Sync Cloud content with Showpad

What's in it for you

When your organization stores its collateral in Dropbox's or Box's cloud storage, the material must remain the single source of truth when distributed to your sales team. By syncing content directly from Dropbox and Box, you can rest assured that all content in Showpad is the most current and up-to-date without manually updating assets. This saves administrative waste and allows more time to create the perfect content. 
Organizations and permissions change, so you can change the ownership of the synchronization when needed.

Updates to the content in your Dropbox or Box cloud storage will be reflected in the content library of the Online Platform. However, if you delete a synced folder or asset in your content management system, it will be archived in Showpad's trash instead of permanently deleted.

Use the monitoring tool in Showpad to verify details about each asset, so you have better insight into the activity related to your collateral, including a log of any changes made to files.

You can opt to delete or keep files when you delete the connection, typically if you have moved to another storage system. This allows you to update connections over time without losing historical assets.

Note: This article covers syncing your Dropbox or Box cloud storage. For information on syncing with Google Drive, see this article.

Key features

• Streamlines your asset management in Showpad
• Ensures there is a single source of truth for your collateral
• Change ownership of the synchronization
• Provides updates and insights into asset activity
• Content updates on Dropbox and Box sync automatically with Showpad
• Deleted assets in the cloud storage are archived in Showpad
• To edit synced assets, you can unlink them in Showpad's library. Read more here 

You need this to succeed

• Ultimate subscription for Showpad
• Content in Dropbox and/or Box
• As the Integration user, you need Read and Write access to all Box folders that will be synced
• Enable third-party apps in Dropbox and Box, so the connection is allowed
• You can upload supported file types in your cloud storage
• To edit the selected synced folders, you must be the integration owner

Note: You cannot edit, rename, delete, or update assets in the Online Platform that were synced from Dropbox and Box. Creating and managing tags related to all assets must be done in the Online Platform. They are not transferable from the cloud solution.

The quick way to awesomeness

• Set up a connection between Dropbox or Box and Showpad
• Verify your credentials for Dropbox or Box
• Choose the folders to sync to Showpad
• Check the monitoring tool to see asset activity
• Change the ownership of the synchronization
• Troubleshooting assets removed from Showpad

Do this step by step

Note: In our example, we use Dropbox as cloud storage. The steps to follow are the same for a Box account.

Setting up the connection

1. Click the gear settings icon and select Integrations in the Online Platform.
2. If you have cloud storage enabled, you will see it on the left-hand side under Integrations.
   
3. If you are setting up a cloud storage sync for the first time, click Get Started. To add another connection, click New Connection.
   
4. Choose the division you want to sync content to. You can only have one content sync connection per division.
   
5. You will be asked which cloud storage platform you want to sync your content from. Select Dropbox or Box.

   Note: You can add one connection per cloud storage option. If you are adding from Google Drive, check out this article. 

6. Enter a description of your connection in the provided field and click Next.

Verifying your credentials

1. You will be brought to a screen to authenticate your cloud storage credentials from there. You may also need to authorize Showpad as a trusted app. This will look slightly different depending on which platform you use but, in general, it will appear similar to the platform's login screen.
2. Allow the connection.
   

Selecting the folders to sync

1. You are brought back to the Online Platform. You see the folders from your cloud storage platform listed under the Syncing Folders tab of the configuration window. Select the folders you want to sync into Showpad. You cannot select subfolders individually. Once you select a parent folder, you cannot unselect any subfolders.
   
2. You should now see the connection on the cloud storage page. To make any edits to the existing connection, click Configure.
   

Monitor the asset activity

By clicking Monitor you can view an activity log of the assets. This includes when the asset was synced to Showpad and any modifications made to the asset in the cloud storage. If necessary, you can manually click Force Re-sync to trigger another sync of the content.
 
The monitor shows events for the previous 14 days. Older events are removed and not retrievable. You can also force a re-sync in case they need an expedited sync that can't wait for the next auto-sync.
If the syncing fails for a document, check the file size. You can export the document as a PDF and sync the PDF from the cloud storage as a workaround.

Note: The automatic check for content updates runs every 1 hour. New and updated content becomes available for your users minutes after processing.

1. When you view the content library for that division, you will see the listed assets synced from your cloud repository. Assets synced from Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box will be indicated by a small cloud icon to the left of the filename. You will only be able to edit certain details of these files. You will not see the option Move to Trash as you would assets that were added directly to the Online Platform. They must be deleted in Google Drive or Box to maintain a single source of truth.
   
   

   Note: When using Google Drive, native files are converted to MS Office files upon synchronization to Showpad. Gslides become PPTX files, Gsheets become XLSX files, Gdocs become DOCX.

Changing the integration ownership

You can change the user that handles the integration with your cloud storage. If you are not the initial creator of the cloud storage synchronization, then you see the option to change ownership.

Note: If you are the owner of the Showpad organization, you can change and also delete the integration. If you are a Showpad administrator, you can only change the integration user.

1. Ensure the new user can access the same folders in your cloud storage as the previous user.
2. Click the Change Ownership button.
3. You will be asked to verify your Google account and see a list of folders that are not accessible when you decide to use this new integration user. This allows you to fix the permissions in your cloud storage. You will get confirmation if all the folders are accessible.

Troubleshooting removed assets

When there's a change in the cloud storage platform, it can lead to unexpected behavior in Showpad. For example, when a folder is deleted or moved in your cloud storage, and it was configured to sync with Showpad, assets seem unexpectedly removed from Showpad. 

If this occurs, you can check the trash for these assets. Showpad doesn't permanently delete these files but archives them so you can restore them if necessary. You can follow these steps to fix the issue:

1. Check the Monitor of the affected cloud storage configuration to determine what assets were archived and their original location.
2. Fix the state in your cloud storage system by ensuring access to the folders is restored.
3. Go back to the library in Showpad from which the files were removed and open the trash.
4. Restore all impacted files.

By restoring the files, the cloud storage will recognize the files during the first sync, after the access is restored, and they will keep synchronizing again.

Synchronization happens automatically every hour. If the syncing starts while you are fixing the state of your cloud storage, the following will happen:

• All files from the restored location in the cloud storage will be synced as new to Showpad while the previously removed assets are still in the trash.
• Both the new assets and the assets in the trash will have the same reference to the original asset in the cloud storage. You need to delete the new assets from Showpad's Content Library and restore the archived assets from the trash.