diff --git a/designsafe/apps/googledrive_integration/models.py b/designsafe/apps/googledrive_integration/models.py
index 4dc48e436e..f4bb8bf248 100644
--- a/designsafe/apps/googledrive_integration/models.py
+++ b/designsafe/apps/googledrive_integration/models.py
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ def get_prep_value(self, value):
         if value is None:
             return None
         else:
-            return encoding.smart_text(
+            return encoding.smart_str(
                 base64.b64encode(jsonpickle.encode(value).encode()))
 
     def value_to_string(self, obj):