How to get started with Google Drive on Zapier

Written by Owner

Updated at August 20th, 2025

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Table of Contents

Prerequisites Connect Google Drive to Zapier About Google Drive's app Triggers, searches, and actions Limitations Templates Use cases Additional Google Drive resources

Google Drive and Zapier help automate file management across your apps. The integration can be triggered by new files or folders to automatically create, copy, or move files and folders.

Prerequisites

To use the Google Drive app on Zapier, you must have:

A Google account with access to Google Drive.
You also need to have view or edit access to any files or folders you do not own that you want to interact with.

Connect Google Drive to Zapier

To create an app connection to Google Drive on Zapier:

Go to the Apps page.
Click + Add connection.
A new dialog box will appear. Search for and select Google Drive.
Click Add connection.
A new browser tab or window will open.
Log into Google Drive to authenticate.
Grant Zapier permission to access your account if prompted to.

Your Google Drive account is now successfully connected to Zapier.

About Google Drive's app

Triggers, searches, and actions

Triggers

New File (Polling) - Triggers when any new file is added (inside of any folder).
New Folder (Polling) - Triggers when a new folder is added directly to a specific folder (but not its subfolders).
New File in Folder (Polling) - Triggers when a new file is created within, moved to, or uploaded directly to a specific folder (but not its subfolders).
Updated File (Polling) - Triggers when a file is updated in a specific folder (but not its subfolders).

Searches

Find a File - Search for a specific file by name.
Find or Create File - Finds or creates a specific file v2.
Retrieve File or Folder by ID - Get a file or folder by its ID.
Find a Folder - Search for a specific folder by name.
Find or Create Folder - Finds or creates a specific folder v2.

Actions

Copy File - Create a copy of the specified file.
Create Folder - Create a new, empty folder.
Create File From Text - Create a new file from plain text.
Create Shared Drive - Create a new shared drive (also known as Team Drive) in Google Drive.
Create Shortcut - Create a shortcut to a file.
API Request (Beta) - This is an advanced action which makes a raw HTTP request that includes this integration's authentication.
Delete File - This action will delete a file in Google Drive. You will need to provide the file ID.
Upload File - Copies an existing file from another service to Google Drive.
Move File - Move a file from one folder to another.
Replace File - Upload a file to Drive, that replaces an existing file.
Add File Sharing Preference - Adds a sharing scope to the sharing preference of a file. Does not remove existing sharing settings. Provides a sharing URL.
Update File/Folder Name - Update the name of a file or folder.
Retrieve Files from Google Drive - This action sends a GET request to the Google Drive API to retrieve a list of files based on specific query parameters.

Limitations

API rate limits apply, if you exceed these limits, you'll receive a 429 error.
- Google Workspace users can only upload 750 GB per day between My Drive and all shared drives.
The New File in Folder trigger has specific rules for when it will run.
When adding multiple files into the "File" field, Zapier automatically zips them into one file.

Templates

View all of Google Drive's templates.

How to get started with Google Drive on Zapier

Contact Us

Prerequisites

Connect Google Drive to Zapier

About Google Drive's app

Triggers, searches, and actions

Limitations

Templates

Use cases

Additional Google Drive resources

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