Failed to copy: failed to read description for Google Doc

[chscott (Chad Scott)]

What is the problem you are having with rclone?

Unable to copy a Google Doc sheet from one MyDrive remote to another. Error:

Failed to copy: failed to read description for Google Doc

What is your rclone version (output from rclone version)

λ rclone_beta version
rclone v1.54.0-beta.5072.0be69018b
- os/arch: windows/amd64
- go version: go1.15.6

Which OS you are using and how many bits (eg Windows 7, 64 bit)

Windows 10

Which cloud storage system are you using? (eg Google Drive)

Google Drive

The command you were trying to run (eg rclone copy /tmp remote:tmp)

rclone_beta copy MyDrive:"Sheet 1.xlsx" MyNewDrive: --drive-server-side-across-configs -vv

The rclone config contents with secrets removed.

[MyDrive]
type = drive
scope = drive.file
token = {"access_token":"REDACTED","token_type":"Bearer","refresh_token":"REDACTED","expiry":"2021-01-20T11:00:59.7654613-06:00"}

[MyNewDrive]
type = drive
scope = drive.file
token = {"access_token":"REDACTED","token_type":"Bearer","refresh_token":"REDACTED","expiry":"2021-01-20T11:01:00.7129017-06:00"}

A log from the command with the -vv flag

λ rclone_beta copy MyDrive:"Sheet 1.xlsx" MyNewDrive: --drive-server-side-across-configs -vv
2021/01/20 10:10:50 DEBUG : rclone: Version "v1.54.0-beta.5072.0be69018b" starting with parameters ["rclone_beta" "copy" "MyDrive:Sheet 1.xlsx" "MyNewDrive:" "--drive-server-side-across-configs" "-vv"]
2021/01/20 10:10:50 DEBUG : Using config file from "C:\\Users\\Chad\\.config\\rclone\\rclone.conf"
2021/01/20 10:10:50 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "MyDrive:Sheet 1.xlsx"
2021/01/20 10:10:50 DEBUG : pacer: low level retry 1/10 (error googleapi: Error 403: Rate Limit Exceeded, rateLimitExceeded)
2021/01/20 10:10:50 DEBUG : pacer: Rate limited, increasing sleep to 1.329391757s
2021/01/20 10:10:50 DEBUG : pacer: low level retry 2/10 (error googleapi: Error 403: Rate Limit Exceeded, rateLimitExceeded)
2021/01/20 10:10:50 DEBUG : pacer: Rate limited, increasing sleep to 2.580940712s
2021/01/20 10:10:52 DEBUG : pacer: Reducing sleep to 0s
2021/01/20 10:10:52 DEBUG : Google drive root 'Sheet 1.xlsx': root_folder_id = "0AMycU_hYdeYFUk9PVA" - save this in the config to speed up startup
2021/01/20 10:10:55 DEBUG : fs cache: adding new entry for parent of "MyDrive:Sheet 1.xlsx", "MyDrive:"
2021/01/20 10:10:55 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "MyNewDrive:"
2021/01/20 10:10:55 DEBUG : Google drive root '': root_folder_id = "root" - save this in the config to speed up startup
2021/01/20 10:10:55 DEBUG : Sheet 1.xlsx: Need to transfer - File not found at Destination
2021/01/20 10:10:56 ERROR : Sheet 1.xlsx: Failed to copy: failed to read description for Google Doc: googleapi: Error 404: File not found: 1vCXs9L-PaVisZAxxBL7ly8kJaMlH8E_Zp0UEFDFTcXc., notFound
2021/01/20 10:10:56 ERROR : Attempt 1/3 failed with 1 errors and: failed to read description for Google Doc: googleapi: Error 404: File not found: 1vCXs9L-PaVisZAxxBL7ly8kJaMlH8E_Zp0UEFDFTcXc., notFound
2021/01/20 10:10:56 DEBUG : Sheet 1.xlsx: Need to transfer - File not found at Destination
2021/01/20 10:10:56 ERROR : Sheet 1.xlsx: Failed to copy: failed to read description for Google Doc: googleapi: Error 404: File not found: 1vCXs9L-PaVisZAxxBL7ly8kJaMlH8E_Zp0UEFDFTcXc., notFound
2021/01/20 10:10:56 ERROR : Attempt 2/3 failed with 1 errors and: failed to read description for Google Doc: googleapi: Error 404: File not found: 1vCXs9L-PaVisZAxxBL7ly8kJaMlH8E_Zp0UEFDFTcXc., notFound
2021/01/20 10:10:57 DEBUG : Sheet 1.xlsx: Need to transfer - File not found at Destination
2021/01/20 10:10:57 ERROR : Sheet 1.xlsx: Failed to copy: failed to read description for Google Doc: googleapi: Error 404: File not found: 1vCXs9L-PaVisZAxxBL7ly8kJaMlH8E_Zp0UEFDFTcXc., notFound
2021/01/20 10:10:57 ERROR : Attempt 3/3 failed with 1 errors and: failed to read description for Google Doc: googleapi: Error 404: File not found: 1vCXs9L-PaVisZAxxBL7ly8kJaMlH8E_Zp0UEFDFTcXc., notFound
2021/01/20 10:10:57 INFO  :
Transferred:             0 / 0 Bytes, -, 0 Bytes/s, ETA -
Errors:                 1 (retrying may help)
Elapsed time:         6.7s

2021/01/20 10:10:57 DEBUG : 6 go routines active
2021/01/20 10:10:57 Failed to copy: failed to read description for Google Doc: googleapi: Error 404: File not found: 1vCXs9L-PaVisZAxxBL7ly8kJaMlH8E_Zp0UEFDFTcXc., notFound

[chscott (Chad Scott)]

I have the same issue with the latest production release as well.

λ rclone copy MyDrive:"Sheet 1.xlsx" MyNewDrive: --drive-server-side-across-configs -vv
2021/01/20 10:19:44 DEBUG : rclone: Version "v1.53.3" starting with parameters ["rclone" "copy" "MyDrive:Sheet 1.xlsx" "MyNewDrive:" "--drive-server-side-across-configs" "-vv"]
2021/01/20 10:19:44 DEBUG : Using config file from "C:\\Users\\Chad\\.config\\rclone\\rclone.conf"
2021/01/20 10:19:44 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "MyDrive:Sheet 1.xlsx"
2021/01/20 10:19:44 DEBUG : Google drive root 'Sheet 1.xlsx': root_folder_id = "0AMycU_hYdeYFUk9PVA" - save this in the config to speed up startup
2021/01/20 10:19:45 DEBUG : fs cache: adding new entry for parent of "MyDrive:Sheet 1.xlsx", "MyDrive:"
2021/01/20 10:19:45 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "MyNewDrive:"
2021/01/20 10:19:45 DEBUG : Google drive root '': root_folder_id = "root" - save this in the config to speed up startup
2021/01/20 10:19:45 DEBUG : Sheet 1.xlsx: Need to transfer - File not found at Destination
2021/01/20 10:19:46 ERROR : Sheet 1.xlsx: Failed to copy: failed to read description for Google Doc: googleapi: Error 404: File not found: 1vCXs9L-PaVisZAxxBL7ly8kJaMlH8E_Zp0UEFDFTcXc., notFound
2021/01/20 10:19:46 ERROR : Attempt 1/3 failed with 1 errors and: failed to read description for Google Doc: googleapi: Error 404: File not found: 1vCXs9L-PaVisZAxxBL7ly8kJaMlH8E_Zp0UEFDFTcXc., notFound
2021/01/20 10:19:46 DEBUG : Sheet 1.xlsx: Need to transfer - File not found at Destination
2021/01/20 10:19:46 ERROR : Sheet 1.xlsx: Failed to copy: failed to read description for Google Doc: googleapi: Error 404: File not found: 1vCXs9L-PaVisZAxxBL7ly8kJaMlH8E_Zp0UEFDFTcXc., notFound
2021/01/20 10:19:46 ERROR : Attempt 2/3 failed with 1 errors and: failed to read description for Google Doc: googleapi: Error 404: File not found: 1vCXs9L-PaVisZAxxBL7ly8kJaMlH8E_Zp0UEFDFTcXc., notFound
2021/01/20 10:19:47 DEBUG : Sheet 1.xlsx: Need to transfer - File not found at Destination
2021/01/20 10:19:47 ERROR : Sheet 1.xlsx: Failed to copy: failed to read description for Google Doc: googleapi: Error 404: File not found: 1vCXs9L-PaVisZAxxBL7ly8kJaMlH8E_Zp0UEFDFTcXc., notFound
2021/01/20 10:19:47 ERROR : Attempt 3/3 failed with 1 errors and: failed to read description for Google Doc: googleapi: Error 404: File not found: 1vCXs9L-PaVisZAxxBL7ly8kJaMlH8E_Zp0UEFDFTcXc., notFound
2021/01/20 10:19:47 INFO  :
Transferred:             0 / 0 Bytes, -, 0 Bytes/s, ETA -
Errors:                 1 (retrying may help)
Elapsed time:         3.0s

2021/01/20 10:19:47 DEBUG : 6 go routines active
2021/01/20 10:19:47 Failed to copy: failed to read description for Google Doc: googleapi: Error 404: File not found: 1vCXs9L-PaVisZAxxBL7ly8kJaMlH8E_Zp0UEFDFTcXc., notFound

[Animosity022]

It's trying to server side copy and you don't have permission setup for handle that.

You can disable that or setup the proper permissions.

Google team drive server side copy

I think that is about how to set up a personal API key. That is not relevant to this problem. Any API key from any account can be used as long as it is authorized to access the data. What is important in this situation is that the Teamdrive user who has write-access to destination also has read-access to source. Otherwise there is no way for that user to ask the Google server to copy that data. When you do it via your own PC it does not matter if the different places use different accounts wi…