Need to Upload Gmail Attachments to Google Drive—Cannot Obtain Attachment URL Mid-Workflow

[Kelvin Ip]

Dear Experts,

I am building an accounting automation workflow in Pabbly Connect. My process involves:

• Collecting all emails in a Gmail thread (using the Gmail API)
• Parsing and grouping them for a single accounting entry
• Recording data to Google Sheets
• Uploading all attachments from the thread to Google Drive with custom filenames

The problem:
Pabbly’s native “Upload a File” or “Upload Large File” actions for Google Drive require a file URL, but when I download Gmail attachments mid-workflow (using the Gmail API), I only get base64 data, not a file URL.
The “Email Parser by Pabbly” action can provide an attachment URL, but it is only available as the workflow trigger, not as an action mid-flow.
My workflow needs to process entire Gmail threads, so I cannot use the Email Parser as the trigger (it only processes single emails).

What I need:

• A way to obtain a file URL or file object for a Gmail attachment (by messageId and attachmentId) at any point in the workflow, so I can upload it to Google Drive using Pabbly’s native actions.
• OR, the ability to use “Email Parser by Pabbly” as an action (not just a trigger), so I can parse and get attachment URLs for any message in a thread mid-workflow.

Please advise on the best way to achieve this in Pabbly Connect, or let me know if this feature can be added.

Thank you!

 

[Preeti Paryani]

Hello @Kelvin Ip,

Could you please provide us with the Workflow URL where you are facing this issue? This will help us investigate the problem more effectively and assist you accordingly.

Please be aware that to assist you effectively, we may need to access your Pabbly Connect account. If you're comfortable with this, please grant us permission by stating in your next reply: "You have my permission to log into my Pabbly Connect account, and edit workflow {If required}. Here is the registered email address associated with it."

Looking forward to assisting you further.

 

[Kelvin Ip]

Hi Preeti,

Thanks for your feedback.

Here is the URL: https://connect.pabbly.com/workflow/mapping/IjU3NjYwNTZiMDYzMTA0MzE1MjZiNTUzMDUxMzci_pc

I want to upload the attachment file retrieved from Step 17 from a specific Message ID of my gmail to google drive in Step 18. However, the downloaded payload is in BASE64 format and without any file URL for use in Step 18. Even if I want to use API method to upload to google drive, it needs me to convert the BASE64 data into binary first, which is also not doable in Pabbly.

Please kindly advise what is the best way to do so? Thanks so much

You have my permission to log into my Pabbly Connect account, and edit workflow {If required}. Here is the registered email address associated with it: [email protected]

 

[ArshilAhmad]

Could you please share the API documentation and the cURL request of the endpoint you are attempting to execute in Step 17?

 

[Kelvin Ip]

Actually, I'm using the standard Gmail API for retrieving the attachment of a specific message ID in Step 17. Please see here the documentation:

Method: users.messages.attachments.get | Gmail | Google for Developers

developers.google.com

The output data from it is a BASE64 encoded data and no URL is provided.

For the next step (Step 18), I will need to upload this file to Google Drive. I used the Pabbly's native action step "Google Drive" -> "Upload a file".
However, it needs a URL for the source file to upload from. This is the concern that I'm having. I don't have a URL for the downloaded attachment. If I'm to use the Google Drive API to upload, it needs the data to be in binary which Pabbly also cannot do (even in a Code step).

Please advise how to do so?

 

[Preeti Paryani]

Hello,

Thanks for sharing the detailed information. To assist you better, could you please clarify where exactly the attachment is coming from? Specifically, from which step in your workflow is this attachment being fetched?

If it's coming from an API request, please let us know the exact source of the attachment and confirm whether you’re receiving only the attachment ID or the attachment URL in the response. This will help us suggest the most appropriate way to pass the data to the Google Drive upload step.

Looking forward to your response.

 

[Kelvin Ip]

Hi Preeti,

The attachment is retrieved from my gmail of a specific Message ID and Attachment ID using the standard Gmail API. It is the Step 17 as I mentioned in last email.

The output of Step 17 is as attached which is a correct output.

My concern are:
1) There has no URL that I can use for Step 18 to upload to google drive using Pabbly's step "Google Drive" -> Upload a file
2) this output data (BASE64 encoded) is not suitable for upload even I use the Google Drive API

So my question is straight forward. How to upload an attachment downloaded from Gmail to Google Drive. Any methods that can do this (even other than my method) is appreciated.

Thanks for the assistance.

 

[ArshilAhmad]

The endpoint you are attempting to execute in Step 17 appears to be related to fetching the content of an attachment rather than the attachment itself. We couldn't find any endpoint that fetches the attachment URL directly.