Get Files
Description
Retrieves files from a Google Drive folder and returns their metadata.
The activity can optionally search subfolders recursively.
Common settings
Use Process Data to bind supported inputs to workflow values or upstream outputs. See Common Activity Features for shared execution, error-handling, and output-persistence settings. Availability depends on the activity.
Design-Time Configuration
Display Text
A user-defined name for the activity, displayed on the workflow canvas to help identify its purpose.
Connection Name
The configured Google Drive connection used to access Google Drive resources.
Parent Folder
The folder from which files will be retrieved.
You can:
- Select a folder using the Custom Picker Dialog.
- Provide a folder identifier dynamically through Process Data.
Default value: My Drive
Recursive
Determines whether files are retrieved only from the specified folder or from all nested subfolders.
| Value | Behavior |
|---|---|
| False | Retrieves files only from the specified folder. |
| True | Retrieves files from the specified folder and all subfolders recursively. |
Default value: False
Execution settings
Configure Wait All Incoming when execution paths converge, and On Error for failure handling. Select Inherit where available to use the workflow-level error policy.
Output
Metadata
Collection of DriveMetadata objects. Each item includes Id, Name, MimeType, IsNative, Size where available, Parents, CreatedTime, ModifiedTime, WebViewLink, and WebContentLink where available.
This is metadata, not a collection of File References. Use an item's Id with Get File for a non-native file, or Export File for a native Workspace document.
Remarks
The connection must have access to the selected folder. Only accessible items are returned. Recursive search can take longer for large folder trees.
Example: Consume listed files
Select Parent Folder and enable Recursive only when subfolders should also be searched. Iterate over Metadata.
For a PDF or CSV, bind the current item's Id to Get File → File, then pass that activity's File output to the consumer. For a native Google document, use Export File to obtain the required output format. An empty collection means no matching accessible files were returned.