Periodically remove all files of certain type from Google Drive Trash

Question

I got some db files automatically backuped to my google drive. The backup routine adds the new db files (.lxdb) to a specific folder and removes the older ones.

On Google Drive the deleted files end up in the trash, quickly using up GBs of Drive space.

There are GA scripts to empty the trash periodically, however, I just want to remove that certain filetype, since it makes sense to keep all the other files in trash for security reasons.

function DeleteTrashedFiles(){
  Drive.Files.emptyTrash();
};

However, whats a state of art way to request for an array of all the .lxbd files IN TRASH and then remove them? (better not by cycling through all the GD Files)

["Files: emptyTrash" of Drive API has no options.](https://developers.google.com/drive/v3/reference/files/emptyTrash) It simply deletes all files in the trash. So only the special files cannot be deleted using only "Files: emptyTrash". If you want to delete the special files using "Files: emptyTrash", as a workaround, it can think that it deletes them after evacuating other files from the trash, and it returns the evacuated files to the trash. If this is not what you want, I'm sorry. — Tanaike, Apr 16 '18 at 00:29

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 16 '18 at 03:50

You have two options:

Rather than moving the old .lxbd files to Trash, simply delete them immediately. From Apps Script, with the enabled "Advanced Service" Drive, this would be Drive.Files.remove(file.id);
Query with list the trashed files for the specific file type, and then call Drive.Files.remove for each of them.

An example of option 2 for the Drive "Advanced Service" in Google Apps Script:

function deleteTrashedFiletype(someMimetype) {
  var options = {
    q: "trashed=true AND mimeType='" + someMimetype + "' AND '" + Session.getActiveUser().getEmail() + "' in owners",
    pageToken: null
  };
  do {
    var result = Drive.Files.list(options);
    result.items.forEach(function (file) {
      if(file.mimeType === someMimetype)
        Drive.Files.remove(file.id);
      else throw new Error("The query returned the wrong mimetype");
    });
    options.pageToken = result.nextPageToken;
  } while(options.pageToken);
}

If you are dealing with Team Drive items you will have additional parameters that you need to include, and additional checks you must make if you require error-free operation.

Periodically remove all files of certain type from Google Drive Trash

1 Answers1