Converting all Google Drive files to Google Drive Format.

[Adrian Dunne]

Hello,

I recently did a massive upload of data (several Terabytes) from local hard drives into Google Drive, but I forgot to select the option to convert the files to Google Drive format. Now I have all these files in G Drive but they are all still in their native format. 

Does anyone know if its possible to select all of my Google Drive content and convert everything over to Googles Drives format. I spoke with Google Support and they don't have this option available. They don't even have an option for Selecting All the contents of your Drive at once (unless you are doing an Export. 

Thanks for any help. 

[Julien POIROT]

Hi

You won't be able to do this with GAM, but it is possible using Advanced Drive Service in Google Apps Script :  https://developers.google.com/apps-script/advanced/drive

You have to use an iterator for all files matching your criteria and then use the following function (example from this thread - xlsx content :  https://code.google.com/p/google-apps-script-issues/issues/detail?id=1019 ) and add a "delete once converted" step

function convert() {
  var folderIncoming = DocsList.getFolder('Incoming RFQs');
  var folderXLSX = DocsList.getFolder('XLSX');
  
  var files = folderIncoming.getFiles();
  
  for (var i in files) {  
    var xlsxBlob = files[i];
  
    var fileName = xlsxBlob.getName();
    
    var file = {
      title: fileName,
      "parents": [{
        "kind": "drive#parentReference",
        "id": "XYZ123"
      }]
    };
    
    file = Drive.Files.insert(file, xlsxBlob, {
      convert: true
    });
    
    files[i].addToFolder(folderXLSX);   
    files[i].removeFromFolder(folderIncoming);    
  }
}

Regards

Julien

[Adrian Dunne]

Thanks Julien. I will check this out. Much appreciated. 

[Rob Martin]

Adrian 

I have the same issue and would welcome some advice on how you solved this problem.

Thanks

Rob 

function convert() {
  var folderIncoming = DocsList.getFolder('Incoming RFQs');
  var folderXLSX = DocsList.getFolder('XLSX');
  
  var files = folderIncoming.getFiles();
  
  for (var i in files) {  
    var xlsxBlob = files[i];
  
    var fileName = xlsxBlob.getName();
    
    var file = {
      title: fileName,
      "parents": [{
        "kind": "drive#parentReference",
        "id": "XYZ123"
      }]
    };
    
    file = Drive.Files.insert(file, xlsxBlob, {
      convert: true
    });
    
    files[i].addToFolder(folderXLSX);   
    files[i].removeFromFolder(folderIncoming);    
  }
}

Regards

Julien

Le mardi 23 août 2016 02:49:46 UTC+1, Adrian Dunne a écrit :

Hello,

I recently did a massive upload of data (several Terabytes) from local hard drives into Google Drive, but I forgot to select the option to convert the files to Google Drive format. Now I have all these files in G Drive but they are all still in their native format. 

Does anyone know if its possible to select all of my Google Drive content and convert everything over to Googles Drives format. I spoke with Google Support and they don't have this option available. They don't even have an option for Selecting All the contents of your Drive at once (unless you are doing an Export. 

Thanks for any help. 

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[Alex Singleton]

Hey Rob, 

I've been trying to figure this out too. Unfortunately, documentation and examples in "Google Drive Script" are rare, but below is my implementation that replaces the deprecated methods in Julien's example. 

It work up to the last line, where I get the following message on the call to add the file to the folder: Cannot convert [object Object] to File. (line 35).

If we can figure out what causes the file variable to be recognized as an object instead of google doc, we could be in business. 

function convert() {

  

 var targetFolder_1 = DriveApp.getFoldersByName('ProvaSport'); 

 var targetFolder =  targetFolder_1.next();                                                // getFoldersByName returns an iterator, use .next() to get Folder

 var folderGoogify_1 = DriveApp.getFoldersByName('TransferTest');

 var folderGoogify = folderGoogify_1.next();  

 var counter = 0; 

  

 var files = targetFolder.getFiles(); 

 var folderID = targetFolder.getId();

   

 while (files.hasNext()) {

   var nextFile = files.next();

   var blob = nextFile.getBlob();

   var fileName = nextFile.getName();

   //var kind = nextFile.getParents();

   //var id = nextBlob.getId();

       

    var file = {

      title: fileName,

      //mimeType: "application/vnd.google-apps.document",

      "parents": [{

        "kind": "drive#parentReference",

        "id": folderID

      }]

    };

      file = Drive.Files.insert(file, blob, {

      convert: true

       });

          

     counter++;

     folderGoogify.addFile(file);

   //targetFolder.removeFromFolder();  

   

 }

}

[J D]

Hi all,

I realise that this is an old thread, so this isn't of much use to anyone who has already faced this issue - but to anyone who comes across this in the future and has the same issue (e.g. uploaded files without converting them, or used a command line tool to upload that doesn't support conversions)....

I did the same thing (intentionally :) ) during a large (multi-gigabyte) migration project. I wrote a web-app to do the conversion for me, as I also needed to keep copies of the unconverted files as well (in Google Drive). 

It's online and free to use:

https://educ.io/folders

And there are instructions here:

https://educ.io/tutorials/folders/bulk-convert

Anyway, it might be useful for people who are in the same situation! Hope so.

Thanks,

JD.

[JA]

Hi JD - Just used this for my problem --- organizing years' worth of multiple team members doing their own thing and uploading whatever they wanted, in whatever formats they wanted --- a total mess.  Tried running some of the sample scripts above and in other posts with no luck.  Not tech savvy enough?  But your solution has worked for my purposes.  Thank you very much.  ~JA

[J D]

Hi,

It's a pleasure! Glad it solved your problem :)

JD

[+KimNilsson]

J D,

I posted a link to your tool to the GSFE Admins community on Google+ (yes, it still alive, and will stay so).

Much appreciated that you told us about it.