Advanced Drive Service

The advanced Drive service allows you to use the Google Drive API in Apps Script. Much like Apps Script's built-in Drive service, this API allows scripts to create, find, and modify files and folders in Google Drive. In most cases, the built-in service is easier to use, but this advanced service provides a few extra features, including access to custom file properties as well as revisions for files and folders.

Reference

For detailed information on this service, see the reference documentation for the Google Drive API. Like all advanced services in Apps Script, the advanced Drive service uses the same objects, methods, and parameters as the public API. For more information, see How method signatures are determined.

To report issues and find other support, see the Drive v2 support guide.

Sample code

The sample code below uses version 2 of the API.

Uploading files

The following example demonstrates how to save a file to a user's Drive.

advanced/drive.gs
/**
 * Uploads a new file to the user's Drive.
 */
function uploadFile() {
  try {
    // Makes a request to fetch a URL.
    const image = UrlFetchApp.fetch('http://goo.gl/nd7zjB').getBlob();
    let file = {
      title: 'google_logo.png',
      mimeType: 'image/png'
    };
    // Insert new files to user's Drive
    file = Drive.Files.insert(file, image);
    console.log('ID: %s, File size (bytes): %s', file.id, file.fileSize);
  } catch (err) {
    // TODO (developer) - Handle exception
    console.log('Failed to upload file with error %s', err.message);
  }
}

Listing folders

The following example demonstrates how to list the top-level folders in the user's Drive. Notice the use of page tokens to access the full list of results.

advanced/drive.gs
/**
 * Lists the top-level folders in the user's Drive.
 */
function listRootFolders() {
  const query = '"root" in parents and trashed = false and ' +
    'mimeType = "application/vnd.google-apps.folder"';
  let folders;
  let pageToken = null;
  do {
    try {
      folders = Drive.Files.list({
        q: query,
        maxResults: 100,
        pageToken: pageToken
      });
      if (!folders.items || folders.items.length === 0) {
        console.log('No folders found.');
        return;
      }
      for (let i = 0; i < folders.items.length; i++) {
        const folder = folders.items[i];
        console.log('%s (ID: %s)', folder.title, folder.id);
      }
      pageToken = folders.nextPageToken;
    } catch (err) {
      // TODO (developer) - Handle exception
      console.log('Failed with error %s', err.message);
    }
  } while (pageToken);
}

Listing revisions

The following example demonstrates how to list the revisions for a given file. Note that some properties of revisions are only available for certain file types. For example, Google Workspace application files contain links to export the file to different formats.

advanced/drive.gs
/**
 * Lists the revisions of a given file. Note that some properties of revisions
 * are only available for certain file types. For example, Google Workspace
 * application files do not consume space in Google Drive and thus list a file
 * size of 0.
 * @param {string} fileId The ID of the file to list revisions for.
 */
function listRevisions(fileId) {
  try {
    const revisions = Drive.Revisions.list(fileId);
    if (!revisions.items || revisions.items.length === 0) {
      console.log('No revisions found.');
      return;
    }
    for (let i = 0; i < revisions.items.length; i++) {
      const revision = revisions.items[i];
      const date = new Date(revision.modifiedDate);
      console.log('Date: %s, File size (bytes): %s', date.toLocaleString(),
          revision.fileSize);
    }
  } catch (err) {
    // TODO (developer) - Handle exception
    console.log('Failed with error %s', err.message);
  }
}

Adding custom properties

The following example demonstrates how to add a custom property to a file. Unlike Apps Script's document properties, Drive's custom file properties can be accessed outside of Apps Script and by other applications (if the visibility is set to PUBLIC).

advanced/drive.gs
/**
 * Adds a custom property to a file. Unlike Apps Script's DocumentProperties,
 * Drive's custom file properties can be accessed outside of Apps Script and
 * by other applications (if the visibility is set to PUBLIC).
 * @param {string} fileId The ID of the file to add the property to.
 */
function addCustomProperty(fileId) {
  try {
    const property = {
      key: 'department',
      value: 'Sales',
      visibility: 'PUBLIC'
    };
    // Adds a property to a file
    Drive.Properties.insert(property, fileId);
  } catch (err) {
    // TODO (developer) - Handle exception
    console.log('Failed with error %s', err.message);
  }
}