Create a shortcut to an external file

Third-party shortcuts are files that link to files on other, external, storage systems.

To create a third-party shortcut, use the files.create method of the API and make sure you set the MIME type to application/vnd.google-apps.drive-sdk. Don't upload any content when creating the file.

Note: If you're using the older Drive API v2, you can find code samples in GitHub. Learn how to migrate to Drive API v3.

Java

drive/snippets/drive_v3/src/main/java/CreateShortcut.java

View on GitHub

import com.google.api.client.googleapis.json.GoogleJsonResponseException;
import com.google.api.client.http.HttpRequestInitializer;
import com.google.api.client.http.javanet.NetHttpTransport;
import com.google.api.client.json.gson.GsonFactory;
import com.google.api.services.drive.Drive;
import com.google.api.services.drive.DriveScopes;
import com.google.api.services.drive.model.File;
import com.google.auth.http.HttpCredentialsAdapter;
import com.google.auth.oauth2.GoogleCredentials;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Arrays;

/* Class to demonstrate Drive's create shortcut use-case */
public class CreateShortcut {

  /**
   * Creates shortcut for file.
   *
   * @throws IOException if service account credentials file not found.
   */
  public static String createShortcut() throws IOException {
        /* Load pre-authorized user credentials from the environment.
        TODO(developer) - See https://developers.google.com/identity for
        guides on implementing OAuth2 for your application.*/
    GoogleCredentials credentials = GoogleCredentials.getApplicationDefault()
        .createScoped(Arrays.asList(DriveScopes.DRIVE_FILE));
    HttpRequestInitializer requestInitializer = new HttpCredentialsAdapter(
        credentials);
    // Build a new authorized API client service.
    Drive service = new Drive.Builder(new NetHttpTransport(),
        GsonFactory.getDefaultInstance(),
        requestInitializer)
        .setApplicationName("Drive samples")
        .build();
    try {
      // Create Shortcut for file.
      File fileMetadata = new File();
      fileMetadata.setName("Project plan");
      fileMetadata.setMimeType("application/vnd.google-apps.drive-sdk");

      File file = service.files().create(fileMetadata)
          .setFields("id")
          .execute();
      System.out.println("File ID: " + file.getId());
      return file.getId();
    } catch (GoogleJsonResponseException e) {
      // TODO(developer) - handle error appropriately
      System.err.println("Unable to create shortcut: " + e.getDetails());
      throw e;
    }
  }
}

Python

drive/snippets/drive-v3/file_snippet/create_shortcut.py

View on GitHub

from __future__ import print_function

import google.auth
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
from googleapiclient.errors import HttpError


def create_shortcut():
    """Create a third party shortcut

    Load pre-authorized user credentials from the environment.
    TODO(developer) - See https://developers.google.com/identity
    for guides on implementing OAuth2 for the application.
    """
    creds, _ = google.auth.default()

    try:
        # create drive api client
        service = build('drive', 'v3', credentials=creds)
        file_metadata = {
            'name': 'Project plan',
            'mimeType': 'application/vnd.google-apps.drive-sdk'
        }

        # pylint: disable=maybe-no-member
        file = service.files().create(body=file_metadata,
                                      fields='id').execute()
        print(F'File ID: {file.get("id")}')

    except HttpError as error:
        print(F'An error occurred: {error}')
    return file.get('id')


if __name__ == '__main__':
    create_shortcut()

PHP

drive/snippets/drive_v3/src/DriveCreateShortcut.php

View on GitHub

use Google\Client;
use Google\Service\Drive;
use Google\Service\Drive\DriveFile;
function createShortcut()
{
    try {

        $client = new Client();
        $client->useApplicationDefaultCredentials();
        $client->addScope(Drive::DRIVE);
        $driveService = new Drive($client);
        $fileMetadata = new DriveFile(array(
            'name' => 'Project plan',
            'mimeType' => 'application/vnd.google-apps.drive-sdk'));
        $file = $driveService->files->create($fileMetadata, array(
            'fields' => 'id'));
        printf("File ID: %s\n", $file->id);
        return $file->id;

    } catch(Exception $e) {
        echo "Error Message: ".$e;
    }

}

.NET

drive/snippets/drive_v3/DriveV3Snippets/CreateShortcut.cs

View on GitHub

using Google.Apis.Auth.OAuth2;
using Google.Apis.Drive.v3;
using Google.Apis.Services;

namespace DriveV3Snippets
{
    // Class to demonstrate Drive's create shortcut use-case
    public class CreateShortcut
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Create a third party shortcut.
        /// </summary>
        /// <returns>newly created shortcut file id, null otherwise.</returns>
        public static string DriveCreateShortcut()
        {
            try
            {
                /* Load pre-authorized user credentials from the environment.
                 TODO(developer) - See https://developers.google.com/identity for 
                 guides on implementing OAuth2 for your application. */
                GoogleCredential credential = GoogleCredential
                    .GetApplicationDefault()
                    .CreateScoped(DriveService.Scope.Drive);

                // Create Drive API service.
                var service = new DriveService(new BaseClientService.Initializer
                {
                    HttpClientInitializer = credential,
                    ApplicationName = "Drive API Snippets"
                });

                // Create Shortcut for file.
                var fileMetadata = new Google.Apis.Drive.v3.Data.File()
                {
                    Name = "Project plan",
                    MimeType = "application/vnd.google-apps.drive-sdk"
                };
                var request = service.Files.Create(fileMetadata);
                request.Fields = "id";
                var file = request.Execute();
                // Prints the shortcut file id.
                Console.WriteLine("File ID: " + file.Id);
                return file.Id;
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                // TODO(developer) - handle error appropriately
                if (e is AggregateException)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("Credential Not found");
                }
                else
                {
                    throw;
                }
            }
            return null;
        }
    }
}

Ruby

file_metadata = {
    name: 'Project plan',
    mime_type: 'application/vnd.google-apps.drive-sdk'
}
file = drive_service.create_file(file_metadata, fields: 'id')
puts "File Id: #{file.id}"

Node.js

drive/snippets/drive_v3/file_snippets/create_shortcut.js

View on GitHub

/**
 * Create a third party shortcut
 * @return{obj} shortcut Id
 * */
async function createShortcut() {
  // Get credentials and build service
  // TODO (developer) - Use appropriate auth mechanism for your app

  const {GoogleAuth} = require('google-auth-library');
  const {google} = require('googleapis');

  const auth = new GoogleAuth({
    scopes: 'https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive',
  });
  const service = google.drive({version: 'v3', auth});
  const fileMetadata = {
    name: 'Project plan',
    mimeType: 'application/vnd.google-apps.drive-sdk',
  };

  try {
    const file = await service.files.create({
      resource: fileMetadata,
      fields: 'id',
    });
    console.log('File Id:', file.data.id);
    return file.data.id;
  } catch (err) {
    // TODO(developer) - Handle error
    throw err;
  }
}

Objective-C

GTLRDrive_File *metadata = [GTLRDrive_File object];
metadata.name = @"Project plan";
metadata.mimeType = @"application/vnd.google-apps.drive-sdk";
GTLRDriveQuery_FilesCreate *query = [GTLRDriveQuery_FilesCreate queryWithObject:metadata
                                     uploadParameters:nil];
query.fields = @"id";
[driveService executeQuery:query completionHandler:^(GTLRServiceTicket *ticket,
                                                     GTLRDrive_File *file,
                                                     NSError *error) {
    if (error == nil) {
        NSLog(@"File ID %@", file.identifier);
    } else {
        NSLog(@"An error occurred: %@", error);
    }
}];

Add custom thumbnails & indexable text

To increase the discoverability of files associated with third-party shortcuts, you can upload both thumbnail images and indexable text when inserting or modifying the file metadata. For more information, see Manage file metadata.