Automate Google Drive

What I mean by automating Google Drive

Automating Google Drive means a bot does the file shuffling you would otherwise do by hand. Uploading a batch of files into a specific folder. Renaming each one to match a contract or invoice number. Moving items between folders as their status changes. Sharing a file with a list of email addresses and setting the right permission. Downloading a daily export from a folder a partner drops into. The bot opens Drive in Chrome, signed into your account, and clicks through it the way a person would.

Reading and writing data is already solved

Before you reach for a bot, know that Google Drive has a real API and Google Sheets has tight integrations across the rest of axiom. If you only need to read files (list them, fetch metadata, pull a Sheet's rows) the API is the right tool, and our Google Sheets steps cover the common cases without any Drive code.

Where a browser bot earns its place is the click work the API does badly or doesn't do at all: moving items by drag-and-drop, sharing through the share dialog, applying the same set of clicks to a folder full of files, working across Drive plus another web app in one flow.

Who this is for

This is for anyone with a Drive folder that wants babysitting. Operations teams sorting a daily drop into client subfolders. Finance teams renaming bank statements to match a register. Hiring teams sharing each candidate's CV with the right interview panel. Anyone running a weekly report that ends with "and then upload it to Drive". And for the developer who wants the upload/share/move flow scripted, the same browser scripts run on our cloud Chromium without the Google Drive API surface area.

How I'd approach it

Start by listing the click work, not the file work. "Upload this file, rename it, move it into that subfolder, share it with this email." Pull each of those values from a Google Sheet column, then loop the rows. Build the steps in the Chrome extension, run it on one row to check, then let it loop.

For anything that's pure-API-shaped — read a list of files, fetch metadata, pull rows — I'd reach for the Google API directly. For everything else, a browser bot is the shortest path.

Automate Google Drive from a description

Describe the Drive work in plain words in the Chrome extension and it builds the steps for you. Tell it the source folder, where to put each file, and how to name it. Explore no-code. Note: Build from description is coming very soon. In the meantime you can still use the no-code builder.

Automate Google Drive in code

Build with code. If you would rather script it yourself, this is the path. Explore code

import { chromium } from "playwright";

const browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP(
  `wss://cdp-lb.axiom.ai/?token=${process.env.AXIOM_API_KEY}`
);

const DRIVE = "https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/FOLDER_ID";

try {
  const context = browser.contexts()[0];
  const page = context.pages()[0] ?? await context.newPage();
  await page.goto(DRIVE);

  // Each row would come from your Google Sheet
  const rows = [
    { local: "/tmp/invoice-001.pdf", rename: "ACME-2026-01.pdf",  shareWith: "ops@acme.example" },
    { local: "/tmp/invoice-002.pdf", rename: "Globex-2026-01.pdf", shareWith: "ops@globex.example" },
  ];

  for (const row of rows) {
    // Upload via the hidden file input Drive renders for drag-and-drop targets
    await page.locator('input[type="file"]').setInputFiles(row.local);
    await page.getByText(row.rename.replace(/\.[^.]+$/, "")).waitFor({ state: "visible", timeout: 15000 });

    // Rename
    await page.getByRole("button", { name: row.rename.replace(/\.[^.]+$/, "") }).click({ button: "right" });
    await page.getByRole("menuitem", { name: "Rename" }).click();
    await page.getByRole("textbox").fill(row.rename);
    await page.keyboard.press("Enter");

    // Share
    await page.getByRole("button", { name: row.rename }).click({ button: "right" });
    await page.getByRole("menuitem", { name: "Share" }).click();
    await page.getByPlaceholder("Add people").fill(row.shareWith);
    await page.getByRole("button", { name: "Send" }).click();
  }
} finally {
  await browser.close();
}

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Build with a Claude skill

Build no-code or code bots with a skill.

Add the Claude skill and describe the Drive work. It builds the bot for you, no-code or code, handling the upload, rename, move, share clicks for each row in your sheet.

Install the skillLearn more

What can you automate in Google Drive?

Most click-driven Drive work. A couple of cases worth knowing first.

What I'd watch out for

Google Drive looks simple in Chrome, but a few quirks bite a bot. Here's what I'd watch for.

Sign-in state matters

The run needs to be signed into the Google account that owns the folder. Store the cookies for that account in axiom and load them on every run.

The UI is laggier than it looks

Drive renders files asynchronously and the click targets don't always exist when a step thinks they do. Build short waits between the upload and the next interaction, or wait for a specific element to appear before continuing.

Right-click menus need keyboard or context click

The Rename and Share menus open from a right-click. Some no-code steps default to a left-click — switch to context-click in the step's options when the menu doesn't open.

Test one row first

Run a single row end-to-end before you loop. It's much easier to fix a selector than to undo a hundred wrongly-named files.