Google Drive: Automatically convert files on upload?

Question

Is it possible to get Google Drive to automatically convert uploaded documents to the native format?

I know it works with manual upload (i.e. Google Drive can auto-convert files you upload via the website), but I want to avoid having to upload every file by hand.

I'd prefer to use the API, or better yet, dump the files in my ~/Google Drive folder.

Answer 1

Using the API, you can pass the convert=true parameter to files.insert. The uploaded file will attempt to be converted to a native Google Docs format.

Answer 2

Sure, see this answer. Note you can upload a text file or a csv file and set its content type to google doc or google sheets respectively, and google will attempt to convert it. I have tested this for text -> doc and it works. You will need to set the const contentType at the start of the code to one of the supported google mimetypes.