There are plenty of examples of how to use the Google Drive API online. A ton are for old versions though, and most are basic cases (not good with restricted sharing options/etc). Also, virtually none show you how to do things with shared drives.

I had to do all of this recently, so I hope this helps someone else avoid the pain I went through =). The only thing this assumes is that you have a valid credentials file generated from the developer console.

Defining Scopes

These scopes should all be enabled for your credentials on the consent screen part of the developer console. Also list them in your code.

static {
    SCOPES = new ArrayList<>();
    SCOPES.add(SheetsScopes.DRIVE);
    SCOPES.add(SheetsScopes.DRIVE_FILE);
    SCOPES.add(SheetsScopes.SPREADSHEETS);
}

Get Credentials

private HttpRequestInitializer getCredentials(NetHttpTransport httpTransport) {
    GoogleCredential credential = null;
    try {
        credential = GoogleCredential.fromStream(new FileInputStream(credentialsFilePath), httpTransport, JSON_FACTORY)
                .createScoped(SCOPES)
                .createDelegated(svcAccount);
    } catch (IOException e) {
        logger.error("ERROR Occurred while Authorization using the credentials provided...!!!");
    }
    return setHttpTimeout(credential);
}

Get Sheet and Drive Services

private Sheets getSheetService(String applicationName, NetHttpTransport httpTransport) throws FileNotFoundException {
    return new Sheets.Builder(
            httpTransport,
            JSON_FACTORY,
            getCredentials(httpTransport)
    ).setApplicationName(applicationName).build();
}

private Drive getDriveService(String applicationName, NetHttpTransport HTTP_TRANSPORT) throws FileNotFoundException {
    return new Drive.Builder(HTTP_TRANSPORT,
            JSON_FACTORY,
            getCredentials(HTTP_TRANSPORT))
            .setApplicationName(applicationName)
            .build();
}

Create a Spreadsheet and Control Permissions

You can create a sheet easily with the sheet service. But, if you want to put your sheet in a specific parent folder and change permissions/control sharing settings, then you need to create it with the drive service setting a mime-type of sheet.

You can find your folder ID by navigating to your folder in google drive and getting the ID from the URL. Since we set “supports all drives”, we can create this file in a folder in our share drive. Without this setting, share drives fail with some kind of auth error.

private File createSpreadSheet(Drive driveService, String sheetTitle, String userFolderId) {
    try {
        File fileSpec = new File();
        fileSpec.setName(sheetTitle);
        fileSpec.setParents(Collections.singletonList(userFolderId));
        fileSpec.setMimeType("application/vnd.google-apps.spreadsheet");

        File sheetFile = driveService.files()
                .create(fileSpec)
                .setSupportsAllDrives(true) //Share drives don't work without this parameter.
                .execute();

        sheetFile.setViewersCanCopyContent(false);
        sheetFile.setCopyRequiresWriterPermission(true);
        sheetFile.setWritersCanShare(false);
        driveService.files().update(sheetFile.getId(), sheetFile);

        return sheetFile;
    } catch (IOException e) {
        throw new RuntimeException("Error occurred while creating the sheet.\n" + e);
    }
}

Write Data to a Spreadsheet

private void writeToSpreadSheet(Sheets service, String spreadSheetId, String json) {
    final String range = "Sheet1";
    ValueRange body = new ValueRange()
            .setValues(getJsonData(json));
    UpdateValuesResponse response;
    try {
        response = service
                .spreadsheets()
                .values()
                .update(spreadSheetId, range, body)
                .setValueInputOption(VALUE_INPUT_OPTION)
                .execute();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        throw new RuntimeException("ERROR Occurred while insert / updating the values in Google Spread Sheet : " + spreadSheetId + "\n" + e);
    }
    logger.info(response.getUpdatedCells() + " cells updated.");
}

Find a Folder in Another Folder

private String getFolderIdIfExists(Drive driveService, String folderName) throws IOException {

    FileList folders = driveService.files().list()
            .setSupportsAllDrives(true)
            .setIncludeItemsFromAllDrives(true)
            .setQ(String.format("'%s' in parents and mimeType = 'application/vnd.google-apps.folder' and name = '%s'",
                    mainFolderId, folderName))
            .execute();

    return folders.getFiles().size() == 1 ? folders.getFiles().get(0).getId() : null;
}

Create a Folder In a Specific Folder

private String createUserFolderAndGetId(Drive driveService, String folderName) throws IOException {

    File fileSpec = new File();
    fileSpec.setName(folderName);
    fileSpec.setParents(Collections.singletonList(mainFolderId));
    fileSpec.setMimeType("application/vnd.google-apps.folder");

    File targetFolder = driveService.files()
            .create(fileSpec)
            .setSupportsAllDrives(true) //Share drives don't work without this parameter.
            .execute();

    return targetFolder.getId();
}