Google Drive API release notes

This page contains release notes for features and updates to the Drive API. We recommend that Drive API developers periodically check this list for any new announcements.

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September 13, 2024

The Google Drive API returns a long-running operation (LRO) every time you call the files.download method to download blob file content or export Google Workspace document content either through the Drive API or its client libraries.

The files.download method returns an Operation resource to the client. You can use the Operation interface to asynchronously retrieve the status of the API method by polling the operation through the GetOperationRequest method.

The files.download method is the only way to download Google Vids files in MP4 format and is typically best suited to downloading most video files.

To learn more, see Manage long-running operations.

July 11, 2024

The Google Drive API now supports the drive.meet.readonly scope. This restricted scope lets you view Drive files created or edited by Google Meet.

For details, see Choose Google Drive API scopes.

January 26, 2024

You can now get a list of the user's installed apps in v3, with information about each app's supported MIME types, file extensions, and other details.

The apps resource represents a user's list of installed apps and it supports the following methods:

  • Get a specific installed app.

  • List all the installed apps.

January 24, 2024

Each user can have up to 500 million items that were created by that account, no matter where those items reside. Previously, users could create an unlimited number of items in Drive.

November 21, 2023

A user's My Drive can't contain more than 100 levels of nested folders. Previously, folders in My Drive could be at an unlimited depth.

July 24, 2023

A new content restriction parameter that only the file owner can modify (ownerRestricted) was added.

In addition, three capabilities were added:

  • capabilities.canModifyEditorContentRestriction
  • capabilities.canModifyOwnerContentRestriction
  • capabilities.canRemoveContentRestriction

For details, see Protect file content.

The capabilities.canModifyContentRestriction parameter was deprecated.

March 10, 2013

The Google Drive API is now generally available.