Documents
Importing from Google Drive and Dropbox
Pick files from Google Drive or Dropbox, or connect a Dropbox account so documents arrive in your library automatically.
There are two different ways to get documents in from outside Spyral. They behave differently, so it is worth knowing which one you are using.
- Picking files once, from the upload page. This is a one off. Nothing is connected afterwards. Google Drive and Dropbox both work this way.
- Connecting an account, from Settings. Spyral then keeps importing new files by itself. Dropbox only.
Picking files
On the Upload Documents page there are Google Drive and Dropbox buttons in the top right. Each opens that service's own file picker. The files you choose are downloaded into the upload list, and from there they behave exactly like files you dragged in from your computer.
That means the same rules apply: PDF, DOCX or XLSX, and 10 MB maximum. See Uploading documents.
Google asks only for the files you select. The consent screen says Spyral may see and download the specific files you choose, and that is exactly what happens. Spyral has no way to see anything else in your Drive, including files in the same folder.
Things that can go wrong:
- "Google Drive is not configured" or "Dropbox is not configured" means this has not been switched on for your firm. Ask your Spyral administrator.
- "Authentication was cancelled" means the sign in window was closed before it finished.
- "Access denied" means permission was refused on the provider's consent screen.
- "Import failed. Please try again." means the download did not complete.
Both pickers rely on a script loaded from Google or Dropbox. If your firm blocks third party scripts, or you use a strict ad blocker, the button appears to do nothing at all when clicked. Try again with the blocker disabled for Spyral, or ask your IT contact.
Connecting a Dropbox account
Go to Settings, then the Integrations tab, and find Connected Accounts. Dropbox is the provider you can connect.
Once connected, the account is listed with the email address it belongs to, when it last synced, and how many files have come through it.
Connecting accounts is a permission your administrator controls. If the section says you do not have access, ask them to grant it.
The two folders
When you connect Dropbox, Spyral creates two folders in it:
- Spyral Sync. Anything you put here is imported and shared with your whole firm.
- Spyral Private. Anything you put here is imported and visible only to you.
Spyral only ever looks in those two folders. The rest of your Dropbox is not read.
To import a document, move or copy it into one of those folders. It arrives in your library and is processed the same way as an upload.
What a connected account will accept
Files imported from a connected Dropbox account may be up to 100 MB, which is much larger than the 10 MB limit that applies to direct upload and to both file pickers. This is the practical route for large scanned bundles.
The accepted formats are PDF, DOCX and XLSX, the same three as direct upload.
PowerPoint files are skipped rather than imported. Spyral cannot read a .pptx, so it leaves it in the folder instead of creating a document that would fail. Convert a presentation to PDF if its content matters.
Keeping it up to date
Spyral checks connected accounts on a regular schedule in the background, so a file you drop in a folder appears after a short delay rather than instantly.
Each connected account has three controls:
- Sync now pulls everything immediately instead of waiting for the next check.
- Pause sync stops new files being imported. Documents already imported stay where they are.
- Disconnect removes Spyral's access to the account entirely. Everything already imported is kept, and simply becomes an ordinary document in your library.
If something goes wrong with the connection, the error is shown in red on the account's row. Reconnecting usually clears it.
What happens when a file changes
Editing a file in a synced folder creates a second document in Spyral. The earlier version stays in your library rather than being replaced, so you end up with two rows with the same name and different contents.
Delete the older one yourself if you do not want both.
Deleting a file from the synced folder does not delete it from Spyral. The document stays in your library and stops being tracked. Delete it in Spyral as well if you want it gone.
Google Drive folder sync and Gmail import have been withdrawn
Spyral used to offer a connected Google Drive account that watched a folder, and a connected Gmail account that imported attachments from your inbox. Both have been withdrawn.
Reading a whole Drive folder, or a mailbox, requires the broadest categories of access Google grants. Spyral asked for far less than it was given, but the permission itself was wide, and keeping it meant asking every client to approve access we did not want in the first place. Picking files gives Spyral exactly the documents you choose and nothing else, so that is the route we kept.
Nothing you already imported is affected. Every document that arrived through Drive or Gmail stays in your library as an ordinary document.
If you previously connected one of these accounts, it still appears under Connected Accounts marked Retired. It no longer imports anything. Use Disconnect on it, which also revokes Spyral's remaining access to that Google account.
Instead:
- For Drive documents, use the Google Drive button on the upload page and select what you need.
- For email attachments, save the attachment and upload it, or put it in your Dropbox Spyral Sync folder.
Which route to use
- A handful of files, already on your computer: upload them directly.
- Files that live in Drive or Dropbox: use the picker on the upload page.
- Files larger than 10 MB, or a steady flow of documents you want in Spyral without thinking about it: connect Dropbox and use the folders.