I’m working on a Zapier workflow that needs to grant editor access to users when a new shared folder gets created. Since Zapier doesn’t have a built-in action for this, I’m using the Google Drive API V3 integration.
My current setup:
I’m sending a POST request to the permissions endpoint with this payload:
{
"permission": "editor",
"accountType": "user",
"userEmail": "[email protected]",
"includeTeamDrives": "true"
}
The error I’m getting:
{
"error": {
"code": 404,
"message": "File not found: {{folderID}}.",
"errors": [
{
"message": "File not found: {{folderID}}.",
"domain": "global",
"reason": "notFound",
"location": "fileId",
"locationType": "parameter"
}
]
}
}
The folder ID variable seems to be the issue but I’m not sure why it’s not being recognized. Has anyone successfully set up folder permissions through Zapier’s Drive API integration? Also wondering how to handle multiple users in a single request.
Your variable mapping’s broken - Zapier sometimes fails to pull the folder ID from previous steps. Click the folderID field and reselect it from the dropdown instead of typing {{folderID}}. Also, your JSON structure’s wrong. Should be “type”: “user” and “role”: “writer”, not what you’ve got there.
Hit the same issue building automated workflows. That 404 usually means your folderID variable isn’t getting set right from the previous step. Double-check your folder creation step is actually spitting out the ID field - sometimes it shows up as “id” instead of “folderID” depending on your mapping. Here’s what got me: newly created folders in shared drives need supportsAllDrives set to true in your API call, not just includeTeamDrives. Took me forever to catch that one since it fails silently. Payload-wise, make sure you’re using the right field names. Drive API wants “role”: “writer” (not “permission”: “editor”) and “type”: “user”. Your endpoint should be https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files/FOLDER_ID/permissions with the folder ID right in the URL. For multiple users - you’re stuck doing individual API calls since there’s no batch operation. I just use Zapier’s looping when I’ve got a bunch of email addresses to process.
Had this exact issue a few months ago. The folderID problem usually happens when the folder hasn’t finished syncing through Google’s systems yet - super common with shared drives. I fixed it by adding a 30-second delay in Zapier between creating the folder and setting permissions. Totally solved it.
For your payload, try “role” instead of “permission” and “type” instead of “accountType”. Should look like: {“role”: “writer”, “type”: “user”, “emailAddress”: “[email protected]”}.
Also check your endpoint - you want /files/{fileId}/permissions, not just /permissions.
For multiple users: the API doesn’t do batch requests. You’ll need separate calls for each user, so set up a loop in your Zapier workflow if you’re adding multiple people.