How to Create a Direct Link for Your Google Drive Files

If you find yourself primarily using Google Drive to share files, here’s how to create a direct link to share your Google Drive files.

Are you looking for ways to share files from Google Drive conveniently? Nobody wants to be redirected to a page where they still have to click the download option.

Luckily, you can create a direct download link to share your files. That way, your recipients can download files from you by simply clicking a link. Here, you’ll learn how to create a direct download link for your Google Drive files.

How to Download Directly From Google Drive Using a Link

In this article, you’ll see two methods on how to create a direct download link. You can either create the link yourself or use a third-party application.

To create one yourself, here’s what you have to do:

1. Open Google Drive.
2. Right-click on your file.

3. Click on Get Link.
4. Below the link, make sure your file is available for Anyone with the link.

5. Click on Copy link.

Related: How to See Who Has Access to Your Google Drive Files

The next step is to convert your link to a direct download.

1. Paste your link on a notepad so that you can edit it.
2. Your link should be similar to this one: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RG3CAPiwiFlFATUlIIwhk0RrbEU4PgVP/view?usp=sharing
3. Each file has a unique file ID in the link, this is the text between d/ and /view: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RG3CAPiwiFlFATUlIIwhk0RrbEU4PgVP/view?usp=sharing
4. Remove the text file/d/ from the link and replace it with uc?id=
5. Now remove the section after the file ID, including /view and replace it with &export=download in place of the text you have removed. This is what it should look like afterwards: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1RG3CAPiwiFlFATUlIIwhk0RrbEU4PgVP&export=download

Anyone who has access to the link can download the file by just clicking on the link.

How to Create a Direct Download Link Using Google Drive Direct Link Generator

If you don’t want to change the link manually, you can use the Google Drive Direct Link Generator. To convert your link, here’s what you need to do:

Related: How to Restrict Sharing Options in Google Drive

1. Open Google Drive.
2. Right-click on your file.
3. Click on Get Link.
4. Below the link, make sure your file is available for Anyone with the link.
5. Click on Copy link.
6. Go to the Google Drive Direct Link Generator website.
7. Paste the link into the Enter your sharing URL box.

8. Click on Create Direct Link.
9. Copy the link and start sharing.

Google Drive Is a Great Way to Share Files

When you are sharing your files from Google Drive, you’d want to do it in the most convenient way possible. A direct download link will help you save your recipients a lot of time.

The steps mentioned in this article will help you create a direct download link for your Google Drive files. But, there’s still a lot more you can do on Google Drive to help you share files easily.

Read Next

About The Author