Use data from Google Drive

AppSheet allows you to create a table based on a collection of files stored in Google Drive. This feature allows you to view files contained within a folder as rows of a table, with attributes of those files presented as columns in the table.

Note: Access to a Google Drive using a shortcut is not supported.

How do I create a table from a collection of files?

To create a table based on a collection of files, you must have set up Google as a data source:

1. In AppSheet, go to Data  and click + in the top header of the Data panel.
   We've made some improvements to the app editor.
   You are opted in to the new editor by default, but you can switch back to the legacy editor at any time.

   If you are using the legacy navigation

   Go to Data > Tables and click + New Table.  
2. Select Google Drive Documents.
   The Create a new document table dialog displays.
3. Under Folder, click Collection of Files.
   
   
4. Select the folder from which to create the table.
   Note: The file picker will only show and allow selection of folders, even if there are files contained within a folder.
5. If desired, customize the name of the table and select Create Table.

What can I do with a collection of files?

Tables based on a collection of files are regular AppSheet tables. This means that they can be used in any way that a table usually can be used. This includes:

• Creating UX views for interacting with file data. You can build views that allow users to view file metadata and even upload files to the underlying folder.
• Adding and deleting rows from the table. This results in files being added or deleted to the underlying folder.
• Creating slices. This allows you to create subsets of data to, for example, filter based on file names or date modified.

Creating cross-references from other tables. Other tables which reference files contained in the underlying folder can specify these files as Ref columns. This enables using file metadata from tables which use files.

Table schema

The following table describes the default schema given for a collection of files.

Field Name	Field Type	Description	Example
_ID	Text	Internal Drive ID of the file.	1Y1XAe9j0s3XenHPeROyB3FhAIcbBB3Uz
Path	Text	Full path to the file, from the root of the drive.	Documents/Invoices/Invoice-2021-04-20.pdf
File	File	File within the containing folder.	Invoice-2021-04-20.pdf
CreateTime	DateTime	Time when the file was created.	7/13/2020 7:39:11 PM
LastModifiedBy	Email	Email of the user who last modified the file. This field may not be available in some cases.	[e-mail]
MimeType	Text	MIME type of the content.	text/plain