> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.trybrink.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Google Drive

> Sync My Drive folders and shared drives into Brink

Google Drive feeds your Drive folders and shared drives into Brink's Document Center: files are versioned, parsed (with OCR for scans), classified, and made searchable with page-level citations.

**Who can connect:** organization owners and admins for a shared connection; any member can connect their own Drive from **Profile → My integrations**.

## Connect Google Drive

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Integrations">
    On the **Integrations** page, click the **Google Drive** card, then **Connect Google Drive**.

    For a personal connection, go to **Profile → My integrations** and click **Connect** on Google Drive instead.

    <Frame caption="The Google Drive drawer — Connect Google Drive, and the Connection method section below it">
      <img src="https://mintcdn.com/brink-ai/UOQCALpdZ3FrSdYn/images/google-drive/card.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=UOQCALpdZ3FrSdYn&q=85&s=1e914feb9668936d2652ca0a26b81f6d" alt="Integrations page with the Google Drive drawer open" width="1600" height="890" data-path="images/google-drive/card.png" />
    </Frame>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Authorize with Google">
    Sign in and approve access. Brink asks for **read-only** access to Drive and for your email address — it never writes, renames, or deletes anything in Drive.

    Use an account that can already see the folders and shared drives you want covered: Brink's access follows exactly what that account can see.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Bind folders">
    Brink returns you to the Integrations page and opens **Bind folders to a project** automatically. Pick the **Project**, tick what Brink should sync, and click **Bind *n* folders**.

    The list offers **My Drive** first, then its top-level folders, then every **shared drive** the account can see. Choose **Skip for now** if you would rather bind later.

    <Tip>
      Binding **My Drive** or a whole shared drive is the safest choice if your folder structure gets reorganized — everything underneath stays covered.
    </Tip>
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Warning>
  An organization Google Drive connection with **no folder binding syncs nothing
  at all** — Brink will not walk an entire company Drive and publish it
  org-wide. Bind at least one folder to finish the setup.
</Warning>

To add bindings later, open the **Google Drive** card, and on the account click **Bind folders** — the same picker opens. You can also bind from a project's **Integrations** tab on the **Projects** page.

## What gets synced

Every file in each bound folder or shared drive, including all of its subfolders, flows into the Document Center — stored, versioned, read page by page (with OCR for scans), and made searchable, keeping the page and line behind every citation.

* **Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides** are exported to PDF so they can be read and cited like any other document.
* **Other Google-native items** — Forms, Drawings, My Maps, Sites, and shortcuts — are skipped: there is no document body to index.
* **Unchanged files are skipped.** Brink compares each file's version against what it already holds, so a re-sync downloads only what actually changed.
* **Deletions carry over.** A file deleted or moved to the Drive trash is marked deleted in Brink, and so is a file moved out of a bound folder.

<Note>
  Very large files are recorded by name and location but not read: Brink's
  per-file limit is 300 MB by default, and Google's own export limit means a
  Google Doc, Sheet, or Slide deck over 10 MB lands as metadata only.
</Note>

## Use your own Google app

By default Brink connects through Brink's own Google app. Organization owners and admins can instead point Google Drive at **their own Google Cloud OAuth client** — useful when your Google Workspace policy only allows internal apps to access Drive.

Open **Integrations → Google Drive → Connection method**. The card shows which app is in use (**Brink's app**, badged *Default*, or **Your own Google Drive app**, badged *In use*). Click **Use your own Google Drive developer app** to expand the panel.

<Frame caption="Connection method — the Redirect URI to copy, and the two credential fields">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/brink-ai/UOQCALpdZ3FrSdYn/images/google-drive/byo-credentials.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=UOQCALpdZ3FrSdYn&q=85&s=7bdadbccdc61f098f3fabbb9003c2bf2" alt="Google Drive connection method panel with redirect URI and client credential fields" width="1600" height="890" data-path="images/google-drive/byo-credentials.png" />
</Frame>

<Note>
  Pointing Google Drive at your own app does **not** affect Gmail or Google
  Calendar — they keep using Brink's Google app.
</Note>

### Create the OAuth client in Google Cloud

You'll need a Google account with access to the [Google Cloud Console](https://console.cloud.google.com/). It takes about 10 minutes, once per organization.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create a project and enable the Drive API">
    In the [Google Cloud Console](https://console.cloud.google.com/), create a project (or pick an existing one), then open **APIs & Services → Library**, search for **Google Drive API**, and click **Enable**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Configure the consent screen">
    Under **APIs & Services → OAuth consent screen**, set the user type to **Internal** if your organization uses Google Workspace. Internal apps are limited to accounts in your own domain and need no review from Google.

    <Warning>
      Choosing **External** means Google treats the Drive scope as *restricted* and requires app verification before people outside your test-user list can connect. Internal is the right choice for a company connector.
    </Warning>

    Add the scopes Brink uses — `https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.readonly` and `https://www.googleapis.com/auth/userinfo.email`. Both are read-only.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Copy Brink's Redirect URI">
    In Brink, open **Integrations → Google Drive → Connection method → Use your own Google Drive developer app** and copy the value under **Redirect URI — add this to your app's allowed redirect URIs**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create the OAuth client ID">
    Go to **APIs & Services → Credentials → Create credentials → OAuth client ID**. Choose application type **Web application**, give it a recognizable name such as `Brink Connector`, and under **Authorised redirect URIs** click **Add URI** and paste Brink's Redirect URI. It must match character-for-character.

    Click **Create**. Google shows the **Client ID** and **Client secret** — copy both.
  </Step>
</Steps>

### Save it in Brink

<Steps>
  <Step title="Paste the credentials">
    Back in the Brink drawer, paste the values into **Google Drive OAuth client ID** and **Google Drive OAuth client secret**, then click **Save credentials**. The secret is stored encrypted and write-only — once saved it is only ever shown masked.

    Only the fields you fill in are saved, so you can rotate the secret later without retyping the client ID.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Connect">
    Click **Connect Google Drive** and authorize as usual. Existing connections keep working; the next connect uses your app.
  </Step>
</Steps>

To go back, click **Use Brink's app instead** in the same panel and confirm.

<Warning>
  Changing credentials on an already-connected account may invalidate the
  existing authorization. If the connection then shows **Needs attention**,
  click **Reconnect** to re-authorize against the new app.
</Warning>

**If something goes wrong:** a "redirect URI mismatch" error means the URI in Google Cloud doesn't exactly match the one in Brink's drawer — re-copy it. "Access blocked: this app is not verified" usually means the consent screen is set to **External** with the restricted Drive scope. And if folders are missing after connecting, the Google account you authorized with cannot see them — connect with an account that can, or share the folder with it.

## Notes

* Google Drive syncs on the regular schedule, roughly every **15 minutes**. You can force one at any time with **Sync now**.
* A **personal** Google Drive connection with no folder binding covers your whole Drive, and everything from it stays visible only to you.
* Moving an entire folder *into* a bound folder can take until the next full sync for its existing files to appear; the folder itself is picked up right away.
* Disconnecting revokes Brink's access with Google and deletes the stored credentials.