Issues uploading Google Drive .docx files, but Word-created ones work fine

Other Questions Google drive
1

Help needed with .docx file uploads

I’m having trouble uploading .docx files that I’ve downloaded from Google Drive. Strangely, when I try to upload .docx files created directly in Microsoft Word, it works without any issues.

I’m using the paperclip gem (version 5.1.0) for file uploads in my Ruby on Rails app. I’ve set the MimeType for .docx files to ‘application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document’.

Has anyone else run into this problem? I’m not sure if it’s a Google Drive issue or something to do with how paperclip handles these files. Any suggestions on how to troubleshoot or fix this would be really helpful!

class Document < ApplicationRecord
  has_attached_file :file
  validates_attachment_content_type :file, content_type: [
    'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document'
  ]
end

I’ve tried different MIME types, but no luck so far. Is there maybe a conversion step I’m missing for Google Drive files?

2

In my Rails app I encountered a similar issue with Google Drive altering the MIME type of downloaded .docx files. I solved it by registering the proper MIME type in the initializer with the code: Mime::Type.register ‘application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document’, :docx. I then updated the model’s validation to accept both ‘application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document’ and ‘application/zip’. This adjustment resolved the upload issues, and in cases where problems persist, further refinement with the mimemagic gem has proven beneficial.

3

I’ve encountered a similar issue when working with Google Drive files in my Rails app. The problem often stems from how Google Drive handles .docx files during download.

I first added a custom MIME type registration in my config/initializers/mime_types.rb:

Mime::Type.register 'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document', :docx

Then I expanded the content type validation to include both the standard .docx MIME type and application/zip:

validates_attachment_content_type :file, content_type: [
  'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document',
  'application/zip'
]

This approach allowed Paperclip to correctly process the Google Drive .docx files. Additionally, I found that using the ‘mimemagic’ gem improved MIME type detection, which might be worth trying if issues continue.

4

hey there, ive had similar probs w/ google drive docs. try adding this to ur initializers:

Mime::Type.register ‘application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document’, :docx

also, expand ur content type validation to include ‘application/zip’. that might help paperclip handle those google docs better. good luck!