Google Drive sync issues on OnePlus 5

[Android Central Question]

My father owns a OnePlus 5 (on the latest OS available for the device.) For the last few months (even before he updated to Android 10), he's had problems uploading and syncing (via FolderSync) on Google Drive (also the latest version because of auto-update.) Intermittently whenever he would upload files on Google Drive, he'd see 'Waiting to Upload' on the files but they'd never upload. This problem has persisted on at least two Wi-Fi and two mobile network connections.

The odd thing is that the issue is specific only to a sub-folder within Drive. If he tries to upload to the main Drive directory, the upload happens instantly.

FolderSync works only if I manually sync it. Auto-sync whether instantaneous or every 15 minutes does not work.

I've done the following things to try to repair this issue:

Force stopped the app and restarted my phone. (many times)
Disabled uploading only while on Wi-Fi.
Logged in and out of the app.
Cleared app cache and data.
Disabled (can't uninstall the app) and enabled the app.
Cleared my mobile cache in OnePlus.
Disable power-saving and data-optimization for the app.
Granted all permissions to the app.

None of these things have worked or made the situation any better. I contacted Google Drive support and they said that if you can upload files without any issues then the problem is with the phone.

I contact OnePlus and the phone cache reset is what they advised. It didn't work and now they've asked me to go to a service centre which I don't want to because it is far away from my house.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! It's also worth contacting the Folder Sync dev's support as well, since this might be an issue with their app or server: support@tacit.dk

Please register on this forum, which will allow you to engage in discussion more easily, as well as post images. https://forums.androidcentral.com/ask-question/409154-join-android-central-community.html

 

[siddharthceramics]

I have an account, yes. The issue isn't for FolderSync specifically. It's for uploading as well. The app is stuck on 'Waiting to Upload' interminably. If it were app-specific I would have contacted them but it's a Google Drive issue.

 

[VidJunky]

If the issue appears to be contained to one specific folder have you considered making a new folder and trying to sync to that folder? If everything syncs try slowly moving the contents of the suspect folder to the new folder and see if at any point the symptoms return. There may be a bad or corrupt item in the folder or the folder itself could be corrupt.

Are any of the items in the suspect folder or the folder itself heavily shared? Shared to more than a handful of people or accessed frequently by those whom it is shared with? Heavy traffic in and out of the folder could be causing issues, it's not something that I've heard of happening but I'm just trying to think of reasons that uploading to the Drive root folder isn't an issue but to this sub folder is.

The last and only other thing I could think to do would be to start a new Drive. Since the app and desktop extensions keep the user logged in it wouldn't require a lot of effort to simply switch accounts and leave the old Drive behind. Obviously this would be a last resort and the least desirable but those are the only three things I can think of.

 

[B. Diddy]

Go to Settings>Accounts, select the Google account, then Account Sync, and make sure the sync toggle is on for Drive. If it is, then do you see Sync Error underneath it?

It might also be worth removing the Google account from that phone, and then adding it back again.

You mentioned making sure power saving and data optimization are off -- does this include the Battery Optimization setting?

 

[siddharthceramics]

If the issue appears to be contained to one specific folder have you considered making a new folder and trying to sync to that folder? If everything syncs try slowly moving the contents of the suspect folder to the new folder and see if at any point the symptoms return. There may be a bad or corrupt item in the folder or the folder itself could be corrupt.

Are any of the items in the suspect folder or the folder itself heavily shared? Shared to more than a handful of people or accessed frequently by those whom it is shared with? Heavy traffic in and out of the folder could be causing issues, it's not something that I've heard of happening but I'm just trying to think of reasons that uploading to the Drive root folder isn't an issue but to this sub folder is.

The last and only other thing I could think to do would be to start a new Drive. Since the app and desktop extensions keep the user logged in it wouldn't require a lot of effort to simply switch accounts and leave the old Drive behind. Obviously this would be a last resort and the least desirable but those are the only three things I can think of.

The issue isn't folder-specific. Trying to upload to any folder within Google Drive causes this issue.

Go to Settings>Accounts, select the Google account, then Account Sync, and make sure the sync toggle is on for Drive. If it is, then do you see Sync Error underneath it?

It might also be worth removing the Google account from that phone, and then adding it back again.

You mentioned making sure power saving and data optimization are off -- does this include the Battery Optimization setting?

Well if the sync setting was off then the problem wouldn't be occuring only intermittently. As mentioned above the issue is 'Waiting to Upload.'

Yes what you mentioned is the setting that I disable.

 

[B. Diddy]

Well if the sync setting was off then the problem wouldn't be occuring only intermittently. As mentioned above the issue is 'Waiting to Upload.'

I realize that. I was also wondering about the presence of a Sync Error.

Try removing the Google account and adding it back again.

 

[siddharthceramics]

I have done that already. Didn't work.

 

[B. Diddy]

Are the files you're uploading on the phone's internal storage or an SD card? Are they from various different directories?

 

[siddharthceramics]

They are from different locations, yes. Internal storage. My father doesn't have an SD card.

 

[B. Diddy]

Hmm, really not sure what's going on here. I know you already said you cleared the app cache and data, but just in case, in the Google Drive app's settings, tap the Clear Cache option there as well.

How much Drive space does he have available?