Create and organise Drive files and folders

Concept

Getting a folder or file

The safest way is by ID — copy it from the URL: drive.google.com/drive/folders/<FOLDER_ID>.

const folder = DriveApp.getFolderById('FOLDER_ID');
const file = DriveApp.getFileById('FILE_ID');

Names are not unique in Drive (two folders can have the same name), so searching by name returns an iterator:

const it = DriveApp.getFoldersByName('Invoices');
while (it.hasNext()) {
  const f = it.next();
  console.log(f.getName(), f.getId(), f.getUrl());
}

Get-or-create a folder

A helper you'll reuse in many projects:

function getOrCreateFolder(parent, name) {
  const it = parent.getFoldersByName(name);
  return it.hasNext() ? it.next() : parent.createFolder(name);
}

Example: organise invoices by year and month:

function monthFolder(date) {
  const root = DriveApp.getFolderById('INVOICES_ROOT_ID');
  const tz = Session.getScriptTimeZone();
  const year = getOrCreateFolder(root, Utilities.formatDate(date, tz, 'yyyy'));
  return getOrCreateFolder(year, Utilities.formatDate(date, tz, 'MM-MMM')); // e.g. 10-Oct
}

Creating and moving files

// A text/CSV file
const folder = monthFolder(new Date());
const csv = 'Item,Qty\nRing,2\nChain,1';
const file = folder.createFile('stock.csv', csv, MimeType.CSV);

// Move an existing file
DriveApp.getFileById('FILE_ID').moveTo(folder);

// Make a copy in another folder
DriveApp.getFileById('FILE_ID').makeCopy('Copy of report', folder);

Listing files into a sheet

function listFolder() {
  const folder = DriveApp.getFolderById('FOLDER_ID');
  const files = folder.getFiles();
  const out = [['Name', 'Type', 'Size (KB)', 'Last updated', 'Link']];

  while (files.hasNext()) {
    const f = files.next();
    out.push([
      f.getName(),
      f.getMimeType(),
      Math.round(f.getSize() / 1024),
      f.getLastUpdated(),
      f.getUrl()
    ]);
  }

  const sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheetByName('Files');
  sheet.clearContents();
  sheet.getRange(1, 1, out.length, out[0].length).setValues(out);
}

Searching with queries

searchFiles uses Drive's search syntax:

const pdfs = DriveApp.searchFiles(
  "mimeType = 'application/pdf' and modifiedDate > '2026-10-01T00:00:00' and title contains 'Invoice'"
);

Sharing (carefully)

file.addViewer('customer@example.com');      // share with one person
// file.setSharing(DriveApp.Access.ANYONE_WITH_LINK, DriveApp.Permission.VIEW); // anyone with link

Be careful with "anyone with the link" for invoices or customer data — share with specific people where you can.

Key points

Use IDs when you can; names return iterators because they aren't unique.
getOrCreateFolder prevents duplicate folders.
moveTo, makeCopy, createFile cover most organising jobs.

What you'll learn