  Anything that doesn’t reside in Google Drive is not backed up.  You should work on files directly from Google Drive to ensure they are always backed up.
• In the Finder  Google Drive is now in Locations and not Favorites

 

 

• Any previously created Google Drive aliases (shortcuts) to your desktop or any other location will need to be recreated.

 

You do not need to do anything if you do not have any Google Drive aliases.

 

How to create an alias:

 

1.  Locate the folder or file you want to make an alias of

2.  There are three easy ways to make an alias

• Select the item and go to File > Make alias, then drag the alias to the location you want it.  You can rename the alias if you would like.
• Select the item and right-click or hold down <option> and click on the item and select Make alias, then drag the alias to the location you want it
• Select the items and hold down <option> and <command> and drag the file to the location you want it

 

You will know that you are working with an alias if you see an “arched arrow” next to the item, like the pictures below:

 

3.  You can rename the alias if you would like.
 

If you have your Google Drive alias on your desktop, to recreate it, you have to create an alias of the “My Drive” folder inside your Google Drive folder.  You can rename the alias to “Google Drive” if you choose.

 

In this Apple knowledge base article, you can read more about creating and working with alias’.