Hi everyone! I’m working on a Node.js project and need to connect it with Google Docs. I’ve been searching around but I’m not sure what the best approach is.
Does anyone know if there are any good JavaScript libraries or npm packages that can help me integrate Google Docs functionality into my Node.js application? I’m particularly interested in:
Reading document content
Creating new documents
Updating existing docs
I’d prefer something that’s actively maintained and has good documentation. Has anyone worked with Google Docs API in Node.js before? What tools or frameworks did you use?
Any recommendations would be really helpful. I’m trying to avoid reinventing the wheel here.
yo, the googleapis package is pretty solid! u gotta set up OAuth 2.0 in the cloud console tho. it took me a while to get it started but man, it works great for Google Docs once it’s all set.
Google Apps Script is worth checking out. I’ve had good luck with it for document stuff since it runs right in Google’s environment - no auth headaches or rate limits to deal with. You can build web apps that expose REST endpoints and hit them from your Node.js app. The DocumentApp service handles all the doc manipulation you need, and deploying is dead simple through the script editor. It’s not technically a Node.js library, but it gives you clean separation between your main app logic and Google Docs operations. Downside is you’re writing JavaScript in Google’s sandbox instead of locally, but honestly that makes things way simpler for most cases.
I’ve been using the Google Docs API with their official client library for months - it handles everything you mentioned pretty well. Authentication’s a pain at first though. You’ll need service account credentials or OAuth depending on what you’re doing. For automated stuff without user interaction, service accounts work way better. The docs are solid once you figure out how the API works. Just heads up - there are rate limits, so you might need to add throttling if you’re processing tons of documents. The library does both reading and updating, but the document structure’s weird since it’s all element-based instead of plain text. Takes some getting used to.