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This page describes how to remove a label on a single Google Drive file.
To remove the file label metadata from a file, use thefiles.modifyLabelsmethod. Therequest bodycontains an instance ofModifyLabelsRequestto 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.
TheModifyLabelsRequestcontains an instance ofLabelModificationwhich is a modification to a label on a file. It might also contain an instance
ofFieldModificationwhich is a modification to a label's field. To remove the label from the file,
setFieldModification.removeLabeltoTrue.
If successful, theresponse
bodycontains
the labels added or updated by the request. These exist within amodifiedLabelsobject of typeLabel.
Example
The following code sample shows how to use thelabelIdto remove all fields
associated with the label using thefileId. For example, if a label contains
both text and user fields, removing a label deletesboththe text and user
fields associated with the label. Whereas, unsetting the text field removes it
from the label but leaves the user field untouched. For more information, seeUnset a label field on a file.
/*** Remove a label on a Drive file* @return{obj} updated label data**/asyncfunctionremoveLabel(){// 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});constlabelModification={'labelId':'LABEL_ID','removeLabel':True,};constlabelModificationRequest={'labelModifications':[labelModification],};try{constupdateResponse=awaitservice.files.modifyLabels({fileId:'FILE_ID',resource:labelModificationRequest,});returnupdateResponse;}catch(err){// TODO (developer) - Handle errorthrowerr;}
Replace the following:
LABEL_ID: ThelabelIdof the label to modify. To locate
the labels on a file, use thefiles.listLabelsmethod.
FILE_ID: ThefileIdof the file for which the labels are
modified.
[[["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,["This page describes how to remove a label on a single Google Drive file.\n\nTo remove the file label metadata from a file, 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. To remove the label from the file,\nset `FieldModification.removeLabel` to `True`.\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\nThe following code sample shows how to use the `labelId` to remove all fields\nassociated with the label using the `fileId`. For example, if a label contains\nboth text and user fields, removing a label deletes *both* the text and user\nfields associated with the label. Whereas, unsetting the text field removes it\nfrom the label but leaves the user field untouched. For more information, see\n[Unset a label field on a file](/workspace/drive/api/guides/unset-label). \n\nJava \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 .setRemoveLabel(true)));\n\n ModifyLabelsResponse modifyLabelsResponse = driveService.files().modifyLabels(\"\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eFILE_ID\u003c/var\u003e\", modifyLabelsRequest).execute();\n\nPython \n\n label_modification = {'labelId':'\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eLABEL_ID\u003c/var\u003e', 'removeLabel': True]}\n\n modified_labels = drive_service.files().modifyLabels(fileId=\"\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eFILE_ID\u003c/var\u003e\", body = {'labelModifications' : [label_modification]}).execute();\n\nNode.js \n\n /**\n * Remove a label on a Drive file\n * @return{obj} updated label data\n **/\n async function removeLabel() {\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 labelModification = {\n 'labelId': '\u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eLABEL_ID\u003c/var\u003e',\n 'removeLabel': True,\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\nReplace the following:\n\n- \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eLABEL_ID\u003c/var\u003e: The `labelId` of the label to modify. To locate the labels on a file, use the [`files.listLabels`](/workspace/drive/api/v2/reference/files/listLabels) method.\n- \u003cvar translate=\"no\"\u003eFILE_ID\u003c/var\u003e: The `fileId` of the file for which the labels are modified."]]
