Installation
Follow these steps to install Simple GDrive Embed on your WordPress site.
Install from the plugin ZIP file
Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard.
Go to Plugins → Add New Plugin → Upload Plugin.
Click Choose File, select the simple-gdrive-embed.zip you downloaded, then click Install Now.
After the upload completes, click Activate Plugin.
You will be redirected to the Installed Plugins screen. Click the Settings link next to Simple GDrive Embed, or go to Settings → GDrive Embed.

Requirements
WordPress 5.6 or later
PHP 7.4 or later with the DOM and libxml extensions (standard on all hosts)
Your server must be able to make outbound HTTPS requests to drive.google.com
No Google API key or OAuth authentication required

Preparing Your Google Drive Folder
The plugin works by reading the publicly accessible version of your folder — no API key is needed, but the folder must be set to public sharing first.
Open Google Drive and locate the folder you want to embed.
Right-click the folder and choose Share.
Under “General access”, change the setting from Restricted to Anyone with the link.
Make sure the role is set to Viewer (not Editor or Commenter).
Click Copy link, then click Done.
⚠️ Important: If the folder is not set to “Anyone with the link”, visitors will see an access-denied message inside the file browser. The plugin cannot bypass Google’s sharing permissions.

How to Use — Adding the Shortcode
Add the shortcode to any post, page, or widget. Use the URL you copied from Google Drive in step 2 above.
Minimum example
[gdrive_embed url=”https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/YOUR_FOLDER_ID?usp=sharing”]
Replace YOUR_FOLDER_ID with the ID from your copied link. Everything after /folders/ and before the ? is the folder ID.
Full example with all options
[gdrive_embed url=”https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/YOUR_FOLDER_ID?usp=sharing” title=”Project Files” height=”500″ width=”100%” show_link=”no” allow_fullscreen=”yes” class=”my-custom-class” ]

How navigation works
Clicking a subfolder loads its contents inside the widget — the visitor never leaves your page.
The Back button and breadcrumb trail let visitors retrace their steps.
Clicking a file opens a preview modal on top of your page. Press Escape, click the × button, or click outside the modal to close it.
Folder listings are cached on your server for the configured duration to reduce requests to Google.
4. Global Defaults
These values are used when the matching attribute is omitted from a shortcode. Any shortcode attribute always overrides the setting here.

Troubleshooting
Symptom / Likely cause and fix
“Could not load folder” error in the browser
The folder is not shared publicly. Open Google Drive, right-click the folder → Share → change General access to “Anyone with the link”.
The browser shows but is always empty
The folder genuinely has no files, or Google’s HTML structure has changed. Try clearing the plugin cache by setting Cache Duration to 0, saving, then restoring your preferred value.
File preview modal is blank
Individual files inside the folder may have stricter permissions. Check each file’s own sharing settings in Google Drive.
The shortcode renders nothing at all
You are not logged in as an editor or admin, so errors are hidden from public visitors. Log in and reload to see the error message, then fix the URL or sharing settings.
Stale or outdated folder contents
Reduce or disable the cache duration in Global Defaults above. Changes in Google Drive will appear after the cache expires.