DataToRAGDocs
Sign in

Drive

Search files, read content, and create folders in Google Drive.

The Drive connector lets your AI assistant search across your Google Drive, read file contents, and organize files into folders.

Reading happens server-side: the text comes back in the response, so nothing is downloaded to a local filesystem and a large file does not have to pass through the conversation to be read.

Available operations

Tool Description
drive_search Search files using Drive query syntax, e.g. name contains 'report' or mimeType='application/vnd.google-apps.spreadsheet'. Returns names, IDs, types and modification dates. page_size defaults to 20
drive_read_file Read a file's text content by file ID. Handles Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, Office .docx/.xlsx/.pptx (converted automatically), and .txt/.csv. Returns the extracted text directly, with no local download
drive_create_folder Create a new folder, optionally inside a parent folder
drive_rename_file Rename a file or folder by ID. Changes the name only: content, location and sharing are untouched. Works on Docs, Sheets, Slides and folders
drive_copy_file Copy a file and name the copy in the same call, optionally into another folder with parent_id. The copy carries the original's tabs, formatting and formulas. Folders cannot be copied

What drive_read_file can and cannot read

Type Read as
Google Docs, Sheets, Slides Extracted text, the same extraction the dedicated tools use. A Sheet comes back as its first tab only, up to column Z and row 1000; use sheets_read for another tab or a larger range
.docx, .xlsx, .pptx Converted to the matching Google format in a temporary copy, read, and the copy deleted
.txt, .csv Returned as-is
Anything else, PDFs included An Unsupported file type error

PDFs are the common surprise: the tool reads text out of documents, not out of scanned or rendered pages.

Required scopes

  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive

Multiple accounts

Every tool on this page takes an optional account argument: the email address of the connected Google account to act on. Omit it and the default account is used. Connect a personal and a work account and your assistant can read from one and write to the other in the same turn, without you switching profiles.

Example prompts

  • "Find the latest Q2 revenue deck in my Drive"
  • "Read the contents of the onboarding checklist doc and summarize it"
  • "Create a new folder called 'April Reports' inside my Reports folder"
  • "Search Drive for all spreadsheets modified in the last week"

Copying beats rebuilding

drive_copy_file exists mainly for templates. Asking Claude to rebuild a document from scratch gives you something that looks close and drifts a little each time. Copying gives you the original's tabs, formatting and formulas exactly, because it is the same file. Copy first, then fill in the copy.

Drive refuses to copy a folder, answering with a 403 that reads like a permissions problem. It is not one, and retrying with wider access will not change it.

Frequently asked questions

Can DataToRAG read a PDF from Drive? #

No. The Drive read tool answers with an Unsupported file type error for PDFs. It reads text out of documents rather than out of scanned or rendered pages, which makes PDFs the common surprise.

Which file types can the Drive reader handle? #

Three kinds. Google Docs, Sheets and Slides come back as extracted text, using the same extraction the dedicated tools use; .docx, .xlsx and .pptx are converted to the matching Google format in a temporary copy that is read and then deleted; .txt and .csv are returned as they are. Anything else, PDFs included, returns an Unsupported file type error. A Sheet read through the Drive reader is its first tab, up to column Z and row 1000; the Sheets tools read the rest.

Does reading a Drive file download it to my computer? #

No. Reading happens server-side and the text comes back in the response, so nothing is downloaded to a local filesystem and a large file does not have to pass through the conversation to be read.

Can it copy a folder in Drive? #

No. Google Drive refuses to copy a folder and answers with a 403 that reads like a permissions problem. It is not one, and retrying with wider access will not change it. Files copy fine, optionally into another folder.

Should I copy a template or ask the assistant to rebuild it? #

Copy it. Rebuilding a document from scratch gives you something that looks close and drifts a little each time, while a Drive copy carries the original's tabs, formatting and formulas exactly, because it is the same file. Copy first, then fill in the copy.

Does renaming a file in Drive change anything else about it? #

No. The Drive rename tool changes the name only, and the file's content, location and sharing are untouched. It works on Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and folders.

Try this on your own account

Connect Google Workspace once and your assistant can run every tool on this page against your real data. Free to start, no card.

Get started free

By continuing you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

PreviousCalendarNextDocs