Convert/Get Google Drive Web Content Link from Sharable Link?

Questions
1

Hi,

Due to my lack of knowledge, instead of saving a bunch of videos and their web content links to Google sheets, I captured simple shareable links. In turn, those links takes me to videos on Google Drive, however HTTP Get File module cannot download them.

Is there a way to work around this? Or perhaps a quick way to convert those links to web content links for direct download?

3

Hi Bandana

I completely understand the challenge you’re facing. It’s a common one when working with Google Drive links. The reason the HTTP Get File module isn’t able to download those files is because Google’s shareable links don’t point directly to the raw file; they point to a Google Drive “viewer” page.

Here are two practical solutions we can try:

  1. Convert the Links to Direct-Download Links Automatically

    • We can build a quick automation that takes your shareable links and converts them into proper download links (using the file IDs inside each link).

    • This way, the HTTP module can access the raw file content without issues.

  2. Use the Google Drive Module Instead of HTTP

    • If you still have access to the same Drive, we can connect your account to Make/automation tool directly and pull the files using their IDs.

    • This is often more reliable, especially for multiple files, since it skips the need to manually convert links.

Either option is doable, but if we’re processing a lot of files, I’d recommend the second approach. It’s cleaner, secure, and saves time in the future.

4

Hi, thanks for your input. I was thinking to use Google Drive module, but how do I set the automation so that it extracts the File ID from those links? What module shall I use for ID extraction before G Drive module?

Edit: Don’t worry about it, I just used ChatGPT to convert all of those links. Thanks

5

To do this, you can try using the Google Drive “Download a File” module —

Downloads a file.

For more information about the Download a File module and Google Drive app, see the corresponding Integrations page and the Help Centre documentation.

To do this, you can try using the Text parser “Match pattern” module —

Finds string elements matching a fixed pattern (regular expression).

For more information about the Match pattern module and Text parser app, see the corresponding Integrations page and the Help Centre documentation.

Hope this helps! If you are still having trouble, please provide more details and I’ll see if I can help.

— @samliew