🤖 Automate Your Google Drive: Nightly CSV Archiving Made Easy

Inspiration

I often find myself importing data into google sheets which results in tons of csv files cluttering up the root of my drive. I got tired of deleting or backing up all of these files so I did what any developer would do and automated it!

Writeup courtesy of ChatGPT

Are you tired of manually organizing CSV files in your Google Drive? Let’s explore a simple yet powerful Google Apps Script that automatically archives your CSV files every night, keeping your Drive tidy and organized.

Understanding the Script

This custom script is designed to streamline your Google Drive management by automatically archiving CSV files created within the last 24 hours. Here’s what it does.

Scans your root Google Drive folder for recently created CSV files

Creates a structured archive with year and month subfolders

Moves CSV files to the appropriate subfolder

Renames files to avoid conflicts

Deletes the original file from your main Drive

Step-by-Step Setup Guide

Setting up this automation is straightforward. Follow these steps to get your nightly CSV archiver up and running.

Open Google Drive and create a new Google Apps Script

Click on New > More > Google Apps Script

Paste the script code there

🔗 Apps Script: Daily CSV Archiver

View Code

Save your project

Click on File > Save

Give your project a name, like “Daily CSV Archiver”

Set up the nightly trigger

Click on Edit > Current project’s triggers

Click on + Add Trigger in the bottom right corner

Configure the trigger as follows:

Choose which function to run: archiveRecentCSVs

Which runs at deployment: Head

Select event source: Time-driven

Select type of time based trigger: Day timer

Select time of day: Midnight to 1am

Save the trigger and authorize the script

Click Save

Follow the prompts to authorize the script to access your Google Drive

That’s it! Your CSV archiver is now set up to run automatically every night between midnight and 1 AM.

Customization and Troubleshooting

While the script works great out of the box, you might want to customize it for your specific needs:

To archive different file types, modify the MIME type check in the script

Adjust the time range by changing the oneDayInMilliseconds variable

Modify folder names by changing the strings in getFoldersByName() calls

If you encounter any issues

Check that the script has the necessary permissions to access your Drive

Ensure your Google Drive has the required archive folders set up

Review the script logs (View > Logs) for any error messages