I’m trying to pull information from a Google Docs file, but I’m hitting a wall. The document has a table that I need to grab, but I can’t figure out how to do it with Python. I’ve played around with the requests library and even looked into the Google Docs API, but nothing seems to work. Every time I try something, I just get error messages. Does anyone know a good way to get this table data? I’m pretty new to working with online documents, so any tips or code examples would be super helpful. Thanks!
hey Dave, i’ve been there! Google Docs API is probably ur best bet. You’ll need to enable it, set up OAuth (bit tricky), then use the API to read the doc. Here’s a quick example:
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
# ... more imports ...
# Set up creds and service
service = build('docs', 'v1', credentials=creds)
doc = service.documents().get(documentId=doc_id).execute()
# Parse doc content for table data
hope this helps! lmk if u need more details
Hey Dave, I feel your pain! I’ve wrestled with extracting data from Google Docs before. Here’s what worked for me:
Instead of messing with the Docs API directly, I found it easier to export the doc to a format Python can handle better. You can use the Google Drive API to download the doc as a CSV or Excel file. Then, use pandas to read the table data. It’s way simpler:
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
from googleapiclient.http import MediaIoBaseDownload
import io
import pandas as pd
# Set up Drive service
drive_service = build('drive', 'v3', credentials=creds)
# Export and download as Excel
request = drive_service.files().export_media(fileId=doc_id, mimeType='application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet')
fh = io.BytesIO()
downloader = MediaIoBaseDownload(fh, request)
done = False
while done is False:
status, done = downloader.next_chunk()
# Read with pandas
df = pd.read_excel(fh)
This approach saved me tons of headaches. Hope it helps you too!
Hi Dave, I’ve dealt with similar challenges extracting data from Google Docs. While the Google Docs API is an option, I found a workaround that’s much simpler. Here’s what worked for me:
Use the Google Drive API to export the doc as a more accessible format, like CSV or Excel. Then use pandas to read the data. It’s a straightforward process that avoids some of the complexity inherent to the Docs API:
Set up the Drive API service
Export the doc as Excel
Download the exported file
Read the file with pandas
This method bypasses the challenges of parsing Google Docs directly and is particularly effective when dealing with tabular data. It simplifies the workflow and avoids the intricate API structure. Let me know if you need further details on the implementation. Good luck with your project!