Google Drive Integration

Overview

Bring your Google Drive documents into Conveyor AI. This integration makes it easy to keep your documentation up to date while maintaining complete control over what content is accessible. Documents will automatically be pulled from Google Drive into Conveyor AI using secure service account authentication.

Key Features:

• Granular Security: Only files you explicitly share with the service account are accessible
• No Drive-Wide Access: Complete control over what Conveyor can see

Prerequisites

This integration requires coordination between different roles in your organization:

For IT Administrators

• Access to your organization's Google Cloud Platform console
• Permissions to enable APIs and create service accounts in GCP
• Google Workspace Admin Console access (for Google Groups setup)

For Conveyor Administrators

• Access to a Conveyor Admin account
• Coordination with IT team to obtain service account credentials

For End Users

• Access to Google Drive files/folders you want to integrate
• Permission to share files and folders in Google Drive
• Understanding of what content should be accessible to Conveyor

How access works

Conveyor connects to Google Drive through a service account (a dedicated Google account that you create and control). Access works in two layers:

Layer 1: Google Drive sharing determines the maximum Conveyor can ever see. The service account can only access files and folders that have been explicitly shared with it, just like sharing with any other Google user.

• Viewer access is sufficient. The service account does not need edit permissions.
• Folder-level sharing works. Share a parent folder and everything inside it becomes accessible.
• Google Drive shortcuts do not grant access. Shortcuts are links that point to files stored elsewhere. Sharing a folder full of shortcuts does not give the service account access to the underlying files. You must share the actual files or their real parent folders.

Layer 2: External Links control what Conveyor actually syncs. Sharing a file or folder with the service account does not automatically import anything. You choose exactly what gets synced by creating External Links in the Conveyor UI. You can create multiple External Links, each scoped to different folders and tagged to different product lines.

If your team doesn't own the files

The person setting up Conveyor may not have permission to share files or folders they don't own. There are two ways to handle this:

1. Ask the file owner or IT admin to share directly. Have them share the relevant folders with the service account. It appears as a normal Google user in their sharing dialog.
2. Request sharing permissions for yourself. Ask IT or the folder owner to grant you permission to manage sharing on those folders. Then you can share them with the service account directly, without needing to loop someone in each time.

Installation

For detailed instructions, see: Google Drive Service Account Setup Guide

Step 1: Set Up Service Account (IT Administrator)

Before configuring the integration in Conveyor, your IT Administrator needs to create a Google Cloud Platform service account. This is a one-time setup process.

Quick Summary:

1. Enable Google Drive API in Google Cloud Platform
2. Create a service account with Viewer permissions
3. Generate JSON credentials for the service account
4. (Recommended) Create a Google Group and add the service account as an external member
5. Securely provide credentials to Conveyor Administrator

Step 2: Enable the Google Drive Integration (Conveyor Administrator)

As a Conveyor Admin:

1. Navigate to the Organization Preferences page
2. Click "Add Integration"
3. Select "Google Drive"
4. Upload the JSON credentials file provided by your IT Administrator
5. Test the connection to verify the integration is working

Step 3: Share Files with Your Service Account

After the integration is configured, you need to share Google Drive files and folders with your service account to make them accessible to Conveyor.

For detailed instructions, see: Sharing Files with Your Service Account Guide

Quick Summary:

1. Obtain your service account email or Google Group email from your Conveyor Administrator
2. Share individual files or entire folders with the service account
3. Verify shared content appears in Conveyor's External Sources

Step 4: Add Files and Folders from Google Drive

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Supported File Types in Google Drive

Currently supports Google Docs/Microsoft Word, Google Slides/Microsoft Powerpoint, PDF files, and plain text files. Google Sheets support coming soon.

As a user with shared content:

1. Navigate to the External Sources page of your Knowledge Base
2. Click "Add Knowledge" and select "Google Drive"
3. Browse and select from files and folders you've shared with the service account
4. Choose individual files or entire folders based on your needs
5. Conveyor will sync the selected content automatically
6. Your content will show up on your External Sources page as cards

File Synchronization Behavior

Individual File Selection

When you select individual files, only those specific files will be synced to your knowledge base. If new files are added to the same folder later, they will not be automatically included.

Folder Sync (Dynamic Sync)

When you select an entire folder for sync, the system will:

• Sync all current files and subfolders within that folder
• Automatically include new files added to that folder in the future
• Recursively sync all nested subfolders and their contents
• Continue monitoring the folder for changes during daily sync cycles