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google-apigoogle-drive-apigoogle-drive-shared-drive

Getting the creator of a file in a shared drive in Google Drive API


I need to count the files created by the requesting user in a shared drive. I understand that there is no real ownership concept for files in shared drives. But when viewing the details of a file on the Drive Webapp it shows a field named "Creator", even in shared drives. So this information must be stored anywhere. It is possible to query it somehow through the Drive API?


Solution

  • Currently there is no method to return the creator in Google Drive API at the moment.

    This is a product limitation for Google Drive API, this request can be promoted for future development through here.

    As an alternative, you can get the creator of a Shared Drive by using the Google Drive audits from the Reports API https://developers.google.com/admin-sdk/reports/v1/appendix/activity/drive#create, however, data retention time for reports is 6 months.