Struggling to retrieve document content using Google Drive API

Other Questions Google drive
1

I’m having trouble accessing the contents of a Google Drive document using the API. I can upload files just fine, but downloading is giving me headaches.

Here’s what I’ve tried:

File file = driveService.files().get(fileId).execute();

But the downloadUrl is always null. I heard Google Docs files don’t have a downloadUrl, so I tried using export links:

String exportUrl = file.getExportLinks().get("text/plain");
if (exportUrl != null) {
    HttpRequest request = driveService.getRequestFactory().buildGetRequest(new GenericUrl(exportUrl));
    String content = request.execute().parseAsString();
}

Instead of the actual document text, I’m getting HTML markup. It looks like the Google Docs welcome page or something.

Any ideas on how to properly fetch the plain text content of a Google Drive document? I’m at my wit’s end here!

2

As someone who’s worked extensively with the Google Drive API, I can tell you that retrieving document content can be tricky. One approach that’s worked well for me is using the Files: export method with the correct MIME type. For plain text, I’ve had success with ‘text/plain’, but if you’re getting HTML, try ‘application/pdf’ and then convert it.

Here’s a snippet that’s been reliable:

OutputStream outputStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
driveService.files().export(fileId, "application/pdf").executeMediaAndDownloadTo(outputStream);
PDDocument document = PDDocument.load(new ByteArrayInputStream(((ByteArrayOutputStream) outputStream).toByteArray()));
PDFTextStripper stripper = new PDFTextStripper();
String text = stripper.getText(document);

This method exports the file as a PDF and then extracts the text. It requires the Apache PDFBox library, but it’s been quite reliable in my experience. Don’t forget to close your streams and handle exceptions appropriately.

3

I’ve encountered this issue before. The key is to use the correct MIME type for exporting. For plain text, try ‘text/plain’, but for more formatting options, ‘application/pdf’ or ‘application/rtf’ might be better choices. Also, ensure you’re using the latest version of the Google Drive API (v3 is current). Here’s a snippet that worked for me:

ByteArrayOutputStream outputStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
driveService.files().export(fileId, "application/pdf")
    .executeMediaAndDownloadTo(outputStream);
String content = outputStream.toString("UTF-8");

This approach should give you the document content without unwanted HTML. Remember to handle exceptions and close streams properly in your production code.

4

hey there spinninggalaxy! i ran into similar issues. try using the ‘application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document’ MIME type instead of ‘text/plain’ for the export. that should give you the actual doc content. also double check you have the right scopes enabled for your API credentials. good luck!