Missing files in your Google Drive? Use this hidden option to force a refresh.

On rare occasions, you may find that Drive for Desktop, the program that shows your files stored in Google Drive locally on your computer, does not match up with the files you can see in Google Drive on the web. 

This usually happens when Drive for Desktop has not been able to sync correctly with Google Drive, and therefore not all your files are visible. 

Drive for Desktop has a secret right-click menu that will allow you to force a refresh on any particular folder; doing this will resync the folder with Google Drive, and any missing files will reappear!

What to do to force a refresh

  • Select the folder with the missing files.

  • Hold Shift and Right Click on the folder.

  • Select Force Refresh from the menu that appears.