Slow performance in Google Drive

Problem

You are experiencing performance issues with Google Drive.

Environment

  • Google Drive

Solution

  1. Check the user's browser.
    1. Try a different browser — Open another browser that is compatible with Drive and see if the issue continues. Drive works best with:
      1. Chrome browser
      2. Mozilla Firefox
      3. Microsoft Internet Explorer 11
      4. Microsoft Edge
      5. Apple Safari
    2. Close unused tabs — The more tabs you have open, the harder your browser has to work.
      1. To close tabs you aren't using:
        1. On the tab, click Close.
        2. On Microsoft Windows, Linux, and devices running Chrome OS, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+W.
        3. On Apple Mac, you can use the keyboard shortcut Command+w.
    3. Clear cache and cookies — As your browser stores more cache and cookies, it could slow down. Clearing the cache and cookies can fix issues with items taking longer to load. See Clear cache & cookies.
    4. Turn off extensions and plugins — Browser extensions and plugins can sometimes cause issues with Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Forms. Turn off any extensions and plugins and see if the issue continues.
      1. See Install and manage extensions. If you're using a browser other than Chrome browser, see their support site for instructions.
  2. Check the user's computer
    1. Restart the computer — Restarting the computer removes unneeded data and can help increase speed and improve the internet connection.
    2. Try a different computer — Have the user sign in to Drive on a different computer. If the problem still occurs, then you can look into other issues, such as network settings or Wi-Fi connectivity.
    3. Check the operating system requirements — If the user is having problems synchronizing files using Drive for desktop, check that they're using a compatible operating system.
      1. See System requirements and browsers.
  3. Check the user's Drive account
    1. Check storage quota in Drive — If a user runs out of storage space in Drive, they will not be able to store anything new. Not enough storage might make users think that Drive is running slow.
      1. Have the user remove any files they don't need and see if the issue continues. See Clear Google Drive space & increase storage.
    2. Check file sizes in Drive — Larger files can be slow to open and work with. For example, if you have a large number of cells or calculations in a spreadsheet, it might take longer to load and users might think that there is a problem. Try opening files of different sizes and see if the problem occurs for each file. For file-size details, see Files you can store in Google Drive.
  4. Advanced troubleshooting. After you check the user's browser and computer, you can take more advanced steps to try and solve the issue.
  5. Check the status of Google Workspace services — You can see if there are any outages or issues with Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Forms. See the Status Dashboard.
  6. Check firewall settings — To ensure that your users can access Drive or Google Docs editors, be sure your firewall rules connect to the correct hosts. See Drive firewall and proxy settings.
  7. Check for network issues when syncing with Outlook — If your organization uses Google Workspace Sync for Microsoft Outlook, Notes in Outlook can synchronize with Google Drive, which might cause slow performance in Drive. See Troubleshoot network traffic issues.