Help! Google Drive access access is blocked by IGV web app

[Mark Cruickshank]

I have been accessing data with the IGV web app (https://igv.org/app/) from my Google Drive for a few years but now get the following message:

This app is blocked

This app tried to access sensitive info in your Google Account. To keep your account safe, Google blocked this access.

How can I change third party permissions within my google drive account to allow IGV to access the data? Is there a solution for this?

Thank you.

Mark

[igv-help]

In case anyone else on the forum is reading this - the conversation was continued in a GitHub issue here: https://github.com/igvteam/igv-webapp/issues/304

[Mark Cruickshank]

After this was fixed in 2024, I have encountered a similar but slightly different problem when attempting to access data on my google drive in September 2025.

I am looking for Help to access data on my Google Drive using the IGV-web app again please!

This is a screenshot of the drop-down menu from 2024 on the IGV-web app.

Now the drop-down menu does not list Google Drive.

However, there is a Google Drive icon located in the top right corner of the IGV-web app and I can sign-in clicking the icon. I cant figure out how to then access data once I login.

If I try to manually load the data by pasting the URL of the file locations I recieve the following error message:

Google drive is referenced, but API key is not defined. An API key is required for Google Drive access : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1#########

(redacted file name!)

However - if I use the "Local File" option I can use Google Drive folder within finder to navigate to the files I want and then they open successfully.

Unfortunately this is not a solution that will work universally among my class to provide access to the data.

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated!
thank you,

Mark

[igv-help]

Hi Mark,

We are not authorized to use the Google Drive API from igv.org/app.   At one time we were, but Google has tightened restrictions on this.    

The icon at the top right corner is not a Google Drive icon, it is a generic Google login button.  Its purpose is to login for accessing Google Cloud Storage, a different thing.

It is possible to install your own copy of igv-webapp following instructions in the documentation, then provide your own Google project client ID to enable Google drive.   The rules for this change from time to time,  but generally you won't have any issues until you reach an individual user count of a few hundred.   At that point you will not be able to continue supporting Google Drive without a full audit of your site, which is well beyond our resources and I imagine yours as well.   I suppose you could always create a new Google project.

The other option is to move your files to another server,  perhaps a university web sever or Dropbox.

Sorry about this, but there is nothing we can do.

-- Jim

[igv-help]

On further investigation I found a workaround that may or may not work for your course.  We can renable Drive access with the Picker,  with restrictions.   Namely, loading by URL will not work, you must use the Picker.   This means that bookmarks, share URLs, and loading with a session will not work.   The restrictions are the same as local file access.  

If you need full access including URL support you'll need to use one of the solutions outlined in my last message.

[igv-help]

Update - I have successfully restored limited access to Google Drive in IGV web app.    I will re-iterate the limitations here for clarity

1.  You must pick files to load with the Google Drive "picker", accessed from the menus.   If the file is indexed you must pick both the data file and its index.

2.  You cannot load by URL, you must use the picker

3.  You can bookmark or create a "share" URL for your own use,  but you cannot share a session with another user as they did not explicitly pick the files.   

The update has been pushed to igv.org/app,  but you might need to refresh your page several times or even clear you browser cache to see the Google Drive items.  My browser at least is very stubborn about using a cached version of the configuration file.

[Mark Cruickshank]

Thank you so much for your efforts this is much appreciated. 

I can see the Google Drive option again in "picker".

After clearing cache and restarting laptop and browsers I can select Goggle Drive with "picker" however the pop-up window appears like this:

This app is blocked

This app tried to access sensitive info in your Google Account. To keep your account safe, Google blocked this access.

Is there something else I need to do to fix this?

I see similar using Chrome and Firefox browsers. 

many thanks for your help

Mark

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[James Robinson]

Hmm, I'll have to look further into this.  It is working for us here (team members),  hopefully we can find a solution.  Google Drive is really difficult to work with.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/igv-help/CAD6Y%3DVRkJS97NDeze_VfA4n7OuYLAH9469AukT%2B8StbU2TLXWw%40mail.gmail.com.

[James Robinson]

In the meantime I've turned Google Drive off for igv.org/app.    We can continue testing on https://igv.org/app-test,  if and when there is a solution that works for you we'll update https://igv.org/app.   Apologies for the raised expectations, we really thought we had found a solution as it works for us.   

[James Robinson]

I might have found the problem, and a potential solution.   The current solution might have worked for us because the first few hundred users of an app appear to be exempt from the stricter rules.    So I will need you to test the next attempt, will ping here when it's ready.

[Mark Cruickshank]

thank you! 

I checked on the https://igv.org/app-test,  and now I can select files in Google Drive, but it gets stuck as per screenshot.

So files load, but then the dialogue box is stuck and wont close.

This happens on Chrome and Firefox.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/igv-help/CACOP%2BpsZ%3DW0VLYjhWCy70gqP3qNxq_G%2BazThG8RzghM3eCVPTw%40mail.gmail.com.

[James Robinson]

Yes,  as I said above I don't think it's going to work for you without changes.   I'll ping here when it's ready, probably tomorrow evening (US Pacific Time).  

There's no guarantee this is fixable, but I do have some optimism still.   We'll try again tomorrow.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/igv-help/CAD6Y%3DVR4YZPFZhpDe4Uvt7mueyDnvfjayvyEkS2%3Db-nJj-opqw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Mark Cruickshank]

thank you, really appreciate it. cheers

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/igv-help/CACOP%2Bpv1-CFn9U86aWAr9j%2BSXm_L73mVB-n5ZA9rCmackmLNjQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[igv-help]

Hi Mark,  loading tracks from Google Drive should work for you now at https://igv.org/app-test.   Could you give it a try?

I haven't got to Genomes, Sessions, or Sample Info yet, only tracks.

[Mark Cruickshank]

THANKS!

I can load the data, but when i zoom in to see reads i get the following error:

Error accessing resource: https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files/1WlnhkvfceiWCsVZzVgJ43a4cGZ1_mXp0?alt=media&supportsTeamDrives=true status: 404

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/igv-help/d3cad651-4bcf-42db-b6a8-af433b801d8cn%40googlegroups.com.

[igv-help]

That's a bit disturbing.     I assume you picked the BAM and its index with the picker, then zoomed in?   Can you try clearing your cache for all data form igv.org and try again?

[igv-help]

Are you trying to load sessions with links to google drive files?

[igv-help]

Give it another try this evening / today whatever it is in your time zone.   Its hard for me to test because I apparently have enhanced permissions as one of the first to login to the app (igv-webapp).   Its a bit mysterious.

The URL again is https://igv.org/app-test/.    In addition to loading tracks and seeing data, I would be interested to know if you can "Bookmark" and refresh the page.   

And again the cache can be a problem, doing multiple refreshes or clearing the cache of everything igv.org might help.

If this still doesn't work email us at igv...@broadinstitute.org and we can discuss further steps offline.   

[Mark Cruickshank]

Fantastic - my files on google drive are loading normally now.

I pressed the bookmark button - there was no response that i could notice. When I refresh the page my data is gone and it returns to the original state. Happy to check other things you need to test - let me know!

thanks again!

Mark

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[igv-help]

Great!  The Google documentation looks nice but they leave out a crucial detail.    I think what we're doing is an unusual use case.

Curious about the Bookmark button.   You should see something like this.    If you're able to look at your javascript console for errors I would appreciate knowing if there are any.   There are errors triggered by the Google Picker itself, those are normal and don't seem to affect anythin.

I was asking about Bookmarking just to see if it allows you to restore the files for yourself (I can't trust the fact that I can do it).    That is probably not important for your course.   As mentioned previously, you won't be able to create sharable links for igv sessions with GDrive files.   For all practical purposes they are treated as local files, with the same rules and restrictions.

Here's what I see when I hit the igv-webapp "Bookmark" button (note, not your browser bookmark button)

[Mark Cruickshank]

I can see that dialogue box now. i've attached screenshots from console - do you want any text copied?

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[igv-help]

Thanks, that is helpful.   Everything there looks normal.   If you refresh the page after hitting "Bookmark" and dismissing the message are the data files restored?  It should come back in the same state it was in when you "Bookmarked",  but I'm not sure Google Drive will allow reloading of the files.

[Mark Cruickshank]

after bookmarking then /refresh data files are not there and i need to sign in to Google Drive again to load files.

Thanks so much for all this. Will these changes be on https://igv.org/app/ or can i share the link to https://igv.org/app-test/  with my students? 

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[igv-help]

OK, I suspected that might be the case. 

So Google Drive files are in all ways equivlent to local files, you can't bookmark or share references.

I will update igv.org/app tomorrow.

[Mark Cruickshank]

ok great thanks for the help, its much appreciated! cheers, Mark

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