A Node.js command-line tool to download Google Drive files and folders without authorization.

Features

• ✅ Download single files or entire folders
• ✅ No Google authorization required
• ✅ Recursive folder downloads
• ✅ Progress tracking for large files
• ✅ Resume support (checks existing files)
• ✅ Preserve file modified times
• ✅ Handle quota exceeded errors gracefully
• ✅ Bulk download from URL list
• ✅ Zero dependencies (uses only Node.js built-in modules)

Requirements

• Node.js >= 18.3.0 (uses native fetch API and util.parseArgs)

Installation

From Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/costinEEST/google-drive-download.git
cd google-drive-download

# Make executable (Unix/Linux/macOS)
chmod +x gdrive-dl.js

# Run directly
node gdrive-dl.js --help

Global Installation (if published to npm)

npm install -g google-drive-download

Usage

Basic Examples

# Single file download
node gdrive-dl.js https://drive.google.com/file/d/FILE_ID/view

# Download using just the file ID
node gdrive-dl.js FILE_ID

# Download entire folder
node gdrive-dl.js https://drive.google.com/folders/FOLDER_ID

# Multiple files
node gdrive-dl.js url1 url2 url3

Advanced Examples

# Download to specific directory
node gdrive-dl.js -P ./downloads https://drive.google.com/file/d/FILE_ID/view

# Download with custom filename
node gdrive-dl.js -O "My Document.pdf" https://drive.google.com/file/d/FILE_ID/view

# Download with all options
node gdrive-dl.js -P ./downloads -m -v https://drive.google.com/file/d/FILE_ID/view

# Quiet mode (no progress output)
node gdrive-dl.js -q https://drive.google.com/file/d/FILE_ID/view

# Continue on errors (useful for bulk downloads)
node gdrive-dl.js -e url1 url2 url3

# From URL file (one URL per line)
node gdrive-dl.js -f urls.txt -P ./downloads

# Debug mode
node gdrive-dl.js -d https://drive.google.com/file/d/FILE_ID/view

Options

Option	Short	Description	Default
--directory-prefix	-P	Output directory	Current directory
--output-document	-O	Output filename (single file only)	Original filename
--quiet	-q	Disable console output	false
--mtimes	-m	Preserve modified times	false
--debug	-d	Enable debug logging	false
--verbose	-v	Debug + show HTML/headers	false
--continue-on-errors	-e	Don't stop on first error	false
--urlfile	-f	Read URLs from text file	-
--help	-h	Show help message	-

URL Formats Supported

The tool accepts various Google Drive URL formats:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/FILE_ID/view
https://drive.google.com/file/d/FILE_ID/edit
https://drive.google.com/folders/FOLDER_ID
https://drive.google.com/open?id=FILE_ID
https://drive.google.com/uc?id=FILE_ID
FILE_ID (just the ID)

How It Works

1. No Authentication: Uses the public download endpoints that don't require OAuth
2. Cookie Handling: Manages cookies for download confirmations
3. Stream Downloads: Files are streamed to disk to handle large files efficiently
4. Recursive Folders: Parses folder pages to download all contents
5. Progress Tracking: Shows real-time download progress for files over 1MB

Limitations

• Only works with publicly shared files/folders (link sharing must be enabled)
• Cannot download files that require authentication
• Google Drive's quota limits still apply
• Some file types may require download confirmation
• Very large files might be rate-limited by Google

Troubleshooting

"Does not have link sharing enabled"

The file/folder must be shared publicly. In Google Drive:

1. Right-click the file/folder
2. Click "Share"
3. Change "Restricted" to "Anyone with the link"

"Quota exceeded"

This is a Google Drive limitation when too many users download a file. Try:

• Wait 24 hours and retry
• Ask the owner to make a copy of the file
• Use a different Google account (though this rarely helps)

Large file confirmation

For large files, Google requires confirmation. The tool handles this automatically by:

1. Detecting the confirmation page
2. Extracting the confirmation token
3. Retrying with the token

Credit

• Original Python implementation: gdrivedl by @matthuisman

License

MIT License - See LICENSE file for details

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome! Please:

• Use only Node.js built-in modules (no external dependencies)
• Maintain compatibility with Node.js 18.3+
• Follow the existing code style
• Test with various file types and sizes

TODO

• Add unit tests
• Add support for Google Docs/Sheets/Slides export
• Implement bandwidth limiting
• Add retry mechanism for network errors
• Support for proxies
• Parallel downloads for multiple files