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urldownloadgoogle-drive-api

How long does the Google Drive SDK "short lived" download URL exist for?

The reference for downloadUrl states that the link exists for a short amount of time. How long is this roughly? Minutes, hours, days?

https://developers.google.com/drive/v2/reference/files#downloadUrl

Solution

  • I would not rely on this URL for more than minutes or hours, but in reality it is currently stable for a day or so. This is subject to change, so best to get the URL directly before downloading.

    Edit: The difference between this downloadURL and the webContentLink is that the webContentLink uses authorization from the user's browser cookie, the downloadURL requires an authorized API request (using OAuth 2.0).