How to Create a File Request Link for Google Drive

There's no built-in "Create file request" button in Google Drive. You can approximate one with a shared folder in under a minute, get more control with a Google Form and Apps Script, or use a dedicated upload-link tool for the closest match to Dropbox-style file requests.

What a file request link actually is

A file request link is a single URL you send to someone so they can upload files to you. They open it, drop files in, and the files arrive in a folder you own. What makes it a file request rather than ordinary sharing is the direction and the asymmetry: the traffic runs toward you, the person sending doesn't need an account, and they can't see anything already in the folder — not your files, and not anyone else's.

Dropbox and Box both ship this as a named feature. Google Drive doesn't, which is why every method below is either a workaround or a separate tool. If you want the background on why that gap exists, it's covered in does Google Drive have a file request feature.

Before you start

Decide two things up front, because they determine which option below actually fits: how many different people will be sending you files (one trusted person is a very different problem from fifty strangers), and whether you need any limits — file size, file count, an expiry date, or a password.

Option 1: a shared folder

The fastest route, and the one most people try first.

1. 01Open Google Drive and create a new folder.
2. 02Right-click the folder, choose Share, then change access from "Restricted" to "Anyone with the link."
3. 03Set the permission level to Editor — Viewer access won't let anyone upload.
4. 04Copy the link and send it to whoever needs to send you files.

This works, with two caveats worth knowing before you send it: everyone with the link can see and edit every file already in that folder, not just add their own, and there's no way to cap size, count, or set an expiry without adding a script on top.

It's also worth knowing what the person on the other end sees. They land in the full Drive interface, not an upload page — a file browser showing everything already in the folder, with the upload control tucked behind a right-click or a drag onto the window. On a phone, that means the Drive app (or a prompt to install it) rather than a web page. For a colleague this is fine. For a client who has never used Drive, it's the step where the file doesn't arrive.

Option 2: a Google Form wired to Drive

More setup, but it gives you a proper intake form instead of a bare folder.

1. 01Create a Google Form and add a File Upload question.
2. 02In the form's settings, point file uploads to a specific Drive folder.
3. 03If you want fields beyond the file itself — name, email, notes — add them as separate form questions.
4. 04Publish the form and share its link instead of a folder link.

The file-upload question in Google Forms requires the respondent to sign in with a Google account of their own, and no setting turns that off — which defeats the point if you're collecting files from people outside your organization who don't want to sign up for anything. Removing that requirement means adding Apps Script on top, which is where this option starts costing real setup time. The reasoning behind the requirement, and the settings people try that don't help, are in why Google Forms file upload requires a sign-in; if the upload question is greyed out and you can't add it at all, that's a separate problem with separate causes.

Option 3: a dedicated upload-link tool

The closest match to what Dropbox File Requests or Box do natively, built specifically for Google Drive.

1. 01Sign in with your Google account on a file-request tool such as Drive File Request.
2. 02Create a link and, if needed, set a maximum file size, a file count limit, or an expiry date.
3. 03Optionally add a password, restrict senders by email or domain, or add custom questions (name, notes, dropdowns) senders answer before uploading.
4. 04Share the link. Senders see a single upload page — a drag-and-drop area and a "Choose files" button — nothing else.
5. 05Every file lands in a dedicated folder inside your own Drive automatically, with no manual step to move it there afterward.

This is the option Drive File Request implements. It signs in with the narrow drive.file OAuth scope, which only ever grants access to files and folders the app itself creates — nothing else in your Drive is readable by it. Pricing is here, the same approach is compared against Dropbox, WeTransfer, Box, and OneDrive file requests here, and the category it belongs to is explained in file request software. If access control is the reason you are here — a password, or restricting who may upload — that side is covered in secure file upload portal.

How to request files from someone without a Google account

This is the constraint that eliminates most of the options, so it's worth separating out. A shared folder link technically works without the sender signing in, but anonymous editors can't be tracked, can't be limited, and see everything else in the folder. A Google Form with a file-upload question is stricter still: Google requires the respondent to be signed in to a Google account before they can attach a file, with no setting to turn that off. If the people sending you files are clients, applicants, or anyone outside your organisation, that requirement alone rules the form out unless you build around it with Apps Script.

A dedicated upload link is the only one of the three where "no account on the sender's side" is the default rather than something you engineer around: you sign in once as the owner, and everyone you send the link to uploads as an anonymous visitor. The longer version of this problem — and why friction, not bandwidth, is what actually loses you files — is in how to collect files from clients without making them sign up.

Uploading to someone else's Drive, and letting people upload to yours

These are the same problem seen from opposite ends, and they get searched for in both directions, so it is worth separating them. Nothing about Google Drive lets you push a file into another person's Drive uninvited — there is no address to send to, and no equivalent of an email attachment. Every route starts with something the owner created and sent you, which means what you can do depends entirely on what you were sent.

If you are the one sending, and someone has asked you to upload to their Drive:

• A shared folder link: open it, then drag your files onto the window or use New → File upload. If the folder opens as a plain list with no upload control, it was shared as Viewer rather than Editor — you cannot change that from your side, so ask them to reshare it with Editor access.
• A Google Form with an upload question: you will have to sign in to a Google account first, with no way around it. If you do not have one, tell them — they can send a link that does not need it.
• A dedicated upload link: nothing to arrange. The page is an upload box; drop the file and you are done.

And if you are the owner deciding how to let people upload to your Drive, the three options earlier on this page are the whole set — the choice between them comes down to a single question, which is whether senders should be able to see each other. A shared folder says yes, whether you meant it or not. A form and a dedicated link both say no. Beyond that it is a matter of how much setup you want to own and whether the sender needs an account of their own.

Comparing the three

Where uploaded files go, and whose storage they count against

With every method here, incoming files land in your Drive and consume your storage quota — there is no separate allowance for files other people send you. A shared folder puts them in that one folder as a flat pile. A Google Form creates its own subfolder structure alongside the response spreadsheet. A dedicated upload link creates a folder per link, and can create a subfolder per submission so a repeat sender's second delivery doesn't merge into their first.

Ownership follows the same rule with one exception worth knowing: files uploaded into a folder you own by an anonymous editor are owned by you, but files uploaded by someone signed in to their own Google account are owned by them, and sit in your folder only as long as they leave them there. Someone who uploads through a shared folder while signed in can delete their file from your Drive weeks later. Files arriving through a dedicated upload link are written by the app into your Drive, so they're yours from the moment they land.

Creating and sharing the link from a phone

Roughly half the people you send an upload link to will open it on a phone, so it's worth testing there before anything else. Creating a shared folder from the Drive mobile app takes more taps than the desktop flow — new folder, then the three-dot menu, then Manage access, then the link-access dropdown — and the permission label differs slightly between the iOS and Android apps, which is a common source of links that turn out to be view-only. A dedicated upload link is created once in a browser and shared as a plain URL, so the mobile question only applies to the sender, who gets an ordinary web page rather than an app install prompt.

How to stop, expire, or delete a file request link

Links you forget about are the quiet risk in all of this — an upload link left open after a project ends is a URL sitting in someone's inbox that still writes into your Drive. How you close it depends on the method:

• Shared folder: open the folder's sharing settings and set general access back to "Restricted." Anyone holding the link loses access immediately; files already uploaded stay where they are.
• Google Form: switch off "Accepting responses" in the form's settings, or delete the form. The linked Drive folder and its existing files are unaffected.
• Dedicated upload link: pause or delete the link, or set an expiry date up front so it closes itself on the date the project ends rather than depending on you remembering.

Uploads that fail partway through are a separate issue from access, and usually come down to connection drops or Drive's own limits — those are covered in Google Drive upload problems.

Common mistakes

• Reusing one shared folder across multiple unrelated senders — the privacy issue compounds with every new person you add.
• Never setting an expiry date, so the link keeps collecting files (or stays a security surface) long after the project ends.
• Not testing the upload flow yourself, from a different browser or device, before sending the link to anyone else.
• Forgetting to restrict file types when it matters — a bare shared folder accepts anything, including files you didn't want.

Frequently asked questions