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This page describes how to set a label
Field on a single
Google Drive file.
To add metadata to a file by setting a file label, use the
files.modifyLabels method. The
request body
contains an instance of
ModifyLabelsRequest
to modify the set of labels on a file. The request might contain several
modifications that are applied atomically. That is, if any modifications aren't
valid, then the entire update is unsuccessful and none of the (potentially
dependent) changes are applied.
The ModifyLabelsRequest contains an instance of
LabelModification
which is a modification to a label on a file. It might also contain an instance
of
FieldModification
which is a modification to a label's field.
If successful, the response
body contains
the labels added or updated by the request. These exist within a
modifiedLabels object of type Label.
Example
The following code sample shows how to use the fieldId of a text field to set
a value for this Field on a
file. When a label Field is initially set on a file, it applies the label to
the file. You can then unset a single field or remove all fields associated with
the label. For more information, see Unset a label field on a
file and Remove a label from a
file.
/*** Set a label with a text field on a Drive file* @return{obj} updated label data**/asyncfunctionsetLabelTextField(){// Get credentials and build service// TODO (developer) - Use appropriate auth mechanism for your appconst{GoogleAuth}=require('google-auth-library');const{google}=require('googleapis');constauth=newGoogleAuth({scopes:'https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive'});constservice=google.drive({version:'v3',auth});constfieldModification={'fieldId':'FIELD_ID','setTextValues':['VALUE'],};constlabelModification={'labelId':'LABEL_ID','fieldModifications':[fieldModification],};constlabelModificationRequest={'labelModifications':[labelModification],};try{constupdateResponse=awaitservice.files.modifyLabels({fileId:'FILE_ID',resource:labelModificationRequest,});returnupdateResponse;}catch(err){// TODO (developer) - Handle errorthrowerr;}}
Replace the following:
FIELD_ID: The fieldId of the field to modify. To locate
the fieldId, retrieve the label using the
Google Drive Labels API.
VALUE: The new value for this field.
LABEL_ID: The labelId of the label to modify.
FILE_ID: The fileId of the file for which the labels are
modified.
Notes
To set a label with no fields, apply labelModifications with no
fieldModifications present.
To set values for selection field options, use the
Choice id of the value
that you can get by fetching the label schema in the
Drive Labels API.
Only a Field that supports lists of values can have multiple values set,
otherwise you'll receive a 400: Bad Request error response.
Set the proper value type for the selected Field (such as integer, text,
user, etc.), otherwise you'll receive a 400: Bad Request error response.
You can retrieve the field data type using the
Drive Labels API.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-28 UTC."],[],[],null,["# Set a label field on a file\n\nThis page describes how to set a label\n[`Field`](/workspace/drive/labels/reference/rest/v2/labels#field) on a single\nGoogle Drive file.\n\nTo add metadata to a file by setting a file label, use the\n[`files.modifyLabels`](/workspace/drive/api/v2/reference/files/modifyLabels) method. The\n[request body](/workspace/drive/api/reference/rest/v2/files/modifyLabels#request-body)\ncontains an instance of\n[`ModifyLabelsRequest`](/workspace/drive/api/reference/rest/v2/files/modifyLabels#modifylabelsrequest)\nto modify the set of labels on a file. The request might contain several\nmodifications that are applied atomically. That is, if any modifications aren't\nvalid, then the entire update is unsuccessful and none of the (potentially\ndependent) changes are applied.\n\nThe `ModifyLabelsRequest` contains an instance of\n[`LabelModification`](/workspace/drive/api/reference/rest/v2/files/modifyLabels#labelmodification)\nwhich is a modification to a label on a file. It might also contain an instance\nof\n[`FieldModification`](/workspace/drive/api/reference/rest/v2/files/modifyLabels#fieldmodification)\nwhich is a modification to a label's field.\n\nIf successful, the [response\nbody](/workspace/drive/api/reference/rest/v2/files/modifyLabels#response-body) contains\nthe labels added or updated by the request. These exist within a\n`modifiedLabels` object of type [`Label`](/workspace/drive/api/reference/rest/v2/Label).\n\nExample\n-------\n\nThe following code sample shows how to use the `fieldId` of a text field to set\na value for this [`Field`](/workspace/drive/labels/reference/rest/v2/labels#field) on a\nfile. When a label `Field` is initially set on a file, it applies the label to\nthe file. You can then unset a single field or remove all fields associated with\nthe label. For more information, see [Unset a label field on a\nfile](/workspace/drive/api/guides/unset-label) and [Remove a label from a\nfile](/workspace/drive/api/guides/remove-label). \n\n### Java\n\n LabelFieldModification fieldModification =\n new LabelFieldModification().setFieldId(\"\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eFIELD_ID\u003c/var\u003e\").setSetTextValues(ImmutableList.of(\"\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eVALUE\u003c/var\u003e\"));\n\n ModifyLabelsRequest modifyLabelsRequest =\n new ModifyLabelsRequest()\n .setLabelModifications(\n ImmutableList.of(\n new LabelModification()\n .setLabelId(\"\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eLABEL_ID\u003c/var\u003e\")\n .setFieldModifications(ImmutableList.of(fieldModification))));\n\n ModifyLabelsResponse modifyLabelsResponse = driveService.files().modifyLabels(\"\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eFILE_ID\u003c/var\u003e\", modifyLabelsRequest).execute();\n\n### Python\n\n field_modification = {'fieldId':'\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eFIELD_ID\u003c/var\u003e','setTextValues':['\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eVALUE\u003c/var\u003e']}\n label_modification = {'labelId':'\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eLABEL_ID\u003c/var\u003e', 'fieldModifications':[field_modification]}\n\n modified_labels = drive_service.files().modifyLabels(fileId=\"\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eFILE_ID\u003c/var\u003e\", body = {'labelModifications' : [label_modification]}).execute()\n\n### Node.js\n\n /**\n * Set a label with a text field on a Drive file\n * @return{obj} updated label data\n **/\n async function setLabelTextField() {\n // Get credentials and build service\n // TODO (developer) - Use appropriate auth mechanism for your app\n\n const {GoogleAuth} = require('google-auth-library');\n const {google} = require('googleapis');\n\n const auth = new GoogleAuth({scopes: 'https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive'});\n const service = google.drive({version: 'v3', auth});\n const fieldModification = {\n 'fieldId': '\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eFIELD_ID\u003c/var\u003e',\n 'setTextValues': ['\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eVALUE\u003c/var\u003e'],\n };\n const labelModification = {\n 'labelId': '\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eLABEL_ID\u003c/var\u003e',\n 'fieldModifications': [fieldModification],\n };\n const labelModificationRequest = {\n 'labelModifications': [labelModification],\n };\n try {\n const updateResponse = await service.files.modifyLabels({\n fileId: '\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eFILE_ID\u003c/var\u003e',\n resource: labelModificationRequest,\n });\n return updateResponse;\n } catch (err) {\n // TODO (developer) - Handle error\n throw err;\n }\n }\n\nReplace the following:\n\n- \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eFIELD_ID\u003c/var\u003e: The `fieldId` of the field to modify. To locate the `fieldId`, retrieve the label using the [Google Drive Labels API](/workspace/drive/labels/guides/search-label).\n- \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eVALUE\u003c/var\u003e: The new `value` for this field.\n- \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eLABEL_ID\u003c/var\u003e: The `labelId` of the label to modify.\n- \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eFILE_ID\u003c/var\u003e: The `fileId` of the file for which the labels are modified.\n\nNotes\n-----\n\n- To set a label with no fields, apply `labelModifications` with no `fieldModifications` present.\n- To set values for selection field options, use the [`Choice`](/workspace/drive/labels/reference/rest/v2/labels#choice) id of the value that you can get by fetching the label schema in the [Drive Labels API](/workspace/drive/labels/guides/overview).\n- Only a `Field` that supports lists of values can have multiple values set, otherwise you'll receive a `400: Bad Request` error response.\n- Set the proper value type for the selected `Field` (such as integer, text, user, etc.), otherwise you'll receive a `400: Bad Request` error response. You can retrieve the field data type using the [Drive Labels API](/workspace/drive/labels/reference/rest/v2/labels#field)."]]