glinkfix 2.0.0

Google Drive Link Fixer

glinkfix

Google Drive Link Fixer

Notes (please read)

1. It's turning into an arms race. Google keeps changing how links are handled on their servers, which often breaks tools like glinkfix. Direct downloading and embedding G-Drive links is definitely an unsupported "off the books" feature as far as Google is concerned. As of Jan 2024, Google made a significant change, which definitely broke some links created with this tool. This update (Apr 2024) works, for now, but if Google changes again, things may break.

2. Viewing links that point to animated gifs may just show up as static images.

3. In the v2 update, in addition to displaying the fixed link on the screen, glinkfix will also attempt to copy the fixed link to the clipboard. Copying to the clipboard only works for Desktop-based operating systems (not Server installs). Even without automatic copying, link fixing will still work and the results will be displayed on the screen, regardless of where you run it (Server or Desktop). glinkfix uses the pyperclip library, and automatic copying to the clipboard should work seamlessly on Windows/Mac. If you're running Linux and links are not automatically copied to the clipboard, refer to this note from the pyperclip developer.

To Developers

If you're just using glinkfix, then carry on!

If you're a developer looking to fork this repository and modify glinkfix, there are two important considerations:

1. glinkfix requires poetry for dependency management. Poetry is well behaved and if you're a Python developer you should check it out. It installs itself in a virtual environment, uninstalls cleanly and easily, and doesn't require sudo for installation. Visit the poetry site and install it using the instructions for your operating system.

   Note: When you install poetry, pay careful attention to the message printed by the poetry installer. It provides details on how to modify $PATH to access the poetry runtime.

2. I've included a file called global-gitignore.txt which is a copy of the .gitignore I placed in my home directory and configured globally for all my development projects. The global-gitignore.txt file reflects my development setup (for example using tools like vscode), but yours may be different. Just cherry-pick any necessary elements from global-gitignore.txt for your own use.

   Details on gitignore files are available on GitHub.

Installation

The preferred way to install glinkfix is with pipx:

pipx install glinkfix

Alternatively, you can create a separate virtual environment and install it the traditional way:

pip3 install glinkfix

If you just need a quick one-time link fix, and don't want to commit to a full installation, use:

pipx run glinkfix -h

and follow the directions to run it again with the option you want.

Purpose / Usage

When you share files with Google Drive, the sharing link you get is only good for accessing the content through a web browser. If you want to use a Google Drive sharing link to embed an image in a document (e.g. in a markdown or html file), or you want to directly download a file pointed-to by a Google Drive sharing link using something like curl or wget in linux, the link needs to be adjusted ("fixed") for these purposes.

It's not especially hard to repackage the link, but it's a pain. You have to copy the link to a text editor, carve it up manually, and reassemble it. If you've got a lot of links to deal with it starts to get very tedious. This tool is designed to remove the tedium.

Note: The images below are actually hosted on Google Drive and the "fixed" links are embedded into this README file.

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Start by getting a sharing link to a file on Google Drive. Make sure it's set up for public access (Anyone with the link):

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Now run glinkfix and paste the link into the terminal. Copy the "fixed" version and use it as required.

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To display the help menu, run: glinkfix -h

usage: glinkfix [-h] [-d]

This program takes a Google Drive sharing link for a file and repackages
it into a link that can be downloaded directly (e.g. using curl) or
embedded in a document to be viewed (e.g. an image in a markdown
document). Note: there is a size limit of 40MB for a single file when
using Google Drive links in this manner.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help      show this help message and exit
  -d, --download  The default behavior for glinkfix is to repackage a
                  Google Drive link to make it suitable for embedding in
                  a website. Use this option if you want to repackage
                  Google Drive link for direct downloading (e.g.
                  downloading using curl).

Usage Notes

• There is a 40MB size limit for a single file when using Google Drive sharing links directly for viewing or downloading. Individual files larger than 40MB will not render/download properly. This limit is a function of how Google Drive works and is not related to glinkfix.
• When creating a download link for use with curl make sure to use curl's -L option to allow for redirects.
• glinkfix supports links that use Google's resource key security feature.

Version History

View releases on the glinkfix git repository