How to request a user to authorize an app to access a Google Drive file using the API

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I have a web application and a Google Docs add-on that work together. The Docs add-on passes the web application the Google Drive file id of the Doc it's currently running in.

My web application needs to be able to be able to access/download the file content. I want the web application to use the drive.file scope, so that would require the user to authorize the web application access to the file in Google Drive.

I haven't found any APIs which let me request the user authorize the web app permission to a known file id. I could use the File Picker API, but then the user has to find the file in their Drive (annoying user experience given we already know the file and prone to errors).

Is there any way we can just redirect the user to a Google Drive URL where it asks them to confirm they want to open the file with my web app? Or to preselect the file in the File Picker?

google-drive-api google-oauth google-api oauth
1 Answers

I don't think you completely understand how scopes work.

The is no way to request permission for just a single file id. Scopes are all or nothing. If you have read only access then you have read only access to all of the files on the users drive account. Same for write access.

Now lets look at Scopes#Drive

If you request authorization of the user using the drive.file scope. It will allow your application to create files on the users drive account, and access those files which your application created and only those files.

So there is no way to get access to only a single file on a users drive account. If you want access to a file on the users account that wasn't created by your app then your going to have to use drive.readonly or drive. Depending upon if you want read or write access.

user_18418390
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