How to search for Folder using Google Apps Scripts

Question

Have I made a simple mistake or can we not search for folders using .searchFiles method on DriveApp? I have a more complex search parameter but I've simplified it for this example.

function getFolders()
{
  var searchParams = 'mimeType = "application/vnd.google-apps.folder"';    
  var searchFiles = DriveApp.searchFiles(searchParams);
  if (searchFiles.hasNext())
  {
    // Do Something
  }
  else
  {
    // Error
    Logger.log("No folders found");
  }
}

The documentation states it returns a FileIterator but refers to the Google Drive SDK for further information https://developers.google.com/apps-script/reference/drive/drive-app#searchFiles(String)

In the search parameters here, we can specify if it's a folder or not https://developers.google.com/drive/search-parameters

Are there options for searching for a folder name?

br araujo br araujo · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-11T12:53:37

the search files method only return files. According to GAS API this methos is used for "Gets a collection of all files that are children of the current folder and match the given search criteria." See it here.

To find a folder by it's name use the code bellow:

function getFolders(folderName)
{      
  var folders = DriveApp.getFolders();     
 while (folders.hasNext()) {
   var folder = folders.next();
   if(folderName == folder.getName()) {         
     return folder;
   }
 }
  return null;
}

How to search for Folder using Google Apps Scripts

2 Answers