Extracting filename and actual file path from Google Drive documents

Other Questions Google drive
1

I’m developing an Android application that needs to select files from various sources. The current setup works perfectly for local files, but I’m facing challenges when users attempt to select files from Google Drive via the file picker.

Here’s the code I’m using:

public String retrieveDocumentPath() {
    if (documentUri.getScheme().equalsIgnoreCase("file")) {
        return documentUri.getLastPathSegment();
    }

    loader.setUri(documentUri);
    loader.setProjection(columnProjections);
    Cursor resultCursor = loader.loadInBackground();
    int dataColumnIndex = resultCursor.getColumnIndexOrThrow(MediaStore.Files.FileColumns.DATA);
    resultCursor.moveToFirst();
    String actualPath = resultCursor.getString(dataColumnIndex);
    resultCursor.close();

    if (actualPath == null || actualPath.isEmpty()) {
        return null;
    }

return null;
}

The issue arises because this method fails to retrieve the actual path for files selected from Google Drive. It seems that Google Drive documents don’t have a standard file path in the file system. Can anyone provide insight on how to effectively retrieve both the filename and the path for files coming from Google Drive?

2

totally get ur frustation! instead of trying to get a local path, just access the file directly with an InputStream from the URI. it’s way easier and works better since drive files are cloud-stored.

3

I faced a similar challenge when developing a file handling feature in my app. The key is to understand that files from Google Drive are not accessible via traditional file paths. Instead, utilize the ContentResolver to query the file metadata using the content URI provided by the picker. Specifically, OpenableColumns.DISPLAY_NAME can retrieve the filename, and you can utilize ContentResolver.openInputStream() to handle the file content directly. This approach allows for efficient management of cloud-stored files without the need for conversion to local paths.

4

The issue is that Google Drive files live in the cloud, not as actual file paths on your device. When someone picks a file from Drive, you get a content URI that points to a virtual document provider - not a real file location. Your MediaStore approach won’t work because these files aren’t in the MediaStore database. Use the DocumentFile API instead, or query the content resolver with document columns like DISPLAY_NAME for filenames. Stop trying to get ‘actual paths’ for cloud storage - just work with the content URI directly and stream the data when you need it. This follows Android’s modern storage framework and actually works reliably.