Hey guys! If you’re new to my blog, welcome — this is actually my website’s very first blog post, and I hope you’ll enjoy it. Quick intro: I’m a professional freelancer working as a team leader at The Electric Viking, Australia, and Proxy1Media, a PPC Marketing Company in Florida, USA. I also work with several other international clients. If you ever need someone for similar work, feel free to reach out and I’ll let you know how I can help.
Alright, let’s get straight to it! While working, I often run into a problem — sometimes we need to download videos from Google Drive that have been shared by friends, colleagues, or even anonymous senders. The catch is, those videos are often set to “view only,” which means there’s no download option. I actually wrote about this once before on a client’s website, and a lot of people found it useful. So today, I’m bringing the guide back with the latest updates. I hope you find it helpful too.
Before we begin — please don’t misuse this. Creators put a lot of work into their videos, and Google works hard to protect what people want kept private. This guide is meant for situations like:
- You have a poor internet connection and can’t watch videos smoothly
- You’re on mobile data and don’t want to keep streaming the same video over and over
- You want to save a video for an emergency or offline access
- You need it for office work — maybe your boss shared a video without giving download permission, and they’re not available right now to grant it
So please use this the right way. Mozilla Firefox is the browser that makes this possible. My personal theory? Since Firefox isn’t tied to Google, they’re happy to offer this kind of feature — it’s almost like the two are quietly poking holes in each other’s services to win users over. Haha! Just my thought, though. Let me know what you think in the comments!
How to download Google Drive View Only Videos?
Google takes user data protection seriously. When someone uploads a video and disables downloads, Google respects that choice — which is why you won’t find any Google Chrome extension that lets you download view-only videos from Drive.
To download Google Drive view-only videos, follow the steps below:
1. Install Mozilla Firefox
First, download Mozilla Firefox and install it on your computer. If you’re already a proud Firefox user, you’re one step ahead.
2. Add an Add-on to Your Mozilla Firefox
Next, you’ll need to install an add-on for Firefox. The one we’re using is called Video DownloadHelper — and it works exactly like the name suggests. Think of it as your helpful sidekick. Go ahead and add it to your browser.
Done? Great — let’s move on!
3. Copy the Video Link and Paste It
You’re almost there. Since you’re reading this article, I’m guessing you already have a view-only video you want to download. Copy the video link, paste it into your Firefox browser, and hit Enter. You’ll notice there’s no download button — that’s expected.
4. Click on the Add-on
We’re getting close to the download. Now click on the Video DownloadHelper add-on you installed earlier. A pop-up will appear.
5. Click the Video and Start Downloading!
This is the final step. When you click the video for the first time, a new tab will open in your browser that looks like the screenshot below.
Tick the checkbox and click “Use Browser.” That’s it — your video will start downloading.
Thanks a lot for reading! Drop a comment if this helped you out.