Rclone copy to id file gdrive

[jlorente (jeremie lorente)]

Hi!

I use rclone to put data from a DB to a xlsx file in my google drive, named source.xlsx
then, I use other sheet file importing data from source.xlsx, using function like this, with uid file:

=IMPORTRANGE("AbCdEfGhIjKlMnOpQrStUvWxYz01234";"Page 1!A2:A")

The problem is that, with rclone, copy/sync/or other i've tried delete the source.xlsx file in gdrive et put another file. Result, as the UID file is no longer the same, my function point to the source.xlsx that is in the trash! so not the updated...

I've noticed that, if the file is the same (md5 check i suppose), the file on gdrive is not removed/copy with UID change. Sometimes, the file is updated, keeping UID, if it's an update made the same day for exemple.

Is it possible to prevent UID change?

Thanks a lot for your help and... Happy new year!

Other infos:
Rclone used on Fedora Linux, rclone v1.51.0 (os/arch: linux/amd64, go version: go1.14rc1)
Cloud storage system: Google Drive

Command:

rclone sync source.xlsx "MyDrive":"MyFolder" --drive-import-formats xlsx

[ncw (Nick Craig-Wood)]

Rclone uploads a new version of the file when it updates it, but I think that will always create a new ID

Are there any other import references you can use?

[jlorente (jeremie lorente)]

Thx for your quick answer
Yes you must use uid in gdrive as soon as you import data from another file... It seems to be the only way to do it as you can share files to others without the same complete path.
So it's very problematic that rclone doesn't accept uid path to the file to update

[ncw (Nick Craig-Wood)]

Rclone uses the file import api in the drive v3 API and I don't think you can specify a file ID.

However you could use rclone to find the new ID of the file and update a single cell in your sheet with that?

You'd find the ID with something like

rclone lsf -F i drive:path/to/sheet.xlsx

I think a script to update a cell in a google sheet is relatively easy...

[jlorente (jeremie lorente)]

Hi, i've tried that. It could be a good way to to it, BUT:
with importrange, you have to approve the right to access to the other file... so as file ID change, I have to grant access manualy every time

[ncw (Nick Craig-Wood)]

@jlorente

so as file ID change, I have to grant access manualy every time

If you can grant access to the directory the file lives in, then you can use its name. You'd then use the --drive-root-folder-id flag to point at that directory.