Key Takeaways
- Collaborations are made easy with the popular cloud platform Google Drive.
- You can use a Google Drive direct download link to share with others instead of the original file link.
- A direct link will download the file with a simple click.
Do you share a lot of Google Drive files and folders with people in your organization or outside? It is an easy task to use this key feature of the cloud platform to achieve effective collaborations. So, do you share a Google Drive direct download link, or just copy the link from the Get link button of the collaboration tool? If you prefer the second method, the recipient will be redirected to a page that has a Download button.
On the contrary, a direct link is so convenient that it automatically downloads the files when clicked. When you do so, you will be doing a favor to the recipients by saving them time. There are two methods to get a shareable direct link – manually and automatically. Take a look at how these two processes work. You can switch to Google Drive dark mode if you work at night.
Learn How To Make Google Drive Direct Download Link
The manual method of creating a Google Drive direct download link involves replacing some text in the link. Here, you will learn to find the file ID from the link and place it at the end after rearranging the text. We have also given a few add-ons and websites that provide direct links by just providing your file links. Let us now understand them in detail with this step-by-step guide. Don’t forget to remove Google Drive duplicate files if you have more than one copy of the files you created or downloaded.
Create a Google Drive Direct Download Link Manually
The first method to get a Google Drive direct download link is manually creating one. Users can replace a part of the link text to make a direct link and share it for easy download. Let us see the steps to create the quick link here.
Open Google Drive on any browser tab, right-click on the file you want to share, and select “Get link” from the context menu.
Below the field to add email address, under General access, select “Anyone with the link” from the drop-down menu.
Next, click “Copy link.”
Paste the link on a notepad so you can make changes.
For example, our link to the file is –
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5AU87I1hfXMRUtZSmNZd1IyZFlRQzRNQ2FXOWFQRHNsdWxz/view?usp=share_link&resourcekey=0-lu0MQhICfFY-0xhsdqGoaQThe unique file ID of the above file is the text between d/ and /view. So, the file ID of this file is 0B5AU87I1hfXMRUtZSmNZd1IyZFlRQzRNQ2FXOWFQRHNsdWxz.
We will replace file/d/ with uc?export=download&id= and suffix the file ID.
So, the new link is –
https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0B5AU87I1hfXMRUtZSmNZd1IyZFlRQzRNQ2FXOWFQRHNsdWxzThis is the Google Drive download link that directly downloads the file without waiting for browser action. You can also choose to transfer ownership of Google Drive folder or file with ease.
Note:
- The method works only with the Word files, PDF files, and others you uploaded on the drive. For documents created in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, you may have to first download them on your computer and then upload them.
- The direct download process will not work for larger files. This is because when you click the link, it will say that the file is too large for Google to scan for viruses. But you can download it by clicking the Download button on the page.
Using Google Drive Direct Link Generator
You can make the process automated if you don’t want to go through the pain of editing the link to get a Google Drive direct download link. Google Drive direct link generator is a tool that automatically generates the shareable link for you. You can send the direct link to any person. Clicking on it will instantly initiate the downloading process. The tool has seen hundreds of thousands of link generations since its launch. Here are the auto-generate steps.
Open Google Drive, and get the link to share as in the previous method.
Open Google Drive Direct Link Generator, paste the link in the Enter your sharing URL field, and click the Create Direct Link button. You will get your direct link in the Output link field. You can copy it and share it with others.
Create Google Link to Directly Download Files Using Drive Explorer
Drive Explorer is an official browser extension suited for Google Workspace. It lets users create a Google Drive direct download link plus some additional information. When you install the add-on, it takes the files and folders from your Google Drive and Shared Drive and generates metadata of the files. You can also use it to get data about files shared with you.
Drive Explorer works really fast to collect data like filename, folder name, folder path, direct download link, and much more. The data is then listed in your internet browser or Google Sheets. The files can be sorted for convenience, and searching for files becomes super easy. Search for your desired file, get the direct download link, and share it for easy download.
To use Drive Explorer, install it first from your internet browser window. Then, select a Google Drive folder, right-click on it, and select Open with > Drive Explorer. You will get all the data about your folder you will ever need.
Create Direct Google Drive Download Link Using Google Drive Direct Download Link Generator
Google Drive Direct Download Link Generator is yet another simple tool that gives you a Google Drive direct download link. It doesn’t take up your disk space like extensions. All you need to do is enter the link of your file or folder in the textbox and click the Get Link Download button. You will immediately get the direct download link. Again, this tool will only support the files uploaded to the drive, not the Google document you created using Google Doc or Google Sheet.
Get a direct shareable link using Google Drive Direct Download Link Generator
Google Drive File Downloader
The Google Drive File Downloader tool downloads the file in just one click instead of leaving a Google Drive direct download link for you to act upon. So, there is no hassle of copying the link given by someone and pasting it on the browser address bar to start the download. Find out how you can use the tool.
Open Google Chrome or any other browser of your choice. Paste the link given by the person in the textbox provided in the tool, and click the Download button. The file will be downloaded in no time.
Use the Google Drive File Downloader tool.
Final Thoughts
Google Drive, the much-loved cloud storage service, provides an excellent feature to share files like Google documents to videos. Users generally get the links of files from the Get link or Share button and share them with others. But you can edit links to make custom links that act as a Google Drive direct download link. When the recipients click on these links, the files get downloaded directly.
Our method of manually creating the desktop download link requires you to make small changes in the link text so that it gets converted to a direct link. The extensions you can add to your desktop web browser and the websites that offer the service are equally helpful in making the direct link available within a few seconds. You can also create desktop shortcuts for easier accessibility.
