Is this even possible? (Google Drive Workflow)

[Katharina]

Hey guys,

 

I'm pretty new to Alfred. I would like to create a workflow but before I go down the rabbit hole I want to ask if this is even possible:

 

Open folder in Google Drive > Create a new folder (with a certain name) > Open that newly created folder > Create a new document (with a certain name)

 

This is a workflow I need when producing new podcast episodes.

I create a new folder called "Episode XX" inside of my episodes folder. Then, inside of that new folder I create a document called "Briefing Episode XX".

 

If this is possible: Would you recommend to create something like that? I need it "only" once per week … but actually clicking through to the podcast folder is a pain in the a** already 

 

Thanks

Katharina

[vitor]

Welcome @Katharina,

 

As far as I’m aware, if you have Google Drive installed on your machine it’ll behave like Dropbox — you can make files and directories as usual via the Finder, and they’ll automatically sync. If that’s the case, then yes, this is pretty trivial to do and you don’t even need any coding experience, since Alfred as an object for that.

[Katharina]

Hi @vitor,

 

Thanks for your reply!

The object you mention would create a .txt file, right? But what if I want to create a Google document? I like it better because me and my team can work on that document at the same time. 

 

Edited April 2, 2018 by Katharina

[vitor]

3 minutes ago, Katharina said:

The object you mention would create a .txt file, right? But what if I want to create a Google document?

 

If you’re creating an empty document, in practice it shouldn’t matter. As long as you give it the correct file extension, it should open in the correct software.

 

But you could also have a ready-made Google document (perhaps with a specific template) that is copied over so you can start working with a base. That’s also trivial and would require a single line of code. We can help you with that.

[deanishe]

On 02/04/2018 at 5:45 PM, vitor said:

a ready-made Google document

 

Google documents (.gsheet etc.) are just JSON files containing the URL of the real document online. I don't think you can create a Google-native document via the filesystem. AFAIK, there isn't an actual discrete file format for Google-native documents. Which is kinda worrying now that I think about it…

With this new Google Drive File Stream thingy, you can't even open .gsheet JSON files in any other app: they're marked cloud-only. Google are probably pleased with themselves about that  

 

UPDATE: Just tested it. Creating an empty .gsheet document does nothing. Silly Google.

Edited April 3, 2018 by deanishe