Troubleshooting .tmp File Sync Bloat in Google Drive

When Google Drive for Desktop synchronizes folders where applications frequently write scratchpad or temporary files, hundreds or thousands of orphaned .tmp files can accumulate in your Google Drive storage. This .tmp sync bloat exhausts Google Workspace storage quotas, clogs File Explorer directories, and causes continuous background sync loops as the client attempts to upload, lock, and delete short-lived scratch data.

Fast Fix

Quit Google Drive (Settings gear > Quit), close all open productivity software (such as Microsoft Office, Photoshop, or CAD suites), and search for *.tmp or ~$* in your local Google Drive folder to delete orphaned temporary files. To stop future bloat, exclude temporary scratch directories or move application working folders outside of mirrored sync paths.

Diagnostic Snapshot

Parameter	Specification
Affected Applications	Google Drive for Desktop (Windows & macOS) interacting with Office, AutoCAD, Adobe CC, or IDEs
Primary Symptoms	Drive folders cluttered with numeric .tmp files (e.g., tmp4A1B.tmp), sync engine constantly running, high storage usage
Underlying Subsystems	File system change notifications (ReadDirectoryChangesW / FSEvents), atomic file-save routines, temporary lock mechanisms
Admin Access Required	No for manual file cleanup; Yes if deploying registry-based sync exclusion rules or Google Workspace compliance policies

Resolution Steps

Step 1: Terminate Host Applications and Remove Orphaned .tmp Files

1. Close all open applications (Office, Adobe, CAD software, IDEs).
2. Right-click the Google Drive icon in the system tray or menu bar, click the Settings gear, and select Quit.
3. Open Windows File Explorer or macOS Finder and navigate to your Google Drive directory.
4. In the search box, type .tmp and press Enter.
5. Select all identified .tmp files that are not actively associated with current work and press Delete.
6. Search for ~$* to remove orphaned Microsoft Office lock files.
7. Empty your computer’s Recycle Bin / Trash, then relaunch Google Drive.

Google Drive Folder Search
├── *.tmp  ──► Select All ──► Delete (Removes orphaned scratchpad files)
└── ~$*    ──► Select All ──► Delete (Removes orphaned Office lock files)

Step 2: Relocate High-IOPS and Build Directories

Avoid placing volatile working directories directly inside active Google Drive streaming paths:

• Code Repositories & Build Output: Store programming projects, node_modules, and compilation target folders outside of Google Drive. Use Git for code versioning rather than cloud file sync.
• Scratch Disks for Media Editing: In Photoshop, Premiere, or CAD tools, navigate to Preferences > Scratch Disks / Performance and assign the scratch disk to a local directory outside Google Drive (e.g., C:\TempScratch).

Step 3: Switch from “Mirror files” to “Stream files”

If folders with high temporary file churn are set to Mirror files, switching to Stream files reduces local file handle locking:

1. Click the Google Drive icon > Settings gear > Preferences.
2. Select Google Drive in the left navigation panel.
3. Under My Drive syncing options, select Stream files.
4. Click Save and confirm the restart.

Step 4: Rebuild Corrupted Local Metadata (If .tmp Files Persist in Cloud)

If deleted .tmp files keep reappearing due to a desynchronized local SQLite database:

1. Quit Google Drive.
2. Open Windows Run (Win + R), type %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google, and press Enter (on macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Google).
3. Rename the DriveFS folder to DriveFS_Old.
4. Relaunch Google Drive and let the client re-index clean metadata from the cloud.

Hard Stops

• Deleting .tmp Files While Applications Are Open: Never run bulk deletion scripts for .tmp files while complex design, accounting, or database applications are actively running. Doing so can erase in-memory auto-recovery data before the software executes its final save transaction, leading to irrecoverable work loss. Always exit all software before clearing temporary file bloat.