This seems buggy. I created an archive subfolder and moved all my old Google docs there. This change (which presumably touches metadata only) took minutes to sync (on a fast connection) and failed on one file with this mysterious error: "Upload Error - An unknown issue has occurred."
Also: no option to disable the dock icon or turn off the hypnotic animation while files are syncing. Ugh.
You can hide any app's dock icon with a preference setting. NSUIElement or something. It's a setting in the app's info.plist or somewhere. This is a standard Mac technique, not an app-specific functionality.
Also: no option to disable the dock icon or turn off the hypnotic animation while files are syncing. Ugh.