summary
A "Google Drive sign-in failed" error means the plugin couldn't complete OAuth authentication with Google — your assets aren't going anywhere until it's resolved. The cause is almost always one of four things: a blocked pop-up, a stale token, a browser cookie restriction, or a Google account permission that was revoked. This guide covers each one, in order of how often they occur.
why does "google drive sign-in failed" happen in a figma plugin?
Figma plugins that connect to Google Drive authenticate through OAuth 2.0. When you click "Sign in with Google," the plugin opens a pop-up window — or redirects through Figma's own iframe environment — and requests permission to access your Drive. If anything interrupts that handshake, the plugin returns a sign-in failed error.
The handshake can fail at three points: the pop-up opening, the permission grant, or the token being returned to the plugin. Each failure point has a distinct fix.
is the pop-up being blocked?
This is the most common cause. Browsers block pop-ups by default, and Figma's desktop app runs its plugin UI in a sandboxed webview that inherits those restrictions. If the OAuth pop-up never opens — or opens and immediately closes — a pop-up blocker is the likely culprit.
Fix: If you're using Figma in a browser, look for the pop-up blocked icon in the address bar and allow pop-ups for figma.com. If you're on the Figma desktop app, the webview handles this differently — try switching to Figma in Chrome or Firefox temporarily and attempt sign-in there. If the pop-up opens successfully in the browser version, the issue is isolated to the desktop app's webview.
does your google account have a stale or revoked token?
If you've signed in before but the plugin now returns a sign-in error, your OAuth token has likely expired or been revoked. Google invalidates tokens when you change your password, when your organisation's admin revokes third-party app access, or when the token simply exceeds its validity period without a refresh.
Fix: Go to myaccount.google.com/permissions and look for the plugin's app entry under "Third-party apps with account access." Remove it, then return to Figma and sign in again from scratch. This forces a clean token issuance.
If you're on a Google Workspace account, your admin may have restricted which third-party OAuth apps can access Drive. Ask your admin to check whether the plugin's OAuth client ID is on the allowed list. See Is it safe to authorize a Figma plugin for Google Drive? for a breakdown of exactly what permissions are requested.
are third-party cookies blocked in your browser?
The OAuth flow depends on cookies to maintain session state between the pop-up and the plugin. If your browser blocks third-party cookies — which Chrome began doing for many users in 2024 — the token can't be passed back to the plugin after you approve access, and the flow fails silently.
Fix: In Chrome, go to Settings → Privacy and security → Third-party cookies. Add figma.com and accounts.google.com to the "Allowed to use third-party cookies" list. Retry sign-in immediately after — don't wait for the page to refresh.
In Firefox, third-party cookie blocking under Enhanced Tracking Protection can cause the same issue. Temporarily set protection to Standard mode, sign in, then restore it.
is the figma plugin itself failing to complete the oauth redirect?
Some sign-in failures aren't browser or account issues — they're a plugin-side redirect misconfiguration or a temporary error from Google's OAuth endpoints. These are rarer but worth ruling out.
Fix: Close the plugin, hard-reload Figma (Cmd+Shift+R on Mac, Ctrl+Shift+R on Windows), then reopen the plugin and try again. If the error persists, check whether Google's OAuth status page reports an incident at google.com/appsstatus. A service disruption on Google's end will resolve itself — plugin errors tied to Google outages typically clear within an hour.
If you're troubleshooting a connection issue more broadly, Connect a Figma plugin to Google Drive: OAuth and folders walks through how the full OAuth flow works and where it can break.
what if you're signed into the wrong google account?
If you have multiple Google accounts active in your browser, the OAuth pop-up may authenticate with a different account than the one you intended — and then fail because that account doesn't have Drive access configured, or because the plugin stored a token for a different account and now detects a mismatch.
Fix: Before signing in, open a browser tab and confirm which Google account is active at myaccount.google.com. If the wrong account is shown, switch accounts there first, then return to Figma and sign in. For managing multiple accounts across different client projects, Switch Google accounts in a Figma plugin for separate client Drive spaces covers the full workflow.
step-by-step: resolving sign-in failed in order
- Check for a blocked pop-up in your browser or try Figma in Chrome if on the desktop app.
- Revoke the plugin's access at myaccount.google.com/permissions and re-authorise.
- Allow third-party cookies for
figma.comandaccounts.google.com. - Confirm the correct Google account is active before initiating sign-in.
- Hard-reload Figma and retry.
- Check Google's service status if all else fails.
Most users resolve this at step one or two. If you've gone through all six and still see the error, the plugin developer will need your browser console logs — in Figma's browser version, open DevTools (F12) with the plugin open and look for any OAuth-related errors in the Console tab.
how exporthub handles google sign-in
ExportHub uses standard Google OAuth 2.0 — the same flow Google requires for any app requesting Drive access. When you sign in, you're authenticating directly with Google, not with ExportHub's servers. The plugin stores only the access token needed to write files to Drive; it can't read your existing files or access anything outside the folder you specify.
If you hit a sign-in error with ExportHub specifically, the steps above apply. The most common case is a first-time sign-in on a Workspace account where the admin hasn't yet allowed the OAuth app. Once allowed, sign-in completes in under ten seconds.
Once connected, ExportHub exports directly from Figma to Google Drive — no local downloads, no manual uploads. If you haven't tried it yet, Export Figma to Google Drive without downloading locally explains exactly what the workflow looks like.
FAQ
why does my figma plugin keep saying "sign-in failed" even after i allow the pop-up?
If allowing the pop-up doesn't fix it, the next most likely cause is a stale OAuth token. Go to myaccount.google.com/permissions, remove the plugin's access, and sign in again from the plugin to generate a fresh token.
can my google workspace admin block figma plugins from accessing drive?
Yes. Google Workspace admins can restrict which third-party OAuth apps are permitted to access Drive. If sign-in fails on a work account but works on a personal Gmail, ask your admin to allowlist the plugin's OAuth client ID under Admin Console → Security → API controls.
does signing in through a figma plugin give it access to all my google drive files?
No. Plugins that follow Google's Drive API scopes correctly request only the permissions they need — typically the ability to create files in folders you explicitly choose. They cannot read existing files outside that scope. Check what permissions are requested on the Google consent screen before approving.
will clearing my browser cache fix a google drive sign-in error in figma?
Sometimes. Clearing cookies and cache removes any corrupted session data that might be interfering with the OAuth flow. It's worth trying after the pop-up and token fixes, but it's rarely the root cause on its own.
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