Community Expert

Question

Can Google Drive Replace a Server for InDesign Team Workflows?

Forum|Forum|23 days ago
March 14, 2026
6 replies
150 views

I work for a book publisher. We are a team of three, all working remotely. We are currently using InDesign 20.5.2 on Macs running Ventura 13.7.6. (Our Macs are older and won’t run the latest OS).

Currently we connect to a file server via VPN. Management wants to shut down the server and move our files to Google Drive. I have concerns about this.

My two co-workers are used to working on the server. I know some people say you should never work on the server, but they’ve been doing it for years and haven’t had any problems.

What I need to know is if it’s possible to use Google Drive the way we use our server—open an InDesign file, work on it, save it. Make an .indb file, preflight, create a TOC, export to PDF, all that kind of stuff. I suspect that the answer is “no,” but I need to explain to management why it won’t work and propose an alternative.

At my previous job I managed the transition from local server to Box and it worked flawlessly. I was able to set up Box so that it worked exactly the way our server did. It was a while ago and I don’t remember the details.

Any information, suggestions, and advice is welcome.

Thanks!

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

I have found that DropBox and Box work more reliably than Google Drive; but for simple file backups and storage, Google Drive is great. OneDrive works well, but is inflexible about what folder I want to limit it to. It forces a takeover of my Desktop, Documents and Photos folders, which I don’t want it to do.

Mike Witherell

BobLevine

Community Expert

Dive into the OneDrive settings, @Mike Witherell. You can manage them there:

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

Yes, Bob, but it doesn’t allow you to turn off Documents, Pictures, and Desktop. It turns into a file-hostage-crisis. OneDrive effectively takes these files off your computer and keeps them on the cloud if you try to change it.

Mike Witherell

Scott Falkner

Community Expert

That should work out fine. I don’t use Google Drive but I have used Dropbox. WIth Dropbox and Google drive the files are local, as far os your computer is concerned. Dropbox and Drive sync the local folder to the remote files so you are always working on a file on your computer.

tonks_the_auror

Author

Community Expert

Thanks very much Dave, Bob, and Kasyan. Your responses are really helpful.

It’s going to be Google Drive because we have an enterprise Google workspace or whatever it’s called. I would prefer Dropbox, but we are one business unit in a huge corporation and don’t get to call the shots on decisions like this.

BobLevine

Community Expert

I don’t think anyone’s mentioned it yet but make sure that there are no smart sync features active that only download files if you open them. With lot of links that can cause InDesign to time out and crash.

BobLevine

Community Expert

Anyone that says you should not work on a server is living in a alternate reality. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it as long as everything is properly configured. As for Google Drive, I’m not a big fan. I can recommend Dropbox and/or OneDrive. Both are robust and I have never had an issue with them.

As long as the script that @Kasyan Servetsky has provided works you’ll overcome the biggest hurdle with conflicting versions. I’ve always found it curious that InDesign lock files do not sync but InCopy lock files do and they do so instantaneously.

Kasyan Servetsky

Legend

At my previous job, we worked on DropBox.
I wrote a script to avoid working on the same doc simultaneously.
Here’s another one based on mine.
I never used Google Drive app, so have no idea what’s different in comparison with DropBox, but you can try this approach.

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

Yes, it’s possible.

Everyone needs to install the Google Drive software so it is a folder on the computer.

Then--MOST IMPORTANTLY…

When someone is done working on a file, they need to allow time for it to sync to the cloud.

Then the others need time to allow the file to sync from the cloud to their hard drives.

You will need CLEAR communication as to when it is safe to work on a file.

It’s basically the same process for Google Drive, Box, Dropbox, and OneDrive. I use all of them but prefer OneDrive for the 1 TB storage that comes with a MS Office subscription.

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

BobLevine

Community Expert

Me, too. In fact, I use it with all of my projects since it provides full back ups and versioning.

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