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Google Drive walkthrough

The Google Drive connector reads whatever a Drive link points at — a folder, a Shared Drive, or a single file — and either parses the files into rows or passes them through unchanged. The connector is read-only: it never renames, moves, deletes, or otherwise modifies content in Drive.

Before you begin, ensure you have configured a Google Drive connection.

Supported file types

  • CSV: parsed with configurable delimiter, quote character, header row, and newline handling.
  • Excel (.xlsx, .xls)
  • JSON Lines: one JSON object per line (.json, .ndjson, .jsonl)
  • Other (Unstructured): pass-through mode. Use for PDFs, images, video, Word or PowerPoint files, and Google Docs, Slides, or Drawings.

Procedure

  1. In Data Integration, click Create Data Flow.
  2. Select Source to Target Flow as your Data Flow type.
  3. In the source list, select Google Drive.
  4. In the Source Connection field, select an existing connection, or click New Connection to create one.
  5. In the Drive link field, paste the link to what you want to pull. Boomi accepts a folder link, a Shared Drive link, a link to a single file (including a Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides link), or a Drive folder ID on its own. Shortcuts are followed automatically to the item they point at.
  6. In the Extract Method dropdown, select All or Modified Timestamp.
  7. Optionally, configure the following fields:
    • File pattern: filters files by name, using * as a prefix or suffix, for example, *.csv or invoice-*.pdf.
    • Number of files to pull (Leave empty for all): limits the number of files retrieved per run. Use a specific number for test runs only.
  8. In the File type toggle, select the format that matches your source files: CSV, Excel, JSON Lines, or Other (Unstructured).
  9. If you selected CSV, configure the Delimiter, Quote Char, Header Rows To Skip, and Newline Delimiter.
  10. Select Compressed File if your source files are archived. Supported formats are .gz, .zip, and .tar.
  11. Select Handling Special Characters if your files contain special characters.
    note

    Enabling Handling Special Characters may impact performance due to additional processing.

  12. On the Target tab, select a target from the Select Data Target panel, and complete the target-specific configuration. If your File type is Other (Unstructured), select a file or storage target, such as Amazon S3 or Azure Blob Storage — unparsed files have no columns, so they can't load into a database table.
  13. If your File type isn't Other (Unstructured), open the Schema tab and click Auto Mapping. Data Integration reads one file that matches your configuration and infers the columns from it. Review the columns, and adjust names and data types as needed.
  14. On the Settings tab, configure the schedule, timeout, and notification options for the Data Flow.
  15. Enter a name for the Data Flow and click Save.
tip

Auto Mapping samples a single file. If the files under your link don't all share the same columns, the inferred schema matches only the sampled file. Keep one set of columns per Data Flow, and use File pattern to create a separate Data Flow for each shape.

Configuration reference

FieldRequiredDescription
Source ConnectionYesSelect an existing connection, or click New Connection to create one.
Drive linkYesA folder link, Shared Drive link, single-file link, or Drive folder ID. Shortcuts are followed automatically.
Extract MethodNoAll pulls every file on every run. Modified Timestamp pulls only files changed within Last Days Back.
File patternNoFilters files by name. Use * as a prefix or suffix, for example, *.csv.
Number of files to pull (Leave empty for all)NoLimits the number of files retrieved per run.
File typeNoToggle to select the format: CSV, Excel, JSON Lines, or Other (Unstructured).
DelimiterNoVisible when File type is CSV. The character that separates fields. Default: ,
Quote CharNoVisible when File type is CSV. The character used to enclose field values. Default: "
Header Rows To SkipNoVisible when File type is CSV. The number of header rows to skip before reading data.
Newline DelimiterNoVisible when File type is CSV. Select the character that marks the end of a row.
Compressed FileNoEnable if your source files are archived. Supported: .gz, .zip, .tar. Not supported: .tgz.
Handling Special CharactersNoEnable to process files that contain special characters. May impact performance due to additional processing.
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