Just spent 1+ hours trying to correct the 403 permissions error while connecting to my Google personal account. Frustrating as I was using a very basic, Make provided, template - monitor my Pictures folder, download new items, upload to personal Onedrive account. All of the Make how to’s and “marketing” mention the “few clicks and you’re up and running”. Sorry, I beg to differ.
This thread is classic - Why is it such a hassle to connect Google Accounts? - #10 by alex.newpath
10 pages of further steps needed to “usually” fix that issue. As the OP mentioned, this is not, as advertised, beginner friendly, or even low-code. This is PITA, copy paste multitudes of specific code into very specific pages in a Google Cloud console that average user Joe/Jane should not be dealing with.
Not to mention the eventual, best work around recommendation is to upgrade to Google Suite paid account. Well, my Android phone that is uploading said pictures, won’t be tied to a G-Suite account. So, no, not a work around for this particular scenario.
Whole episode left a very bad taste and I don’t believe I’ll be back to Make any time soon. Too bad, as the promise was enticing.
Best of luck to others going down this path. (rant over…)
SC
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Welcome to the Make community, and sorry to see you go.
Unfortunately, as Alex has mentioned in the last post of the thread you linked,
Maybe zapier has a special way to authenticate that Google provided them?
This is probably the case. Make will need to get their own Google connection verified to be able to make all Google apps more accessible to all users.
For more information, see “Prepare and submit for verification” on Google Cloud Platform Console Help.
The current two workarounds are:
- Use a Google Workspace account to use Make’s Google connection
- Set up your own Google Cloud Platform app to connect through, instead of using Make’s Google connection
Hope this helps! Let me know if there are any further questions or issues.
— @samliew
P.S.: investing some effort into the tutorials in the Make Academy will save you lots of time and frustration using Make!
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@Scott_Callison - I am so sorry that you had to go through that process. To be fair this is not entirely Make’s fault. Google initially made it quite easy to connect to free Google accounts. A few years ago this was not an issue at all and connections were made quite easily. It’s Google’s change in posture towards forcing users to paid Google Workspace accounts for quick and easy integration that has made this a PITA for anyone not paying the Google-tax.
My guess is that Google cannot support all the free accounts doing API calls in their infrastructure. I don’t think it’s a resouce issue but rather a support issue and a marketing issue. Integration appears to be from their perspective a “premium” feature and thus Google Workspace.
I know Make has tried to make this easy but in the end the creation of a Google Cloud account as a workaround basically ties you into eventual charging from Google when your API usage becomes high enough to warrant a bill. One way or another you may be on the hook for payment from Google (not Make).
In general integration like this in the past not only was difficult but also very pricey tied to high end consultant fees. The fact Make has made a very expensive process this easy is a miracle in and of itself. I have been using this product (and others) for about 5 years and Google has been notorious for making integration partners jump through hoops.
Check out YouTube posts on the Make Community – there are many related to their authentication changes.
I really do hope you work out the Google integration and don’t quit. The reward is incredible when you get some stuff working with Make. And once you realize the power you may never reach for another automation tool again.
But you are right – this is not Zapier and I don’t think it will ever be that. In my opnion, Make is not designed for casual automations. It is way too powerful for simple automations. Zapier is better and will always be better for this.
Make is meant to be for automation-experts (and wannabe experts). And that comes with related overhead that some will not want to deal with.
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