August 17, 2008

Automate File Upload in Google Docs

Google Docs has an option to upload files from web addresses, but it's not very convenient if you want to load many documents or you want to add a link for uploading a document. Here's the direct link that can be used to open a document from the web in Google Docs:

http://docs.google.com/?action=updoc&formsubmitted=true&uploadURL=DOCUMENTURL

This works for documents (.doc/.txt/.html/.rtf/.odt), spreadsheets (.xls/.csv/.ods), presentations (.ppt) and PDF files.

In Windows, you can easily create a batch file that automates the upload of multiple files to Google Docs, assuming that the browser is open and you are already logged in to a Google Account. For example, the following text can be copied in Notepad and saved as a .bat file. After executing the .bat, the two PDF files will upload to Google Docs in separate Firefox tabs.

start /d "%PROGRAMFILES%\Mozilla Firefox" firefox "http://docs.google.com/?action=updoc&formsubmitted=true&uploadURL=http://www.fireworksafety.com/pdfs/FireworkSafetyTest.pdf"

start /d "%PROGRAMFILES%\Mozilla Firefox" firefox "http://docs.google.com/?action=updoc&formsubmitted=true&uploadURL=www.fs.fed.us/fire/safety/wct/2002/brochure_2002.pdf"

A similar option is available in Google Toolbar for Firefox, which lets you open documents from the web in Google Docs.
at

5 comments:

  1. UnknownAugust 17, 2008 at 1:31 PM

    Here's a bookmarklet. I just copied another bookmarklet I had and changed a few things. It worked in Firefox 3 for me. No guarantees, though.

    <a href="javascript:var%20pw=window.open('http://docs.google.com/?action=updoc&formsubmitted=true&uploadURL='+encodeURIComponent(location.href));void(window.setTimeout('pw.focus()',250));">Upload to Google Docs</a>

    If the HTML above were accepted by Blogger, this would become a draggable entity. Otherwise, I think you can just copy the code in the quotes to a new bookmark.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousAugust 18, 2008 at 7:05 AM

    thanks for sharing this tip! it just so happens i have a backlog of files to import that never got around to, but this will make light work of it

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJanuary 19, 2009 at 1:13 PM

    You can also try this, it works for me : http://olipo.net (click 'go' and choose the plugin 'Google Docs')

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousApril 16, 2009 at 9:46 PM

    Is the same possible in google chrome?

    ReplyDelete
  5. SamanthaJune 15, 2009 at 2:26 AM

    If you want to upload file(s) from a web address, Google Docs provides you an opportunity to do so. Though the file upload option is there, it isn’t the most handy one. However there is a link available that can help you open a document in Google Docs from the Internet.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.