Fix Google Connections That Expire in Make
Why your Make Google Drive or Sheets connection fails with "Invalid refresh token, please reauthorize" every week, and the one-time fix that stops it.
The symptom
You built a Make scenario that reads files from Google Drive (or Google Sheets) and feeds them to DocuPipe. It works, then a week or so later it starts failing with:
Failed to verify connection. Invalid refresh token. Please reauthorize the connection.
The automation stops until you sign in to Google again by hand, and then it lapses again a week later. This is a known Google behavior, not a bug in your scenario or in DocuPipe, and there is a permanent one-time fix.
This affects personal
@gmail.comaccounts using Google's restricted services (Drive and Sheets) inside Make. The step in a DocuPipe flow that trips it is usually the Google Drive module that downloads your uploaded files before sending them to DocuPipe.
Why it happens
When Make connects to a restricted Google service, it does so through an OAuth application. Google only issues a 7-day sign-in token to an OAuth application whose consent screen is still in "Testing" status. When that token lapses, every scenario using the connection fails until you reauthorize.
Reauthorizing by hand just resets the 7-day clock, so it keeps coming back. The real fix is to connect Make through an OAuth application that is set to "In production" status, which is not subject to the 7-day limit.
"In production" is a setting on the Google OAuth application in the Google Cloud Console, not on your Make scenario. Publishing the application to production is the single step that stops the weekly reauthorization for good.
The fix
You create your own OAuth client once, in your own Google account, and point Make at it. At a high level:
- Create a Google Cloud project and enable the Google Drive (and/or Sheets) API.
- Set up the OAuth consent screen and publish it to production.
- Create an OAuth client and copy its Client ID and Client Secret.
- In Make, open your Google connection's advanced settings, paste the Client ID and Secret, and sign in once.
Make maintains the authoritative, screenshot-by-screenshot walkthrough of these exact steps, and it stays current with their interface:
Connect to Google services using a custom OAuth client (Make Help Center)
Follow that guide end to end. Plan for about 20 minutes; you only do it once per Google account.
During sign-in, Google shows a "Google hasn't verified this app" screen. This is expected because it is your own app, used only by you on your own files. Click Advanced, continue, and approve. You do not need to submit the app for Google's review.
Where to go next
Once the connection is stable, the No Code Integration Using Make.com guide covers building the rest of your DocuPipe flow: watch a folder, upload files, run your Schema, and route the structured results wherever you need them.