Import and upload files to Google Drive

Name your transfer

Name your resource so that you can easily reference it from other parts of the application.

Description

Describe your resource so that other users can quickly understand what it is doing without having to read through all the fields and settings. Be sure to highlight any nuances that a user should be aware of before using your resource in their flows. Also, keep this field up to date as you make changes to the resource.

Connection

Find an existing connection to apply to this export or lookup, or you can click Create connection to define a new resource that you can use here and in other flow steps. Each connection contains securely stored credentials and information needed to access this application. All connections displayed in this list are specific to this application and registered to you for this integration.

One to many

There are advanced use cases where a parent record is being passed around in a flow, but you actually need to process child records contained within the parent record context. For example, if you're exporting Sales Order records out of NetSuite and importing them into Salesforce as Opportunity and Opportunity Line Item records, then you will need to import the Opportunity Line Item records using this option. One to many is used in cases where you have a single record which internally needs to create multiple records. This field cannot be used when importing a CSV file.

Parse files being transferred

Do you need to parse CSV, XML, JSON, etc... files into records before sending them to other applications, or should the files simply be transferred raw as-is (i.e. PDFs, JPGs, etc...)?

File type

Select the type of file that you want to generate. For example, select CSV if you are importing a flat, delimited text file, or XLSX for a binary Microsoft Excel file. The file name you specify can include a file extension, although it does not affect this file type setting. You'll then be able to select a sample file to define the record structure. See Import files to an FTP server for more information.

Mime type

Select the format of the files you're working with or querying in Google Drive. The default "Do Not Override" option allows Google Drive to automatically detect the file's MIME type. If specific operations require a particular MIME type, select it from the provided list. For a detailed list of MIME types, see the Google Drive API MIME types guide.

How many files would you like to generate?

One file per flow run or one file per page of records.

Directory

Choose how to specify the target folder. The Directory field supports two input modes — Relative path and Folder ID — each with a Browse button that opens a visual folder picker loaded from your Google Drive connection. My Drive and all Shared Drives that the connection has access to appear as root-level entries in the folder browser. Click Browse to select a folder instead of typing the path. The selected folder's path or ID is written back to the field automatically. Note that folders in "Shared with me" are not browsable — only drives that the connection explicitly has access to appear. Use the search bar to find folders by name within the folder currently being viewed — search is scoped to the current folder, not your entire account. Folders load in batches; if your target folder is not visible, scroll or use search to locate it. Folder creation is not available in the browser — create folders in Google Drive before browsing.

Relative path

The relative path resolves against the drive selected in the Drive picker (My Drive by default).

Folder ID

Folder ID accepts the alphanumeric ID from the folder URL (drive.google.com/drive/folders/{id}) and works across all drives — including folders shared with you that don't appear in any drive. Folder ID bypasses path resolution and is the most reliable way to target a specific folder. Folder IDs are stable across folder renames and accept Handlebars expressions for dynamic targeting.

Drive

Specify which Google Drive root to resolve the path against. Leave blank to use My Drive, or paste a Shared Drive ID (e.g., 0APnmVs0XRA5nUk9PVA — find it in the Shared Drive URL after /folders/) for team-owned content. Only drives that your connection has access to will resolve successfully. Supports Handlebars expressions (e.g., {{settings.driveId}}) for dynamic drive targeting. When using Browse mode, selecting a folder from a Shared Drive populates the Directory field directly — you do not need to enter a Drive ID separately.

File name

Use this field to specify how the files being uploaded to Google Drive should be named. You can type '{{{' to include a predefined timestamp template in your file name. For example, 'FileXYZ-{{{timestamp "YY-MM-DD" "America/Los_Angeles"}}}.txt' will upload files with the following pattern: 'FileXYZ-16-06-30.txt' in America/Los_Angeles time. You can include any file extension — it does not affect the type of data generated.

Encrypt files

Use this cryptographic system to encrypt generated files. This option is enabled only when you have configured at least one cryptographic system in the connection. If it is unchecked, then encryption will not be performed on generated files.

File encoding

The file encoding indicates how the individual characters in your data are represented on the file system. Leave this field blank if you do not know what the encoding format is. The default encoding is UTF-8. Other supported formats are Windows-1252 and UTF-16LE.

Compress files

If you would like to compress files before they are posted to the import application, set this field to True. Once you check this field, a dropdown field appears for you to choose the compression format.

Backup directory

Where to store backup copies of processed files using a relative path. Resolved at runtime via the provider's listing API. Leave empty to skip backups. Click Browse to select a folder instead of typing the path. The selected folder's path or ID is written back to the field automatically. Note that folders in "Shared with me" are not browsable — only drives that the connection explicitly has access to appear. Use the search bar to find folders by name within the folder currently being viewed — search is scoped to the current folder, not your entire account. Folders load in batches; if your target folder is not visible, scroll or use search to locate it. Folder creation is not available in the browser — create folders in Google Drive before browsing.

Relative path

The relative path resolves against the drive selected in the Drive picker (My Drive by default).

Folder ID

Folder ID accepts the alphanumeric ID from the folder URL (drive.google.com/drive/folders/{id}) and works across all drives — including folders shared with you that don't appear in any drive. Folder ID bypasses path resolution and is the most reliable way to target a specific folder. Folder IDs are stable across folder renames and accept Handlebars expressions for dynamic targeting.

Drive

Specify which Google Drive root to resolve the path against. Leave blank to use My Drive, or paste a Shared Drive ID (e.g., 0APnmVs0XRA5nUk9PVA) for team-owned content. Only drives that your connection has access to will resolve successfully. Supports Handlebars expressions for dynamic drive targeting. When using Browse mode, selecting a folder from a Shared Drive populates the Directory field directly — you do not need to enter a Drive ID separately.