Clio Drive, explained

Clio Drive streams files to and from Clio's cloud and stays in active, two-way sync with Clio Manage: a change made in Clio Drive updates in the Clio Documents area, and a change made in the web Documents area updates in Clio Drive. Sync is effectively instant — it happens whenever the app senses something has changed. Because it streams rather than keeping a full local copy of everything, the local Drive folder behaves like a cache backed by the cloud, which is why a stable internet connection is required for it to work.

Yes. Clio Drive is a network drive in active sync with Clio Manage, so it needs a stable internet connection to show and open your documents — it is not an offline copy. You may need to reconnect to Clio Drive each time your computer is restarted or shut down, or whenever your connection has been unstable. If you need a document available without a connection, open it while online so it caches, or keep a working copy outside the drive.

Check your plan first: Clio Drive is included at no extra cost on Clio Manage plans, with the North America Starter tier the notable exception. From there it is enabled through the Clio desktop app: install the desktop app, sign in, and turn on Drive access, after which Clio syncs your data from Clio Manage before the files become browsable in File Explorer or Finder. That first sync can take several minutes to an hour depending on how many documents your firm has. Drive is set up per machine and per user, so each person who wants desktop access installs and signs in on their own computer. Confirm the current setup steps in Clio's help center, since the desktop app changes over time.

Windows Server does not include the WebClient service by default, and Clio Drive relies on that service to mount as a network drive. On a server or a server-based remote-desktop (RDS / Terminal Server) environment, an administrator has to install and start the WebClient service before Drive will work — which is why Drive often runs fine on staff laptops but fails on a shared server host. This is a server configuration step, not a Clio account setting; confirm the current requirement in Clio's help center.

Yes for bulk — and with the same per-file ceiling as the web. Clio Drive's strength is volume: its bulk file upload feature copies large quantities of documents into Clio Manage in the background, the way you'd copy files to any drive, and a 'Pending Upload Queue' tracks their progress on both Windows and Mac — handy for a one-time load of an existing file set. Clio's own caution is that moving very large amounts of files in bulk may cause the system to freeze, so it suggests moving files in smaller chunks. What it does not do is raise the single-file limit — both Clio Drive and the web Documents area cap an individual file at 5 GB, so a file over 5 GB still has to be split or kept in external storage; zipping seldom shrinks the long recordings and image-heavy PDFs that reach that size. One caution before you reorganize mid-load: because Drive syncs two-way, deleting or moving a file out of the mounted Drive folder deletes it from Clio Manage for the whole firm. The route back is Clio Manage's trashed state, not Drive itself, and only for a limited window — Clio documents a deleted document as recoverable for up to 30 days. For loading a file set, copying into Drive is one option; drag-and-drop into the web Documents area and dedicated bulk-upload tools are others, and the right choice depends on volume and how reliable Drive is on that machine. Confirm current limits in Clio's help center.

They are two front doors to the same storage. The web Documents area is the browser interface — best for browsing a matter, sharing to the client portal, bulk actions, and full-text search. Clio Drive is the desktop interface — best for heads-down editing where you want files to behave like local files in Word or your file explorer. Many firms use both: the web area to organize and share, Drive for the daily editing. Neither is more 'real' than the other; they reflect the same files in Clio Manage. The broader file-management guide compares both alongside keeping some files in external storage.

From inside Clio Manage. Clio Drive is part of the Clio desktop app, and Clio's help center installs it from the Documents area: go to Documents, click Desktop access in the top right, choose Install for Windows or Install for Mac, and follow the prompts. Once it's installed, open the desktop app, select Drive, and switch the toggle on; Drive is running when the toggle is green and Drive Status reads Connected. Clio lists Windows 10 or 11 (not S mode) or macOS 11 Big Sur or later, with 8 GB of RAM recommended and at least 5 GB of free disk space.

On Windows, open File Explorer and look in the left sidebar under This PC for Clio Drive. On a Mac, open Finder and look under Locations, in localhost or Network. The folders inside are your contacts, with their matters beneath. If it isn't listed, Drive is probably disconnected, which happens every time the computer restarts: open the Clio desktop app, check that Drive is on and Drive Status reads Connected, or toggle Drive off and back on. To skip that step after each restart, turn on Launch Clio desktop app on system startup under Settings, then Preferences, in the desktop app.

Clio Drive missing or empty? The fixes →

Uninstall the Clio desktop app, which Drive is part of. Let any pending uploads finish first, because Clio warns that files not yet uploaded when the app quits are not saved. On Windows, open Control Panel, choose Uninstall a program under Programs, select the Clio desktop app, and click Uninstall. On a Mac, open the desktop app, select Drive, then Settings (the gear icon) and Quit, then move Clio desktop from Applications to the Trash and empty it. Your documents stay in Clio Manage. Don't clear Drive out by deleting files or subfolders inside the mounted drive first: that deletes them from Clio Manage for the whole firm.