Set Sharing Permissions in Google Drive with Expiration Date

You can easily change the sharing and access permissions of any shared file or folder in Google Drive with the help of Google Apps Script.

The following Google Script sets auto-expiration dates for shared links and makes the folder /file “Private” after the expiration date.

const EXPIRY_TIME = '2014-05-01 23:42';

function autoExpire() {
  var id, asset, i, email, users;

  // The URL of the Google Drive file or folder
  var URL = 'https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B4fk8L6brI_ednJaa052';

  try {
    // Extract the File or Folder ID from the Drive URL
    var id = URL.match(/[-\\w]{25,}/);

    if (id) {
      asset = DriveApp.getFileById(id) ? DriveApp.getFileById(id) : DriveApp.getFolderById(id);

      if (asset) {
        // Make the folder / file Private
        asset.setSharing(DriveApp.Access.ANYONE, DriveApp.Permission.NONE);
        asset.setSharing(DriveApp.Access.ANYONE_WITH_LINK, DriveApp.Permission.NONE);

        // Remove all users who have edit permissions
        users = asset.getEditors();
        for (i in users) {
          email = users[i].getEmail();
          if (email != '') {
            asset.removeEditor(email);
          }
        }

        // Remove all users who have view permssions
        users = asset.getViewers();
        for (i in users) {
          email = users[i].getEmail();
          if (email != '') {
            asset.removeViewer(email);
          }
        }
      }
    }
  } catch (e) {
    Logger.log(e.toString());
  }
}

function Start() {
  var triggers = ScriptApp.getProjectTriggers();

  for (var i in triggers) {
    ScriptApp.deleteTrigger(triggers[i]);
  }

  var time = EXPIRY_TIME;

  // Run the auto-expiry script at this date and time

  var expireAt = new Date(
    time.substr(0, 4),
    time.substr(5, 2) - 1,
    time.substr(8, 2),
    time.substr(11, 2),
    time.substr(14, 2)
  );

  if (!isNaN(expireAt.getTime())) {
    ScriptApp.newTrigger('autoExpire').timeBased().at(expireAt).create();
  }
}

Amit Agarwal is a web geek, solo entrepreneur and loves making things on the Internet. Google recently awarded him the Google Developer Expert and Google Cloud Champion title for his work on Google Workspace and Google Apps Script.

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