How to Connect Google Drive to Your WordPress Media Library

If you’ve ever run into issues with WordPress storage limits or slow media loading, you’re not alone.

As your website grows, uploading more images, videos, or PDFs may become too much of a burden for you and your visitors.

One of the best ways to solve this problem is to connect your WordPress media library to Google Drive. It gives you extra storage space, faster file transfers, and the flexibility to manage your media on the go using Google’s familiar interface.

After testing several methods, we found an easy and reliable way to set it up that doesn’t require complicated steps or technical knowledge.

In this tutorial, we will show you how to connect Google Drive to WordPress so you can streamline your media workflow and improve site performance.

Why Connect Google Drive to Your WordPress Media Library?

Google Drive is one of the most popular free Google tools and is a great way to store and share all kinds of files, including images.

If you regularly upload images to Google Drive, then you can save time and energy by connecting your Google Drive account to your WordPress media library.

You can then access any images in your Google Drive account directly from your WordPress dashboard.

With this integration, you can add Google Drive images to any page or post with the click of a button.

Do you manage a multi-author WordPress blog or accept guest bloggers?

If you share your WordPress dashboard with other people, then connecting Google Drive to WordPress allows you to share images and files without sharing your Google password.

This helps keep your Google Account secure and makes it easier to lock people out of your Google Drive when they no longer need access to it.

That being said, let’s look at how to connect Google Drive to your WordPress Media Library. We’ll cover two different methods. You can jump directly to your preferred option, or check out our additional resources:

• Method 1: How to Connect Google Drive to WordPress Media Library
• Method 2: Manually connect Google Drive to WordPress Media Library
• Bonus: Importing Google Docs into WordPress
• FAQ: WordPress and Google Drive

Method 1: How to Connect Google Drive to WordPress Media Library

The easiest way to connect Google Drive to WordPress is to use the JoomUnited WP Media Folder Cloud Addon Google Drive Integration.

This plugin and add-on allows you to access your Google Drive files from your WordPress media library. You can also create folders in your Google account and organize your files.

Setting up the WP Media Folder plugin

You first need to install and activate the WP Media Folder plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on WordPress plugin installation .

After activation, you will see the installation wizard. Click the "Continue Environment Check" button to get started.

After a few moments, WP Media Folder will display some information about your WordPress environment, such as its PHP version and extensions.

To continue, click the Continue button.

You can now choose whether to disable the gallery and lightbox features.

These features allow you to create, edit, and delete folders in your WordPress Media Library, so we recommend keeping them enabled.

Once you are finished, click on the Continue button.

Now you will see some extra features that you may want to use. The default settings should be suitable for most WordPress sites, but you can use its switches to enable these additional features.

For example, if you are using the WordPress page builder, then you might want to enable the “WP Media Folders on Frontend” feature.

If you are satisfied with the settings, click Continue.

After a few moments, you will see the following message: "You have now completed the plugin express configuration."

When you’re ready, click the Go to Library button.

Install WP Media Folder Cloud Addon

Next, you need to install and activate the WP Media Folder Cloud plugin. You can install this plugin the same way you install a WordPress plugin .

WP Media Folder has an automatic connector that allows you to link WordPress to Google Drive without creating a project in the Google Cloud Console. Therefore, we recommend that you use the automatic connector.

However, if you can’t use the connector, we’ll show you how to manually connect to Google Drive at the end of this guide.

To connect Google Drive to your WordPress media library, you need to go to Settings » General .

Here, scroll to the “Joomunited Live Updates” section.

Then, click on "Link my Joomunited account".

In the pop-up window that appears, enter your JoomUnited account email and password.

After that, just click "Login".

Now you are ready to connect Google Drive to your WordPress blog.

Simply go to Settings » WP Media Folder to get started.

In the left menu, select Cloud and Google Drive.

From here, just click on Automatic.

You can now go ahead and click on the “Connect Google Drive” button.

How to Organize Your Google Drive Images

Once connected to Google Drive, you can access and organize your files directly in your WordPress dashboard.

Simply go to Media » Library and select the new Google Drive option in the left-hand menu.

You can now browse all the images in your Google Drive.

Additionally, you can use the row of buttons in the toolbar to filter and sort these images or display more file types.

You can also create new folders to manage your images. Any changes you make in your WordPress dashboard will automatically sync to your associated Google Drive account.

This allows users to organize and manage images even if they don't have direct access to a connected Google Account.

First, you can create a new folder by clicking the “Add New Folder” button.

In the pop-up window that appears, enter a name for the folder.

Then, just click Create.

This will create a new folder under the Google Drive parent folder.

To add an image to the folder, click the Add New Image button and select a file from your local computer. The image will be added to both the WordPress media library and your Google Drive account.

If you have been running a WordPress site for a while, then you might already have a lot of images in your media library. In this case, you can easily backup your WordPress content to Google Drive by uploading these files to your Google account .

To do this, simply select "Media Library".

Then, find the image you want to upload to Google Drive.

You can drag and drop images into the parent Google Drive folder or any subfolders you create.

Simply repeat these steps to organize your WordPress files in the Media Library.

Adding Google Drive Images to Your WordPress Site

Now you can easily add any Google Drive images to your WordPress pages and posts. Simply add an Image block in the WordPress content editor and click on the Media Library button.

In the WordPress Media Library, select “Google Drive” or choose any Google Drive folder.

Now you will see all the media files that can be added.

Just click on the file you want to use.

Once you’ve done that, you can enter image alt text, add a caption, etc., in exactly the same way you would add any image in WordPress.

When you’re ready, just click the Select button. WP Media Folder will add the image to your WordPress page or post.

Method 2: Manually connect Google Drive to WordPress Media Library

If you don’t want to use WP Media Folder’s automatic connector, then you can manually connect to Google Drive in the Google Cloud Console.

Create a Google Cloud project

To get started, head to the Google Cloud Console . If this is your first time accessing the console, you'll need to accept the terms and conditions and choose whether you want to receive email updates.

When you are finished, click Agree and Continue.

This will take you to the Google Cloud Console.

You need to create a new project, so click on Choose Project.

In the pop-up window that appears, select New Project.

Now you can enter a name for your project. This is just for reference, you can enter whatever you want.

On this screen, you can also add an optional organization and change the location where the Google Cloud Console creates the project.

If you’re happy with the information you entered, go ahead and click Create.

Enable Google Drive API

Then, select Enable APIs and Services from the left menu and click Enable APIs and Services.

This screen shows all the different APIs you can enable. For example, you can enable the YouTube Data API to display the latest videos from your YouTube channel, or use the Calendar API to add a Google Calendar to WordPress.

To connect Google Drive to WordPress, scroll to the “Google Workspace” section and click on “Google Drive API.”

This will take you to a screen where you can activate the key that WordPress uses to access your Google Drive.

Just go ahead and click on the Enable button.

Create an OAuth 2.0 Client ID

Once you're done, click the line icon in the top left corner to open the menu.

Then, select APIs & Services, and then select Credentials.

Here, you need to click on “Create Credentials”.

In the drop-down menu, you must select "OAuth Client ID".

On the next screen, click on the Configure consent screen button.

You can now choose whether to create an internal or external app. If you choose "Internal," only G Suite users within your organization can access the app. If you choose "External," anyone with a Google Account can access your app.

Once you’ve made your decision, you can click “Create.”

Now you'll need to enter some information about your Google app and add your business email address.

You will also need to enter the domain name where you plan to use the application.

Once you have completed this form, click on the 'Save and Continue' button.

By adding scopes, you can now specify what the app can access and what actions it can perform. To see all the different Google Drive scopes, just click the "Add or Remove Scopes" button.

To add a scope to your project, just check its box.

Please note that Google will review any scopes marked as sensitive.

Once you have added all the ranges you want to use, you will need to click Update.

To proceed to the next screen, click Save and Continue.

At this point, you may want to enter more information about your application, including how you plan to use it.

This step is optional, but it may help Google verify and approve your project faster.

When you’re ready to proceed, just click the “Save and Continue” button. Google will display a summary of all the information you entered.

Next, click the line icon to open the menu and select “oAuth consent screen.”

You will see that your application is currently in test mode.

To make it effective, go ahead and click Publish Application.

The Google Cloud Console will now display some information about the additional steps you need to take to pass the verification process. These steps include adding a link to your privacy policy and adding your WordPress site to Google Search Console .

After reading this information, just click on the "Confirm" button.

Adding the Client ID and Client Secret to WordPress

Once that's done, you can create a client ID and secret key.

In the left menu, select Credentials.

Then, click Create Credentials.

In the drop-down menu that appears, you need to select "OAuth Client ID".

On the next screen, open the drop-down menu and select Web Application.

Now you can enter a name for your OAuth 2.0 client. This is for reference only, you can use it however you want.

Next, scroll to the Authorized JavaScript Origins section.

In this field, enter your website's domain name.

Under "Authorized redirect URIs," add the following URL, making sure to replace "https://your-domain.com" with your own domain name:

https://your-domain.com/wp-admin/options-general.php?page=option-folder&task=wpmf&function=wpmf_authenticated

Once you’re done, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click Create.

After a few moments, Google will pop up a window showing your Client ID and Client Secret. You will need this information, so write it down in a safe place.

You can also download the information as a JSON file.

To add the Client ID and Client Secret to WordPress, go to Settings » WP Media Folder in your WordPress dashboard.

In the left menu, select Cloud, then select Google Drive.

You will then need to select Manual.

Once completed, simply paste the Client ID and Client Secret into the Google Client ID and Google Client Secret fields.

Now, click on “Connect to Google Drive”.

In the pop-up window that appears, select the Google Drive account you want to use.

You'll now see information about all the data the app is able to access and the tasks it can perform. Simply check the box next to each permission the app requests.

Then, click "Continue".

Finally, click on the ‘Save Changes’ button.

You have now successfully connected Google Drive to your WordPress Media Library.

Bonus: Importing Google Docs into WordPress

In addition to connecting Google Drive to your website, you can also import Google Docs into WordPress.

For example, if you accept guest posts on your site and users submit posts on Google Docs, you can’t copy and paste content directly in the block editor.

If you do this, you will end up with a lot of unwanted HTML tags, and sometimes you may even lose all the original formatting.

In this case, importing a Google Docs file is much easier than copying and pasting the content into WordPress. To do this, you can use the popular grammar tool Grammarly .

Simply create an account on the platform and paste your Google Docs content into its editor.

Once you’re done, all HTML tags will be automatically removed from the content. You can now copy and paste your blog post into the WordPress block editor and it will appear in the correct format and without the HTML tags.

FAQ: WordPress and Google Drive

Here are some questions our readers often ask:

Can I use Google Drive with any WordPress theme?

Yes, you can use Google Drive with any WordPress theme. The integration is done via a plugin and is therefore independent of your theme. Please be sure to check the plugin's compatibility with your version of WordPress.

Is it possible to restrict WordPress access to Google Drive files?

Of course! Many plugins allow you to set access permissions for Google Drive files. You can control who can view, edit, or delete these files on your WordPress site.

Will connecting Google Drive to WordPress affect my site speed?

Generally speaking, integrating Google Drive will not slow down your website.

However, excessive use or large files may affect performance, so always optimize and check your website speed regularly.

We hope this article helped you learn how to connect Google Drive to WordPress media library. You may also want to check out our guide on how to manually backup WordPress database .

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