--- title: Google Drive description: Connect Drive to hold the documents behind your rules and to make your working files searchable. --- Sources # Google Drive Drive is where most agencies keep the documents that become rules, so this is usually the first source to connect. ## Connect it **Sources → Google Drive → Connect.** You'll sign in with Google and grant access. Then pick the folders to sync: browse *My Drive*, open folders, tick the ones you want, and sync. You're connecting **your** Google account. Your colleagues connect their own. ## What gets synced Every readable file in the folders you chose, including subfolders. Google Docs, Sheets and Slides are read in full, with their structure intact — a document keeps its tables, a spreadsheet keeps its rows. See [File formats](/reference/file-formats) for what's readable and what's skipped by name. Files Vythos can't read aren't silently dropped; they're reported with the reason. The text goes into your memory. **No file becomes a rule** because it was synced. ## Making a Drive document a rule Two ways, both on the Playbook page under **Add rule**: - **Paste its link** — any Drive or Docs URL. - **Choose from your sources → Google Drive** — browse *My Drive* and *Shared with me*, or search by file name. Files that are already rules are marked. A rule's document doesn't have to be in a synced folder. The rule points at the file itself. ## Keeping a rule current Edit the document and the rule follows within about ten minutes. For a PDF or Word file, use Drive's **Manage versions** (right-click the file → *File information* → *Manage versions*) so it stays the same file. A new file with a new name is a new document — add it and tick *replaces*. See [Update a rule](/using-vythos/update-a-rule). ## Shared drives and shared files Both work. *Shared with me* is browsable when adding a rule, and shared drives are supported. What matters is that the account you connected can open the file: rules are read with your access, so a file shared with you personally stops being readable if that sharing is withdrawn. For anything important, keep the document in a shared drive rather than a personal folder. ## Syncing again Automatically, about every half hour, slowing down while nothing changes and speeding up when it does. You can also sync by hand from the Sources page. Documents behind rules are checked more often — about every ten minutes — whether or not they're in a synced folder. ## Disconnecting Removes Vythos's access to Drive. Two things to know: - **What Drive already put into your memory stays.** If your aim is to remove that content, deleting the workspace removes everything; ask us if you need Drive's memory cleared on its own. - **Rules whose documents live in Drive stop following them**, and say so on their rows. They keep working with the text last read. ## Troubleshooting | Problem | Fix | |---|---| | *Vythos can't open that file with your Google account* | The file isn't shared with the connected account, or it moved to a drive that account can't see | | A rule stopped updating after someone left | Rules are read with the adder's access. Add the document again from an account that's staying | | A file didn't sync | Check the format list. Legacy `.doc`, `.xls`, `.ppt`, Pages, Numbers, Keynote and scanned PDFs aren't readable | | The folder list is huge | Use the search box when adding a rule; listings are capped and say when they've been cut short |