I’m trying to figure out how to open and view HTML files that I have saved in my Google Drive account. When I click on the HTML file, it just starts downloading instead of showing me the actual webpage content. I remember reading somewhere that Google stopped allowing people to host HTML files directly through Drive a few years back, but I’m wondering if there are any tricks or alternative methods to still preview these files without having to download them first. Has anyone found a way around this limitation? I just want to quickly check what my HTML pages look like without going through the download process every time.
Try opening the HTML file with Google Apps Script instead. I ran into the same problem last year and this worked great. Just create a web app through Apps Script that pulls your HTML file from Drive and shows it in the browser. Takes about 10 minutes to set up, but then you get proper HTML rendering without any downloads. Google Colab’s another option - mount your Drive and use Python to serve the HTML files locally with a simple HTTP server. You’ll get actual webpage previews that Google Drive ditched. Both skip the download hassle and keep everything in Drive.
I had the same problem with my web files. While iframes can be a workaround, using Google Sites is much more straightforward. You can simply copy and paste your HTML into a new site and see it rendered instantly, with support for basic JavaScript and CSS. Platforms like CodePen and JSFiddle are also options, but they require manual code entry. For a reliable long-term solution, consider using Netlify Drop, which allows you to drag and drop your HTML files directly from Drive for immediate live preview links.
totally get it! gdrive previews are a pain. u can use