HTTP request => data error

Questions
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1

Hello,

I’m downloading a PDF from a docx in google drive. I’ve used that solution a lot of time and everything worked until now.

I have a google drive uploading a docx file.

Then I use a HTTP requesting to download the document in format PDF with this URL : https://docs.google.com/document/d/{{6.id}}/export?format=pdf

But since today it ends in an error almost half of the time. And for the other half it works.

I’ve tried with different files, and same result, some worked the first time, other took 3-4 attemps to work. Even thoose who worked the first time didn’t automatically worked a second time.

I tried to add a 2 sec sleep module in between the Gdrive upload and the HTTP download, but still the same result.

Sometimes replaying the make scenario from the history works.

The error is “DataError” and it continues with an HTML file saying “Could not open file. Try refreshing the page.”

image
image896×787 102 KB

Any ideas ?

Thank you.

3

Hey there,

Why are you using the http module though?

Also, can you copy paste the whole error message here? It’s clipped in the screenshot.

4

Thank you for your answer.

Is there an other way of downloading a docx file from google drive as a PDF ?

Here is the full error log :

DataError

unknown

  • Error#drive-logo{margin:18px 0;position:absolute;white-space:nowrap}.docs-drivelogo-img{background-image:url(//ssl.gstatic.com/images/branding/googlelogo/1x/googlelogo_color_116x41dp.png);-webkit-background-size:116px 41px;background-size:116px 41px;display:inline-block;height:41px;vertical-align:bottom;width:116px}.docs-drivelogo-text{color:#000;display:inline-block;opacity:.54;text-decoration:none;font-family:Product Sans,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:32px;text-rendering:optimizeLegibility;position:relative;top:-6px;left:-7px;-webkit-font-smoothing:antialiased;-moz-osx-font-smoothing:grayscale}@media (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio:1.5),(min-resolution:144dpi){.docs-drivelogo-img{background-image:url(//ssl.gstatic.com/images/branding/googlelogo/2x/googlelogo_color_116x41dp.png)}}.goog-inline-block{position:relative;display:-moz-inline-box;display:inline-block}\* html .goog-inline-block{display:inline}:first-child+html .goog-inline-block{display:inline}sentinel{}body {background-color: #fff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0; padding: 0;}a, a:link, a:visited {color: #112ABB;}.errorMessage {font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold; line-height: 150%;}
    Google logo

    Could not open file. Try refreshing the page.

    html {height: 100%; overflow: auto;}body {height: 100%; overflow: auto;}#outerContainer {margin: auto; max-width: 750px;}#innerContainer {margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 40px; margin-right: 40px; margin-top: 80px; position: relative;}
Origin

HTTP

6

The google drive download a file module. Under advanced settings you can set it to convert the docx file to pdf.

Also that’s not technically an API error, this is google’s error page. This happens if you try to convert and download a file too soon after its creation for example. Or if the file lacks permissions. Or if you called it too many times and it triggered some bot protection.

Just switch to the google download a file module instead.

7

Yeah? Like what? Want to elaborate a bit more?

8

Yeah this one isn’t random. I’ve seen this happen when pulling files from Google Drive via HTTP in Make.
When it works sometimes and fails other times like that, it’s usually a timing/availability issue. The file gets uploaded, but it’s not fully ready on Google’s side when your request hits the export URL so you get inconsistent results.
Adding a fixed delay helps a bit, but it’s not always reliable because the processing time isn’t constant.
Quick one are you triggering the HTTP request immediately after upload, or is there any check in between?

9

Ok I really don’t know why, but it’s now working back again. So maybe it was what Stoyan_Vatov said, a bot protection.

If the error comes back again, i’ll try with Google drive “download a file” module.

Thank you for you time.

10

Data errors in the HTTP module in Make almost always come down to one of three things, and it helps to check them in order.

First, check the response body type setting in your HTTP module. If the API returns JSON but you have the response type set to Text or Auto, the mapping panel may fail to parse fields correctly and throw a data error downstream. Switch it to JSON explicitly and re-run.

Second, if you are downloading a file like a PDF from Google Drive, the URL needs to include the export or download parameter rather than the view URL. Google Drive view links return an HTML page, not the file - use the export link format with the appropriate MIME type.

Third, if the error only happens intermittently, it is usually a timing issue where the upstream system is not ready when Make polls it. Add a Sleep module or a short wait before the HTTP request, or add an error handler with a retry directive on that specific module.

To narrow down which cause applies, look at the HTTP module output panel and check the status code and body raw text before any parsing happens.