how to use premiere pro with footage in google drive

premiere pro can edit footage stored in google drive as long as drive shows up as a folder in finder: import the clips from there and premiere links to them in place. keep the project file, the media cache and the proxies on your mac's own disk, because premiere writes to them constantly. the catch is how the clips reach premiere: google drive for desktop downloads each file in full when it's opened, so a big shoot ends up on your disk anyway unless you use a streaming drive.

the setup that works

step by step

1. get google drive into finder. google drive for desktop puts it under locations in the finder sidebar. other options are below.
2. save the new project to a folder on your mac, not inside google drive.
3. check the media cache: premiere pro › settings › media cache. adobe recommends a fast ssd, ideally a dedicated one, and its shared-storage guidance says to keep the cache and its database on the boot drive or a directly attached ssd, not on shared storage.
4. check file › project settings › scratch disks and make sure captured audio and video, previews and auto-save point to your mac.
5. import the clips from the google drive folder. premiere links to them where they are; it doesn't copy them.
6. for heavy formats, select the clips, right-click, and choose proxy › create proxies. set a proxy location on your mac. adobe's docs say proxies go in a proxies folder next to the originals by default, which here would mean inside google drive, uploading.
7. toggle proxies on in the program monitor while you edit, and off for the export.

how google drive for desktop behaves

drive for desktop has two modes. in mirror mode, everything is stored on your mac as well as in the cloud: reliable for editing and works offline, but the footage takes its full size on your disk. in stream mode, files stay in the cloud until an app opens them, then the whole file downloads and a copy stays in drive's cache. when premiere imports a folder of clips, it reads each one to build peak files and thumbnails, so stream mode can end up downloading the whole shoot.

that's fine for small projects. for a 200 GB shoot on a 512 GB macbook it isn't. the options are to mark only the current project's folder available offline, to let stream mode fill the cache and clear it afterwards, or to use something that doesn't download whole files.

streaming instead of downloading

a streaming drive mounts google drive in finder and, when premiere reads a clip, fetches only the byte ranges it asks for. scrubbing jumps to the new point instead of waiting for a download, and the clip doesn't take its full size on your disk. feather drive does this for google drive and dropbox. in a side-by-side test the same 1.22 GB video opened in 1.7 s from feather drive and after 1 min 44 s from google drive for desktop, which downloaded all of it first.

its limits matter here: it needs macos 26 or later, it only sees files you put in it (google's drive.file permission, so not footage already elsewhere in your drive unless you add it), you need an internet connection while you edit, and it's a paid app with a 3-day free trial. rclone can do something similar for free if you're comfortable in terminal; see our rclone guide.

with any streaming setup, smooth playback needs a connection faster than the footage's bitrate. typical h.264 or hevc camera files are often fine; prores and raw are where proxies earn their keep.

productions and team work

premiere's productions feature splits a big job into several projects in one folder, with locking so two editors don't overwrite each other. adobe's shared-storage guidelines say storing a production in dropbox or google drive is safe but not recommended for simulating shared storage, because production collaboration isn't designed for these services. a sync app can't lock files the way a shared server does, so two people can end up editing the same project.

for a solo editor, a production folder on your mac with media in google drive is fine. for a team editing at the same time, use the shared storage adobe's guidelines describe, or a service built for collaborative editing.

caveats

• offline media after a restart. if drive mounts under a different path or the clips were moved in the drive website, premiere shows them offline. relink to the new location.
• exports into drive. exporting straight into a synced folder means the sync app uploads a file that's still being written. export locally, then move it.
• offline work. clips that live only in the cloud need a connection. make the current project available offline, or keep its proxies local, before you travel.

related

• how to edit videos on a mac with your footage in the cloud
• google drive stream vs mirror
• davinci resolve and cloud storage
• the best cloud storage for video editors

common questions

can premiere pro import files directly from google drive?

yes, if google drive appears as a folder in finder through google drive for desktop or another app that mounts it. premiere links to the clips where they are. it can't import from the google drive website.

should i save my premiere project in google drive?

save the working project on your mac and back it up to google drive. a sync app uploading the project while premiere saves it can cause conflicts, and auto-save files pile up in the synced folder.

why does premiere say my google drive media is offline?

usually the path changed: google drive for desktop mounted under a different name, the files were moved, or they are online-only and haven't been fetched. relink the clips to the current location.

can a team share a premiere production through google drive?

adobe's productions guidelines say storing a production in dropbox or google drive is safe but not recommended for simulating shared storage, because production collaboration isn't designed for these services.