Overview
Search for and download documents from Google Drive using rclone. Google Docs are automatically exported as Markdown for easy reading and processing.
Scripts are located at scripts/.
Reference Documentation:
- scripts/ — Shell scripts for search, download, and sync operations
- digital-science-reference.md — Digital Science documentation links
Authentication: See the Authentication section in digital-science-reference.md for rclone setup. The remote must be named gdrive.
Quick Start
# Check rclone is configured
./scripts/check_rclone.sh
./scripts/search_gdrive.sh "meeting notes"
Search shared files./scripts/search_gdrive.sh "standup" --shared
Download a file (exports Google Docs as Markdown)./scripts/download_gdrive.sh "Documents/Report" ./output
Download by file ID./scripts/download_gdrive.sh --id "FILE_ID" ./output
Download matching shared files./scripts/download_gdrive.sh --shared --include "pattern*" ./output
## Common Tasks
| Task | Command |
|------|---------|
| Check setup | `./scripts/check_rclone.sh` |
| Search files | `./scripts/search_gdrive.sh "pattern"` |
| Search shared files | `./scripts/search_gdrive.sh "pattern" --shared` |
| Download file | `./scripts/download_gdrive.sh "path/to/file" ./output` |
| Download by ID | `./scripts/download_gdrive.sh --id "FILE_ID" ./output` |
| Download folder | `./scripts/download_gdrive.sh "Folder" ./output --bulk` |
| Download shared files | `./scripts/download_gdrive.sh --shared --include "pattern*" ./output` |
| Limit downloads | `./scripts/download_gdrive.sh --shared --include "pattern*" ./output --limit 20` |
## Export Formats
Google Docs can be exported in different formats:
| Format | Flag | Use Case |
|--------|------|----------|
| Markdown | `--format md` (default) | Easy reading and processing |
| Word | `--format docx` | Office compatibility |
| PDF | `--format pdf` | Final documents |
| Plain text | `--format txt` | Minimal formatting |
| HTML | `--format html` | Web content |
Example: `./scripts/download_gdrive.sh "Report" ./output --format docx`
## File ID Extraction
Extract file IDs from Google Drive URLs:
- `https://docs.google.com/document/d/FILE_ID/edit` → use FILE_ID
- `https://drive.google.com/file/d/FILE_ID/view` → use FILE_ID
## Preview Before Download
Use dry-run to see what would be downloaded:
```bash
./scripts/download_gdrive.sh "Large Folder" ./output --bulk --dry-run
Direct rclone Commands
For advanced use cases:
rclone ls gdrive:"Documents" # List files
rclone lsjson gdrive:"path" --no-traverse # Get file info as JSON
rclone sync gdrive:"Source" ./local --drive-export-formats md # Sync folder
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| "remote not configured" | Run rclone config to set up gdrive remote |
| "Cannot connect" | Run rclone config reconnect gdrive: |
| Empty search results | Check path spelling; try searching from root |
| File not downloading | Verify file permissions; check if file is in Trash |
| Shared files not found | Use --shared flag |
| Too many files | Use --limit N to download only N most recent |