Creating a way for users to upload files directly to Google Drive from a WordPress form might seem tricky, but it’s actually quite simple.
The biggest concern people have is whether they can really streamline the process and make it work seamlessly without jumping through technical hoops.
If you’re tired of juggling file storage and need a smooth solution, you’re in the right place. It’s easy to connect your WordPress and Google Drive with Zapier!
Create Your WordPress File Upload Form Now! 🙂
In this post, I’ll show you how to add a file upload feature to your contact forms, and also have those files automatically backed up in your Google Drive.
How to Create a WordPress Google Drive Upload Form in 2024
Let’s dive into creating a WordPress Google Drive integration so you can back up from your WordPress forms.
Step 1: Install and Activate WPForms
WPForms is the best WordPress plugin to upload files to Google Drive.
To start uploading files from WordPress to Google Drive, your first need to install the WPForms plugin on your WordPress site if you don’t already have it.
If you don’t know how, see our documentation on installing the WPForms plugin for help.
For this tutorial, you’ll also need the Zapier addon.
It lets you connect your forms to thousands of other apps, including Google Drive and Dropbox for file uploads.
Go to WPForms » Addons in your admin area and click Install Addon to install and activate it.
For more detailed instructions, see this tutorial on adding WPForms addons.
After it’s installed and activated on your site, it’s time to create the file upload form in the next step.
Step 2: Create Your File Upload Form
Open your WordPress admin area and click on WPForms » Add New.
This will open the WPForms form builder. Here, start by giving your form a suitable name.
Next, we’ll take advantage of WPForms’ extensive library of form templates. To make our job easier, we’ll use the File Upload Form template.
Scroll down and type in File Upload Form in the search field under the Select a Template section. Then, select the template by clicking on Use Template.
When the template opens, you’ll find some common fields within including a file upload field. You can customize this template any way you like or leave it as it is.
For a more detailed guide on file upload forms, see our tutorial on how to create a file upload form in WordPress.
When you’re ready, make sure to Save the form.
Step 3: Embed and Publish the Upload Form
Now, we’re going to add the upload form to a new page on our WordPress site. Click on the Embed button on the top-right of the form builder.
Now, select Create New Page in the dialog box.
Give your new page a name.
Now, you’ll be taken to your new page with the upload form you just created already embedded within. Click on Publish to finish adding this page to your site.
When your form is published, fill out a test entry yourself. This will allow Zapier to test its integration with WPForms in the next step.
Step 4: Connect WPForms With Zapier
In order to connect Google Drive with WPForms, you’ll need a Zapier account (you can get it for free). Once, you’ve set up your account on Zapier, navigate to your dashboard and click on Create Zap.
Configure Your Trigger Event (WPForms)
I’ll now show you how to configure your trigger event. Search for WPForms in the search field and click on WPForms when it appears on your screen.
Next, click on the Trigger Event dropdown field and select New Form Entry.
To proceed, you’ll now need to integrate your WPForms plugin with Zapier. Click on Sign in.
This will open a new window asking for your WPForms API key.
Back in your WordPress admin area, go to WPForms » Settings » Integrations. Now, click on the Zapier icon to access your API key.
Copy the key and switch to Zapier’s WPForms connection window. Then, paste the key under the API Key field. Also, enter your website URL. When you’re done, click on Yes, Continue.
You should now be back to Zapier’s Zap creation window. Click on Continue. Now, we’re going to set up a trigger.
Click on the dropdown field to see all the forms that you’ve created with WPForms so far. Make sure to select the right one from the list.
For this example, we want to select the File Upload Form. Press Continue after you’ve made your selection.
Now, we’re going to test your zap. Click on Test trigger.
Zapier should find the test entry that you filled out in the previous step, which will look something like this.
Click on Continue to finish this step. Next, we’re going to connect Zapier to your Google Drive.
Configure Your Trigger Event (Google Drive)
After you’ve pressed the Continue button to finish the previous step, Zapier will ask you to choose an app to connect your WPForms triggers with. Search for Google Drive in the search field and click on the icon.
Then, click on the dropdown menu and select Upload File as the action event and press Continue.
Zapier will then ask you to sign in to Google. Press the Sign in button.
This will open a popup where you can log in to your Google account.
Then you’ll need to give Zapier permission to access your Google account. Click the Allow button to proceed.
Now, we’ll set up the action we want Google Drive to perform when a new form entry is created on our site. Select your Google Drive to use, the folder where the uploads should be saved, and the file upload field from your form.
You can leave the rest of the options blank. But, you can customize them if you’d like to automatically convert your uploaded files to Google Drive file formats or change the names.
Once you’re done, click Continue.
Step 5: Test Your WPForms and Google Drive Integration
Zapier is now ready to test your Google Drive action event. Click on Test action to proceed.
You should instantly see a confirmation message stating that your upload file was sent to Google Drive.
You can also log in to your Google Drive and confirm if the upload you provided during form entry was correctly sent to your selected folder.
Note: WordPress might also restrict some types of file uploads. You can fix that by following this guide on allowing additional file types.
Make sure to publish your Zap before you leave Zapier.
That’s it! Now you can send a copy of your WordPress form upload files to your Google Drive whenever a user fills in an entry.
If you are using a database like Notion, you can also follow the steps in this guide to create an integration with Zapier to connect Notion with WPForms.
FAQs on How to Create a WordPress Google Drive Upload Form
Why create a Google Drive upload form?
A Google Drive upload form gives you the reliability of having your uploads from forms safely stored at all times. Normally, form uploads are stored on your website’s servers. However, your website can quickly run out of space if all of your uploads are stored within it.
When you connect Google Drive with your contact form, it will also send a copy of those uploaded files to your Google Drive. That way, you will have copies of those uploaded files on both your server and Google Drive.
How do I create a form that allows uploads to Google Drive?
To create a form that lets users upload files directly to Google Drive, you can use WPForms along with Zapier. First, build a file upload form in WPForms, then use Zapier to connect WPForms with Google Drive. This will allow the form submissions to send files straight to your Google Drive automatically.
How to create an upload form in WordPress?
To create an upload form in WordPress, install and activate the WPForms plugin. Use the drag-and-drop form builder to add a file upload field, customize the form, and set it to accept files. You can further integrate it with services like Google Drive using Zapier for seamless file storage.
Next, Automate WordPress Tasks
If you think the idea of doing all this stuff with your forms automatically is cool, you’ll definitely want to check out this post on the best WordPress automation tools. And, if you’re a nonprofit looking for ways to track donations effectively, here’s our guide to creating an automated donation tracker using the WPForms’ Google Sheets integration.
For some other ways to use Google Workspace apps on a WordPress site, check out our guide to the top Google Workspace plugins for WordPress. You may also enjoy reading our guide to changing the max file upload size in WordPress. This may come in handy when you’re working with file upload forms.
Create Your WordPress Form Now
Ready to build your form? Get started today with the easiest WordPress form builder plugin. WPForms Pro includes lots of free templates and offers a 14-day money-back guarantee.
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Is this entire process end-to-end encrypted? Where are the files stored temporarily before they are transferred to Google Drive? It seems to store them on a server called i0.wp.com. What is this server? Is it secure? Who owns/controls it?
Hey Ryan.
In order to make sure we answer your question as thoroughly as possible, we will be responding via email support in your current active ticket on the same.
I hope this helps!
My form recently stopped sending the file to Google drive. When I run the Zap by itself, it executes fine, placing the last file uploaded in WPFORMS into Google drive. However, if I trigger it via the WPFORMS, I receive the following error “Required field “file” (file) is missing.” I talked to multi-level ZAP support. ZAP indicated this is a known issue with WPFORMS and asked me to contact WPFORMS. Can someone tell me if this is a known issue and if someone is working on it?
Hey Erik, we are sorry for any trouble. In order to make sure we answer your question as thoroughly as possible and avoid any confusion.
Would you mind reach out to us with additional details so that we can help you further on this case?
Thanks.
How to user want see that file from user side
Hey Arjunan we are sorry for any trouble. In order to make sure we answer your question as thoroughly as possible and avoid any confusion.
Would you mind reaching out to us with additional details so that we can help you further on this case?
Thanks.
I like this solution, but it’s missing something I need.
I’d like to be able to create a pulldown in the upload form that allows the user to select which folder in the google drive to upload to.
For example if my user is uploading a PDF for a presentation on Friday, I’d like them to be able to select the Friday folder from the pulldown. Does Zapier allow for this?
Hi MJ,
Unfortunately, I am sorry to let you know that we do not have an inbuilt feature to select the specific folders as you have mentioned via dropdown. I agree it would be super helpful! I have gone ahead and added this feature to be considered as a future enhancement.
Thanks,