Manage Google Drive Folders and Permissions with Apps Script

Managing Drive folders and permissions manually is tedious — especially when onboarding team members, organising project files, or auditing who has access to what. Apps Script's DriveApp gives you full programmatic control.

Create a folder structure

function createProjectFolders() {
  const projectName = 'Project Alpha';
  const subfolders = ['Design', 'Development', 'QA', 'Docs', 'Archive'];

  const root = DriveApp.getRootFolder();
  const projectFolder = root.createFolder(projectName);

  subfolders.forEach(name => {
    projectFolder.createFolder(name);
  });

  Logger.log(`Created folder structure for "${projectName}": ${projectFolder.getUrl()}`);
}

Share a folder with specific users

function shareFolderWithTeam() {
  const folderId = 'YOUR_FOLDER_ID';
  const folder = DriveApp.getFolderById(folderId);

  const editors = ['[email protected]', '[email protected]'];
  const viewers = ['[email protected]'];

  editors.forEach(email => {
    folder.addEditor(email);
    Logger.log(`Added editor: ${email}`);
  });

  viewers.forEach(email => {
    folder.addViewer(email);
    Logger.log(`Added viewer: ${email}`);
  });
}

List all files with their sharing permissions

This is useful for a quick access audit:

function auditFolderPermissions() {
  const folderId = 'YOUR_FOLDER_ID';
  const folder = DriveApp.getFolderById(folderId);
  const sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet();

  sheet.clearContents();
  sheet.appendRow(['File Name', 'Type', 'Owner', 'Editors', 'Viewers', 'Sharing Access', 'URL']);

  const files = folder.getFiles();

  while (files.hasNext()) {
    const file = files.next();

    const editors = file.getEditors().map(u => u.getEmail()).join(', ');
    const viewers = file.getViewers().map(u => u.getEmail()).join(', ');
    const owner = file.getOwner() ? file.getOwner().getEmail() : 'Unknown';
    const sharing = file.getSharingAccess().toString();

    sheet.appendRow([
      file.getName(),
      file.getMimeType(),
      owner,
      editors,
      viewers,
      sharing,
      file.getUrl()
    ]);
  }

  Logger.log('Audit complete.');
}

Remove a specific user's access from all files in a folder

function revokeAccess() {
  const folderId = 'YOUR_FOLDER_ID';
  const emailToRemove = '[email protected]';
  const folder = DriveApp.getFolderById(folderId);

  const files = folder.getFiles();
  let count = 0;

  while (files.hasNext()) {
    const file = files.next();
    file.removeEditor(emailToRemove);
    file.removeViewer(emailToRemove);
    count++;
  }

  Logger.log(`Removed ${emailToRemove} from ${count} file(s).`);
}

Move files older than 90 days to an Archive folder

function archiveOldFiles() {
  const sourceFolderId = 'YOUR_SOURCE_FOLDER_ID';
  const archiveFolderId = 'YOUR_ARCHIVE_FOLDER_ID';

  const sourceFolder = DriveApp.getFolderById(sourceFolderId);
  const archiveFolder = DriveApp.getFolderById(archiveFolderId);

  const cutoff = new Date();
  cutoff.setDate(cutoff.getDate() - 90);

  const files = sourceFolder.getFiles();
  let moved = 0;

  while (files.hasNext()) {
    const file = files.next();
    if (file.getLastUpdated() < cutoff) {
      archiveFolder.addFile(file);
      sourceFolder.removeFile(file);
      moved++;
    }
  }

  Logger.log(`Moved ${moved} file(s) to archive.`);
}

Tips

DriveApp.getFoldersByName() returns an iterator, not a single folder — always call .hasNext() and .next().
Be careful with removeFile() — it removes the file from the folder but doesn't trash it. Use file.setTrashed(true) to delete.
getSharingAccess() returns values like DriveApp.Access.ANYONE, ANYONE_WITH_LINK, or PRIVATE.
For large folders, consider paginating or adding execution time guards to avoid timeouts.