Google Drive API file downloadUrl returns 401

Question

When I request the downloadUrl field of a Google Drive file, I'm receiving a 401 Unauthorized response. What am I doing wrong?

EDIT: To clarify, the file permissions are set to public (test.txt), and I can access the file's metadata to get the downloadUrl (as is shown in the example code below). So why am I able to use the /files/{id}?key={api_key} endpoint but not the downloadUrl link? According to https://developers.google.com/console/help/new/#usingkeys, you should be able to use an api key when "Data that the data owner has identified as public, such as a public calendar or blog."

https://developers.google.com/drive/v2/reference/files#downloadUrl

var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open("get", "https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v2/files/0Bzim72JjnlIWRFlURmRrX3N6NEE?key=AIzaSyDo66jOFuHllu3r3PwKcZaUd7N9ho9l9WU");
xhr.onreadystatechange = function(){
    if(xhr.readyState === 4){
        var download = new XMLHttpRequest();
        download.open("get", JSON.parse(xhr.responseText)['downloadUrl']);
        download.onreadystatechange = function(){
            if(download.readyState === 4){
                console.log(download.status);
            }
        };
        download.send();
    }
};
xhr.send();

David David · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-08T06:36:49

You need to use OAuth and get permission from the user, in order to authenticate your requests and get access to the Drive files. Check our the documentation here.

Google Drive API file downloadUrl returns 401

1 Answers