How To Download A File With Python-google-api

How would I download a file using the GoogleAPI? Here is what I have so far: CLIENT_ID = '255556' CLIENT_SECRET = 'y8sR1' DOCUMENT_ID = 'a123' service=build('drive', 'v2') # How t

Solution 1:

There are different ways to download a file using Google Drive API. It depends on whether you are downloading a normal file or a google document (that needs to be exporteed in a specific format).

for regular files stored in drive, you can either use:

alt=media and it's the preferred option, as in:

GET https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v2/files/0B9jNhSvVjoIVM3dKcGRKRmVIOVU?alt=media
Authorization: Bearer ya29.AHESVbXTUv5mHMo3RYfmS1YJonjzzdTOFZwvyOAUVhrs

the other method is to use DownloadUrl, as in:

from apiclient import errors
# ...defdownload_file(service, drive_file):
  """Download a file's content.

  Args:
    service: Drive API service instance.
    drive_file: Drive File instance.

  Returns:
    File's content if successful, None otherwise.
  """
  download_url = drive_file.get('downloadUrl')
  if download_url:
    resp, content = service._http.request(download_url)
    if resp.status == 200:
      print'Status: %s' % resp
      return content
    else:
      print'An error occurred: %s' % resp
      returnNoneelse:
    # The file doesn't have any content stored on Drive.returnNone

For google documents, instead of using downloadUrl, you need to use exportLinks and specify the mime type, for example:

download_url = file['exportLinks']['application/pdf']

The rest of the documentation can be found here: https://developers.google.com/drive/web/manage-downloads