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I lost years’ worth of Google Docs files because of a poor user interface

googledrivesucks.com

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Re: I lost years’ worth of Google Docs files because of a poor user interface

#121

Post by mikeash »

woof wrote: post #18

The "poor user interface" gave me a dialog window with a warning and two buttons: An item you recently removed from your Google Drive folder has been moved to your trash on drive.google.com. This item is just a link. If you empty your trash on drive.google.com, this item will be permanently deleted. "Ok, move to trash" "Undo"

None of which really spells out that the "file" you moved out of Google Drive doesn't actually contain anything useful. That's what "This item is just a link." is supposed to tell us, but that's just terrible wording. What exactly is "This item"? I work with files, not items. What is "just a link"? The only "link" I'm familiar with for files are symbolic links and hard links, and that doesn't apply here.

Re: I lost years’ worth of Google Docs files because of a poor user interface

#122

Post by mikeash »

nollidge wrote: post #24

Man, I don't know. I feel for this guy, but not every computing tragedy is the software's fault. The author never says what he expected would happen when he moved stuff out of the Google drive. I learned along the way never to make assumptions about how file syncing works. There's no right answer to what to do in all situations, so your expectations aren't always going to match what the programmer/product owner decid…

Virtually everyone would expect that, when moving stuff out of Google Drive, the stuff you moved would actually contain stuff.

There's literally no precedent for any other way. You move a file, and the file you moved still contains the same thing. That's how it works everywhere, including with all other file syncing services.

Re: I lost years’ worth of Google Docs files because of a poor user interface

#123

Post by mikeash »

arielserafini wrote: post #73
bighi wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Drive started in April 2012. It's been a year and a half, approximately, not 6 years.

He mentions using Google Docs from the start, which eventually became Drive.

The problem he encountered is part of Drive, not Docs.

Re: I lost years’ worth of Google Docs files because of a poor user interface

#124

Post by mikeash »

RankingMember wrote: post #5

I don't know of any backup service that doesn't work this way unless you explicitly tell it otherwise (e.g. a "Never Delete" option).

No backup service in the history of the universe gives you non-working local "files" that are just links back to the cloud when you attempt to copy a file to your computer.

The problem is not that Drive deleted his stuff on Google. The problem is that Drive deleted his stuff on Google after taking an action that should have left him with local copies of the data, but didn't.

Re: I lost years’ worth of Google Docs files because of a poor user interface

#125

Post by ajross »

vdaniuk wrote: post #101
ajross wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is surely true. It's also true that real world data loss is worse than nonsense internet flaming. I think the arguments can be dumb too, but the guy actually lost files here. And it's the kind of mistake I could see myself making pretty easily. In other contexts you protect against this with non-local backups (ironically, that's probably 90% of my usage of Drive), but there's no equivalent in the cloud world. It…

Yeah, there are many back-up equivalents https://www.cloudhq.net https://mybackupbox.com/ https://mover.io/product/backups And And those who lost their file will blame the UI. I understand the frustration and how terrible the poster feels but this anecdotal argument is irrelevant to the actual safety or UI quality of Google Drive. There will always be users who lose their data due to glitches, technical illiteracy, b…

Again though: the real issue I see here (not the giant UI rant or the Google is Evil nonsense) is that cloud-managed content like Google Docs cannot be backed up meaningfully. I think that's a real problem, and until it's fixed other people are going to be tripping over the same issues.

Re: I lost years’ worth of Google Docs files because of a poor user interface

#126

Post by vdaniuk »

ajross wrote: post #125
vdaniuk wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, there are many back-up equivalents https://www.cloudhq.net https://mybackupbox.com/ https://mover.io/product/backups And And those who lost their file will blame the UI. I understand the frustration and how terrible the poster feels but this anecdotal argument is irrelevant to the actual safety or UI quality of Google Drive. There will always be users who lose their data due to glitches, technical illiteracy, b…

Again though: the real issue I see here (not the giant UI rant or the Google is Evil nonsense) is that cloud-managed content like Google Docs cannot be backed up meaningfully. I think that's a real problem, and until it's fixed other people are going to be tripping over the same issues.

Yeah, I agree thats its not really intuitive but you can back up cloud managed content by converting it in various formats for export. https://www.google.com/settings/takeout/

Re: I lost years’ worth of Google Docs files because of a poor user interface

#128

Post by thezilch »

ash wrote: post #109
thezilch wrote: post #60

Nope. http://i.imgur.com/ijTQTTq.png

Users can't read. http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000062....

Yes, sure, but that's not a reason for me to not use Google Drive. In fact, the "Empty Trash" in Google Drive has a similar prompt [0]; how many clues does this guy need? I have not seen a filesystem do better, so we're all ears on this magical UX that doesn't involve alerts for destructive actions. Evil Google!

[0] Empty Trash? Files in your trash are about to be permanently deleted, including Google Docs in your Trash. Warning: When using Google Drive for PC/Mac, Google Docs aren’t actual files saved on your hard drive; they are links to files stored online. Learn more You can’t undo this action

Re: I lost years’ worth of Google Docs files because of a poor user interface

#129

Post by thezilch »

chrismcb wrote: post #116
cldr wrote: post #19

While I sympathize with the author (it must have hurt pretty bad if it made him go create an entire website dedicated to "google drive sucks") I thought it was quite obvious that files created on Google Drive with their document editor were not actually copied to your computer with the Google Drive program. It's easy to see when you try to open the file with Notepad or a similar local text editor. Additionally you ge…

What cues did the author miss? Why would the author (or anyone) expect the file they JUST copied to their desktop to now suddenly be in the trash can?

Because Drive tells you so.

Re: I lost years’ worth of Google Docs files because of a poor user interface

#130

Post by atoponce »

So, let me get this straight. You moved everything to Google Drive, not keeping a local copy. Then you emptied the trash. And you didn't have a backup of your documents, but instead decided to leave everything in the cloud. Then, when something goes wrong, you blame Google. Am I understanding correctly?
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