Create files

To create a file that contains no metadata or content, use the files.create method with no parameters. The file is given a kind of drive.file, an id, a name of "Untitled," and a mimeType of application/octet-stream.

Note: the uploadType is marked as required, but defaults to media, so you don't actually have to supply it.

Note: When a Google Drive user requests to download a file, or when the file is downloaded through the sync client, Drive builds a full filename (with extension) based on the name. In cases where the extension is missing, Google Drive attempts to determine the extension based on the file's MIME type.

Upload thumbnails

Drive automatically generates thumbnails for many common file types. For file types that Drive can't render, you can provide a thumbnail image generated by your application. During file creation or update, upload a thumbnail by setting the contentHints.thumbnail fields on the File resource. Specifically,

• Set thumbnail.image to the URL-safe Base64-encoded image (see RFC 4648 section 5)
• Set thumbnail.mimeType to the appropriate type for the image format.

If Drive can generate a thumbnail from the file, then it uses the generated one and ignores any you may have uploaded. If it can't generate a thumbnail, it uses the one you provide.

Thumbnails should adhere to these rules:

• Thumbnails may be uploaded in PNG, GIF, or JPG formats.
• The recommended width is 1600px.
• The maximum file size for a thumbnail is 2MB.
• The minimum width for thumbnails is 220px.
• Thumbnails should be updated by your application with each save.

Important: Thumbnails are invalidated each time the content of the file changes. When supplying thumbnails, it is important to upload new thumbnails each time the content is modified. Metadata changes do not invalidate thumbnails.

For more information, see the Files reference.

Next Steps

Here are a few next steps you might try:

• To create a file containing metadata and content, refer to Upload file data.

• To create the file in a specific folder, refer to Create a file in a folder.