Sync Google Drive content with Showpad

What's in it for you

When your organization stores its collateral Google's cloud storage, it's important that the material remains the single source of truth when being distributed to your sales team. By syncing content directly from Google Drive, you can rest assured that all content in Showpad is the most current and up-to-date without manually updating single assets at a time. This saves time on the administrative side, allowing more time to create the perfect content.

Updates to the content in your Google Drive cloud storage will be reflected in the content library of the Online Platform. Use the monitoring tool in Showpad to verify details about each asset so you have better insight into the activity occurring related to your collateral, including a log of any changes that have been made to files. You can opt to delete or keep files by deleting the connection, which may happen if you have moved to another storage system or account. This gives you the flexibility to update connections over time without losing historical assets.

If you import content from Google Drive to your library, the assets with appear in Showpad as Microsoft Office native files. When importing by syncing with Google Drive, the assets will remain .gslides, .gdocs, etc. 

See how it works

Key features

• Streamlines your asset management in Showpad
• Ensures there is a single source of truth for your collateral
• Provides insights into asset activity and updates
• Content updates from Google Drive sync automatically with Showpad
• Native files (Gslides, Gsheets, and Gdocs) are converted to MS Office files upon synchronization to Showpad

Note: If you have the Google Slide integration, you will see .gslide files in your My Files, which are powered by PowerPoint as Google offers this as their export format. Check out this article for more information.

You need this to succeed

• Ultimate subscription for Showpad
• Content in Google Drive
• You can sync documents from your cloud storage of up to 500 MB each

Note: You cannot rename a file, move it to the trash, or upload a new version in the Online Platform if it was synced from Google Drive. Creation and management of 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 Google Drive and Showpad
• Verify your Google credentials 
• Choose the desired folders to sync to Showpad
• Confirm the files sync to the content library
• Link multiple Google Drive accounts across Divisions
• When needed, check the monitoring tool to see asset activity

Do this step by step

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 may configure an additional Google Drive account, such as a Shared Drive, to a different Division at any time. 
   
5. You will be asked which available cloud storage platform you want to sync your content from. Select Google Drive.

   Note: You may add one connection per Division when you link with Google Drive.

6. Enter a description of your connection in the provided field and click Next.
7. From there, you will be brought to a screen to authenticate your cloud storage credentials. Enter your password and click Next.
   
8. Allow the connection.
   
9. You are brought back to the Online Platform and the folders from your Google Drive are now 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 of its subfolders.
   
   

   Note: If you're restoring to a previous version of a Google document, make a small edit in the restored version to push the modification date and trigger the middleware to update.

10. You should now see the connection on the cloud storage page. To make edits to an existing connection, click Configure.
    
11. 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 you see an Invalid Pattern error, that means the file does not have a supported extension or has an invalid character in the title. If the file type is not supported, the error will display as Unsupported Extension.
    
    Currently, Showpad offers an hourly sync. If you need an expedited sync for urgent changes, you can click Force re-sync to manually trigger another sync of the content.
    The monitor shows events for two weeks. Older events are removed. You can also force a re-sync in case they need a faster sync that can't wait for the next auto-sync.
    
    We support documents of up to 500MB. 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 for larger files sizes.
    

    Note: The automatic check for content updates runs every 1 hour. New and updated content becomes available for your users minutes later, when processing is finished.

12. When you view the content library for that division, you will see the assets listed that were synced from your cloud repository. Assets synced from Google Drive will be indicated by a small arrow and box 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: Imported files to your library are converted to MS Office files upon synchronization to Showpad. Gslides become PPTX files, Gsheets become XLSX files, Gdocs become DOCX.