Hi there!
In Recommendation for Automation ? Google Drive: Upload File we introduced how to automate file uploads to Google Drive.
Some of you who read this article may think that it is a little undesirable for uploaded files to remain in the public domain indefinitely.
In this article, we will show you how to build a mechanism for the automatic deletion of Google Drive files.
The Need to Delete Google Drive Files
In Recommendation for Automation ? Google Drive: Upload File we introduced the following automation methods in the Quote Approval Flow.
- Approved quote files are automatically uploaded to Google Drive.
- An email is automatically sent to the customer with a URL to view and download the uploaded quote file.
This is expected to reduce the time and effort required for salespeople to provide customers with quotes, while at the same time preventing errors such as misplacing or forgetting to provide the necessary files.
However, it is undesirable for uploaded files to remain in the system indefinitely without being deleted. Uploaded files can be viewed by anyone who knows the URL to view them.
In case the URL for browsing is leaked to unintended persons through email forwarding, etc., it is necessary to make sure that the URL is disabled after a certain period of time. One way to achieve this is to delete the uploaded file.
However, the hassle of deleting files is no small matter.
If there is a rule that quotations are to be deleted 10 days after the date of submission, but many quotations have been submitted, mistakes can occur, such as deleting files that should not be deleted and forgetting to delete files that should be deleted. Needless to say, the burden on the sales staff will also increase.
Automation of the deletion process reduces the time and effort required to prevent such operational errors.
Automated File Deletion with No Code
An Automated Item for Deleting Google Drive Files
The no-code development platform Questetra BPM Suite provides tools to automatically delete files and folders in Google Drive. By using these, you can work on automation without knowledge or experience of Google Drive’s API (Application Programming Interface). (For more information on the API, please refer to The Perfect Match for Workflows!? What is API?
Automatically Deleting on a Specified Date
In this article, we will continue to build a mechanism to automate file deletion using the no-code development platform Questetra BPM Suite, similar to Recommendation for Automation – Google Drive: Upload File. (Click here for a 60-day free trial of Questetra BPM Suite.)
In this case, we just need to add a section to delete files at the end of the Quote Approval Flow created in Recommendation for Automation ? Google Drive: Upload File. It is very easy.
Place the item [Google Drive: Delete File / Folder] and set which files should be deleted.
Another item, Timer Intermediate Event, is used to control the timing of the deletion. This item keeps the workflow Token waiting here until the set date arrives, at which time it is passed to the following item (in this case, [Google Drive: Delete File/Folder]). Here we have prepared a Data Item called „Date to delete file“ and the Token will wait until the date of this Data Item.
It would be helpful if the body of the email that provides the URL for viewing and downloading the quotation also includes information on when the file will be deleted. That setting is configured as shown in the following figure.
After configuring the system up to this point, it is now ready to automatically do the following:
- Upload quote files to Google Drive
- Email URLs for viewing and downloading quotation files
- Delete uploaded quote files
Summary
We showed you how to create a system that automatically deletes Google Drive files.
Questetra BPM Suite, a cloud-based no-code development platform, provides automated items for operating Google Drive. By using automation items you can easily operate Google Drive without knowledge or experience of Google Drive’s API (Application Programming Interface).
Questetra BPM Suite introduced here is available on a 60-day free trial basis. If you are interested, please apply from the following link.
As I introduced in the middle of the article, the mechanism built in this article can be easily operated with the Questetra BPM Suite you are using. Just import the file that you can download from the following page. If you want to check the operation immediately, please use this.
There are more automation items which we will introduce in future articles.
That’s all for today. Thanks for reading!
