How To Download Files From Google Sheet URL

We made a simple tutorial to easily take a list of URLs on a spreadsheet (in this case on Google Sheets) and download them on your Mac or Windows in bulk.

See steps below:

Create Google Sheet (spreadsheet) with 3 columns:

1. Column A - URL (copy all your urls to this column)
2. Column B - Filename (used to extract filename)
3. Column C - Download (used to write the command to download the file)

See our template here

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Fill out Column B - Filename

• Use the formula =INDEX(SPLIT(INDEX(SPLIT(A3, "/"), 0, COUNTA(SPLIT(A3, "/"))), "?"), 0, 1)
• Make sure to replace A3 in both places to correspond with your first URL cell.
• Drag downwards to fill out the filename for the rest of the rows.

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Fill out Column C - Download

• On MacOS: ="curl '"&A3&"' -o "&B3
• On Windows: ="curl "&B3&" -o "&A3

• Drag downwards to fill out the filename for the rest of the rows.

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Create Script File and Run It

A. On MacOS:

• Make a directory in the place you want to save files.
• Open "Terminal" & Create a new .sh file and edit it: vi file.sh
• Inside the file, add to the first row:
  • #!/usr/bin/env bash
• Copy all of the Column C content into the .sh file.
• Save the file: :wq!
• Change permissions for the file to write: chmod +x file.sh
• Run the file: ./file.sh
• Wait for the download to complete and enjoy your files!

B. On Windows:

• Make a directory in the place you want to save files.
• Create a new .bat file via Notepad (or command line): file.bat
• Inside the file, paste all of the Column C content.
• Save the file.
• Double-click on file.bat in the folder to run it.
• Wait for the download to complete and enjoy your files!

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URL to template

Google Sheet Template

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Extra Tip: Google Drive Sheet and Video Downloads

for google drive sheets, docs and videos its a bit more complicated.

• make sure that files are publicly shared
• you will need to add the /export at the end of the url of the file for example - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/xxxxxxxx/ should be https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/xxxxxxxx/export
• you will have to know the type of file (for example .xlsx) so final curl command should be something like this: curl -L -o "filename.xlsx" "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/xxxxxxxxxxxx/export

Video Explainer on The Full Topic