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For the last week or so I have been periodically getting this dialog popping up, shown below. It would seem from googling around that this is related to Google Drive.

I have tried the recommendations on Apple Support Communities, specifically I have used the Browse button on the popup and selected FinderSyncAPIExtension by going to the finder and opening Google Drive > Show Package Contents > Contents and dragging FinderSyncAPIExtension.appex into the Browse window. That did not resolve the problem. I have also tried deleting Google Drive and installing it fresh from Google.

Currently, after I get this popup (and cancel it), GDrive stops syncing and I have to quit it and start it again to get it to start syncing again.

screen shot of Where is FinderSyncAPIExtension? popup

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  • Interesting, it's worked for me if I just ignore the pop up. I know this probably won't work for you, but it can't hurt to try.
    – JMY1000
    Feb 12, 2016 at 20:22
  • Any solutions to this??
    – Dan
    May 17, 2016 at 13:20
  • The problem is gone for me, but I can't trace it back to any specific fix.
    – Simon Woodside
    May 19, 2016 at 22:49
  • Ignoring the pop-up for me does not work. It keeps Google Drive in an infinite loop of syncing, evidenced by the icon in the taskbar cycling through its phases repeatedly AND by the fact that on other devices (phone and laptop) not syncing the recent items I put in the folder. I have to hit cancel and then reboot the app. Looking forward to the answer on this.
    – oemb1905
    Jun 1, 2016 at 0:12

9 Answers 9

Reset to default
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I located the Google Drive app (/Applications) and clicked that. GDrive then continued to sync without errors. I'm not sure if this is the correct solution, I only tried it once (just 2 minutes ago) but so far so good.

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  • 6
    In my case, and a few years later, the app I had to click is Backup and sync from Google.app. There's no "Google Drive" app any more.
    – Borek Bernard
    Apr 13, 2020 at 20:34
  • @borek, would you post this as an answer? It’s working for me
    – hectorpal
    May 3, 2020 at 15:14
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the solution is very simple, just click on the browse button and select the Google Drive app Icon in your applications folder, and that's it! not pop-ups windows any more. enjoy!

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This may be of use: https://forums.insynchq.com/t/mac-how-to-fix-issues-on-the-new-finder-sync-extension-file-icon-overlays-and-context-menu-in-os-x-10-10-above/3465

Basically it says to go to System Preferences>Extensions and make sure that not more than one cloud file system is set on Finder. Only one can do it at a time: so that’s what causes FinderSyncAPIExtension to crash.

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  • 1
    mine has both Dropbox and Google Drive. I need both.
    – akhy
    Aug 31, 2016 at 4:05
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    I found that simply checking the box next to Google Drive (it wasn't checked) seems to have fixed this for me.
    – RedYeti
    Oct 31, 2016 at 11:30
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The google drive app seems to sync regardless of the pop up being satisfied. However, the pop up keeps popping up on my system such that I may have three or four of them splattered all over my computer screens, disabling my ability to see necessary program windows they insist on being atop of. Ignoring the pop up is not really an option and there seems to be no way to show the pop up where the extension is since the browser can not be directed to the "hidden" folder in the google app.

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2

I just installed Drive on a new Apple computer and saw that dialog for the first time. Found on the apple forum that it could be related to having Drive sync with multiple accounts. That's my situation, so could be indicative of where to look for solutions.

GolfHotel Feb 2, 2016 3:56 AM This typically occurs when you have google drive installed and more than one google drive identity. The conflict occurs when drive cant determine which files to synch when you are logged into more than one account.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6890881?start=0&tstart=0

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  • I have one Drive account and get this error repeatedly. Relaunching the app is not a proper fix, but a work around.
    – oemb1905
    Jun 1, 2016 at 0:10
1

I've had this issue for months. Today while staring yet again at the list of apps in the pop-up, I realized there were two Google Drive icons. One was listed under this path:

~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default

and one under:

~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Profile 1

They were different versions. The Profile 1 turned out to be from when my daughter logged in to her account on my computer (using Chrome, she uses a Chromebook).

With the dialog still on the screen, I deleted Profile 1 and emptied the trash — the popup went away, as did the Google Drive menubar item. I opened Google Drive and got no popup. I logged out of the computer, then back in, and still no popup.

So, perhaps having logged into another account at some point in the past (using Chrome, on an account where the Drive app/plugin is active) installed a different version. That version never gets updated, because I haven't logged back into that account? So, maybe it is being found to be in conflict/out of date?

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I followed jackoverflow's advice and it turned out it was actually Adobe Creative Cloud that was trying to use an extension in Finder and was getting killed by DropBox. The checkbox had a blue dot next to it, so I checked it and then unchecked it and that seems to have stopped the popups. I'd rather have the DropBox Finder extension active.

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This helped me too: "I found that simply checking the box next to Google Drive (it wasn't checked) seems to have fixed this for me. – RedYeti". Why the checkbox was cleared I don't know. Last thing I did was installing Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. And for what it's worth I have three cloud systems set on Finder (Dropbox, Google and SwitchDrive).

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Maybe the following will bring a solution, it did in my MacBook Pro (OS X El Capitan version 10.11.6):

  1. Open the app Terminal
  2. type the following command: chflags nohidden ~/Library This will make the Library folder visible.
  3. Shut down your Mac (not restart, won't work)
  4. Start up your Mac
  5. Presto, the problem is over (at least in My MacBook it is)
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    Changing the visibility of a folder in the Finder doesn't affect a program's ability to find or access it. Shutting down the computer is probably what helped, and even then only because it incidentally restarted the Google Drive process.
    – BonzaiThePenguin
    Sep 12, 2016 at 15:37

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