How to upload product pictures from Google Drive?

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

Core Issue:
Shopify users struggle to upload product images directly from Google Drive URLs. Standard Google Drive sharing links fail because Shopify cannot process the redirects and temporary URLs Google generates.

Working Solution:
Convert the standard Google Drive link format to a direct download URL:

  • Extract the file ID from links like https://drive.google.com/file/d/[FILE_ID]/view?usp=sharing
  • Reconstruct as: https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&confirm=no_antivirus&id=[FILE_ID]
  • Remove any trailing parameters after the ID

Current Status:
Multiple users confirmed this method worked initially, though one recent comment (post 18) suggests the uc?export method may no longer function and links to an alternative approach. The discussion remains ongoing as Google Drive’s URL structure continues to evolve.

Alternative Solutions Mentioned:

  • Third-party Shopify apps (Smart Image Upload, PicManager, Image Flow, Compress Files)
  • Google Drive Direct add-on for bulk URL generation
  • FTP hosting as a workaround
  • BucketLynx for dedicated image hosting

The challenge is particularly acute for users managing 1,000+ images who need bulk upload capabilities without manually configuring sharing settings for each file.

Summarized with AI on October 28. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

Hello, would anyone have figured out how to have product picture image upload by url work with google drive? I cannot make it work for the life of me.

The following image is set to be publicly available :

https://drive.google.com/uc?id=11WjAzXcnPGOBg9_2ARAVQD1-EWV9rJd8

When opened in incognito mode, it redirects to a final URL (which is temporary, please try it yourself to get a new one). At the time of writting the final URL is : https://doc-0s-9g-docs.googleusercontent.com/docs/securesc/ha0ro937gcuc7l7deffksulhg5h7mbp1/mc1oiajsoq1ho2dk4ci3j7k7nnajku9t/1569348000000/17412005175193271495/*/11WjAzXcnPGOBg9_2ARAVQD1-EWV9rJd8

This url is a fully public image, without redirection, and served with the correct content type as any webserver would serve image assets. However, using the product image uploader will fail with the message :

Screen Shot 2019-09-24 at 21.19.48.png
Screen Shot 2019-09-24 at 21.19.48.png1432Ă—802 116 KB

Would anyone have found a way to make google drive images work for product image?

Alternatively, could anyone recommend a good image hosting solution that would allow direct upload of a folder structure without having to set the sharing settings for each files individually, I am dealing 1000+ images that would be extremely inconvenient.

Thanks a lot in advance,

1 Like
2

Hey there,

Looks like we’re in the same boat - I’ve been forever looking to integrate Google Drive images as we’re using this solution for sharing among our teams.

If you find something I’d be glad to know - We’re for now using some automation to upload final edits to an ftp where I can use the url.

Would love to bypass that step though.

Cheers

3

Figured it out! You have to use the link as if you’re going to download, not view the file.

You want to convert this:

[https://drive.google.com/file/d/(a](https://drive.google.com/file/d/(a) bunch of letters and numbers)/view?usp=drivesdk

To this:

[https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&confirm=no_antivirus&id=(a](https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&confirm=no_antivirus&id=(a) bunch of letters and numbers)

3 Likes
4

That’s right! For anyone having the same problem, @edjusted 's solution still works. However, depending on how you get your link in the first place (might be from the web version of Drive or – in my case – Drive File Stream), the exact URL might be a bit different. You just need to identify the correct ID.

For example, change

https://drive.google.com/file/d/…

or

https://drive.google.com/open?id=…

to

https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&confirm=no_antivirus&id=

Then delete everything after the file ID (e.g., “/view?usp=sharing” or “&authuser=…&usp=drive_fs”) so your final URL ends with just the ID.

1 Like
5

Hello,

same problem here,

Have this link from google drive:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1otkaFSTwJ8iDW9kncewuVNzcyujmavex/view?usp=sharing

but when trying to upload in shopify don’t funx.

tried the solution to this:

https://drive.google.com/1otkaFSTwJ8iDW9kncewuVNzcyujmavex&id=

Getting error:

erro shopify.jpg
erro shopify.jpg606Ă—130 10.1 KB

If someone find the solution please share

Thank you

6

I realize this is an older post, but for anyone else dealing with this issue, have a look at https://bucketlynx.com. We offer product image file hosting as well as an auto-population feature that can be used to get your product image file URL links automatically added to your bulk upload template files. We can’t say that you won’t have to adjust your folder layouts since we work in single-level buckets, but BucketLynx is worth a look.

7

After reading again the posts of Edjusted and Andrejhocevar

The solution:

copy the link (google drive image)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/kaFSTwJ8iDW9kncewuVNzcyujmavex/view?usp=sharing

use only the bunch of letters and numbers after (“file/d/”)

Sem tĂ­tulo.jpg

base url:

https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&confirm=no_antivirus&id=

insert the bunch of letters in the base url and past this into shopify:

https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&confirm=no_antivirus&id=kaFSTwJ8iDW9kncewuVNzcyujmavex

Hope this can help someone

8

Here is the solution to your problem

https://apps.shopify.com/compress-files?

tanmaykejriwal_0-1679696052114.png
tanmaykejriwal_0-1679696052114.png399Ă—216 47.8 KB

9

Hi @edjusted , it seems to be working in browser but don’t find a way to make it work in the product upload section (specifically pasting URL)

kapdakhoj_0-1693232876936.png
kapdakhoj_0-1693232876936.png2002Ă—1578 231 KB

Can anyone please help here? Any kind of help would appreciated.

Thanks!

10

Hi You can use this app and it lets you import from any social drives
https://apps.shopify.com/compress-files?search_id=2a5f2288-56b8-4730-8a24-a30a4bb128c5&surface_detail=reszizify&surface_inter_position=1&surface_intra_position=1&surface_type=search

11

Hi @tanmaykejriwal , thanks for the help… just curious are there any free solution available to upload google drive images to shopify product via csv?

12

You can use the Smart Image Upload app.

https://apps.shopify.com/smart-image-upload

13

Does this still work do you know? I just tried it but no joy..

14

Can you elaborate more wym by csv and google drive ?

15

Nice tool. but is more expensive as the whole Shopify Shop

16

Very good. Another helpful tool for this process is this Google Drive add on called Google Drive Direct. https://sites.google.com/site/gdocs2direct/

It let’s you select a folder on Google Drive and create a table of every document in a file as downloadable URLs!! This way, you can easily create a spreadsheet of all the download links for a Google Drive folder full of a thousand images. From here you can more easily copy paste them into a product bulk import spreadsheet. I haven’t done it yet, but it looks like it’ll work. Good luck https://sites.google.com/site/gdocs2direct/

17

Was going to try some of the apps mentioned here, but realized they’re all paid if you have 1K+ images. Ended up finding a free alternative - PicManager. It works fine. There’s a 1K limit per upload, but you can do multiple passes to upload as many as you need.

18

Just to provide an update, this new method appears to work now that the …uc?export… method doesn’t: https://justin.poehnelt.com/posts/google-drive-embed-images-403/

19

You can use this https://apps.shopify.com/image-flow with code BETA6FREE (free for 6 months)