Question

I am trying to download some image file from Google Drive using the python api.
The code I am using first get the file resource object, the finds the downloadUrl and uses this to download the file. The problem is that gif and png files do not seem to have a download url.

service = self.user.profile.DriveService()
conditions = []
conditions.append("title='image.png')
conditions.append("trashed = false")
response = service.files().list(q=" and ".join(conditions)).execute()
f = response['items'][0]
url = f['downloadUrl']
# Now download the file from url
...

This works fine for downloading text and html files.
When I try to download image files, they have downloadUrl property.
Here is an example image file resource

u'alternateLink':  u'https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S9amlqcwLl9FOYmHFhv_RK_NwPI47IWj8iGcIK9p8hk/edit',
u'appDataContents': False,
u'createdDate': u'2013-01-20T08:39:55.314Z',
u'editable': True,
u'embedLink': u'https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S9amlqcwLl9FOYmHFhv_RK_NwPI47IWj8iGcIK9p8hk/preview',
u'etag': u'"Q0cVodxX8sh4vfxZTlOyWcmmc0k/MTM1ODY3MTE5NzY5Nw"',
u'exportLinks': {u'application/pdf': u'https://docs.google.com/feeds/download/documents/export/Export?   id=1S9amlqcwLl9FOYmHFhv_RK_NwPI47IWj8iGcIK9p8hk&exportFormat=pdf',
                 u'application/rtf':     u'https://docs.google.com/feeds/download/documents/export/Export?id=1S9amlqcwLl9FOYmHFhv_RK_NwPI47IWj8iGcIK9p8hk&exportFormat=rtf',
              u'application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text': u'https://docs.google.com/feeds/download/documents/export/Export?id=1S9amlqcwLl9FOYmHFhv_RK_NwPI47IWj8iGcIK9p8hk&exportFormat=odt',
              u'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document': u'https://docs.google.com/feeds/download/documents/export/Export?id=1S9amlqcwLl9FOYmHFhv_RK_NwPI47IWj8iGcIK9p8hk&exportFormat=docx',
              u'text/html': u'https://docs.google.com/feeds/download/documents/export/Export?id=1S9amlqcwLl9FOYmHFhv_RK_NwPI47IWj8iGcIK9p8hk&exportFormat=html',
              u'text/plain': u'https://docs.google.com/feeds/download/documents/export/Export?id=1S9amlqcwLl9FOYmHFhv_RK_NwPI47IWj8iGcIK9p8hk&exportFormat=txt'},
u'iconLink': u'https://ssl.gstatic.com/docs/doclist/images/icon_11_document_list.png',
u'id': u'1S9amlqcwLl9FOYmHFhv_RK_NwPI47IWj8iGcIK9p8hk',
u'kind': u'drive#file',
u'labels': {...},
u'lastModifyingUserName': u'Max Ferguson',
u'lastViewedByMeDate': u'2013-01-20T08:39:57.697Z',
u'mimeType': u'application/vnd.google-apps.document',
u'modifiedByMeDate': u'2013-01-20T08:39:57.697Z',
u'modifiedDate': u'2013-01-20T08:39:57.697Z',
u'ownerNames': [u'Max Ferguson'],
u'parents': [{u'id': u'0BxiZtRrps_bKaXM1OXJtUXBkOTg',
           u'isRoot': False,
           u'kind': u'drive#parentReference',
           u'parentLink': u'https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v2/files/0BxiZtRrps_bKaXM1OXJtUXBkOTg',
           u'selfLink': u'https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v2/files/1S9amlqcwLl9FOYmHFhv_RK_NwPI47IWj8iGcIK9p8hk/parents/0BxiZtRrps_bKaXM1OXJtUXBkOTg'}],

I can’t understand why there is no downloadUrl. This may because the mimetype is application/vnd.google-apps.document but the file is definitely an image. The thumbnail links ect point to an image. Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Documents in Google native formats (application/vnd.google-apps.XXX) do not have the downloadUrl property, instead you can use the exportLinks collection to download them in one of the supported formats:

https://developers.google.com/drive/manage-downloads#downloading_google_documents