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Overview
The Google Shared Drives connector in SkySync allows you to analyze, migrate, copy, and synchronize files between your Google Shared Drives and cloud storage repositories and on-premise network file shares. The first step is to create the Google Shared Drives connection by providing the connection information required for SkySync to connect to the shared drives.
Creating connection | SkySync application user-interface
Select Connections > Add connection.
Select Google Shared Drives as the platform on the Add connection modal.
Enter the connection information. Reference the table below for details about each field.
- Test the connection to ensure SkySync can connect using the information entered.
You will see a "Connection test succeeded" message on the Add connection modal when SkySync establishes connection. (If you don't see this message, verify the information you entered.)
Select Done.
Add connection modal - Google Shared Drives
Field | Description | Required |
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| Display as | Enter the display name for the connection. If you will be creating multiple connections, ensure the name readily identifies the connection. The name displays in the application, and you can use it to search for the connection and filter lists. The maximum length is 255 characters. | Optional |
| Service Account Email | Enter the email address created during the Service Account creation process. It will resemble <service-account-name>@<project-id>.iam.gserviceaccount.com | Required |
| Private Key | Enter the private key required to access the drive. This is the value created when creating the new private key when creating a new Service Account in the Google IAM & admin Console. It will begin with " | Required |
| Subject Email | Enter the email address for the root account containing the data to be transferred. | Required |
| Domain | Enter the target domain name. For example, your-domain.com. If you do not include the domain for the Subject Email, you must include the domain in this field. This domain will then be used as the domain for the account. | Optional |
| Token Uri | Enter the custom authentication URI. If not supplied, the default is used - https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token. | Optional |
| Preserve content type | Indicate if SkySync should try to preserve files in their original content type. This feature is mainly used for Google to Google transfers. The default value is No. This means that an upload content type is not specified. Most files will still preserve content types. However, Google native documents and Microsoft Office files will transfer as Microsoft Office files. Selecting Yes will preserve files in their original content type. Google native documents will transfer as Google native documents. Microsoft Office files will transfer as Microsoft Office files. | Optional |
| Import as Google native documents | Indicate if SkySync should import Microsoft Office documents as Google documents. This feature is mainly used when transferring from any platform, such as Box to Google. The default value is No. This means Microsoft Office files will be preserved as their original content type. Selecting Yes will import all Microsoft Office files as Google native documents. | Optional |
| Behavior when deleting files | Select the type of delete SkySync should perform when deleting items: Permanent or Soft. Soft delete is the default delete behavior; however, Permanent is the recommended behavior. A soft delete marks items as a deleted. You can still access them to restore or permanently delete the items. A permanent delete removes the items. This delete is not reversible. | Optional |
| Allow file discovery | Indicate if files with shared links should be searchable. The default value is No. This means that only users with whom the file has been shared can find and access the file. Selecting Yes sets the "People can search for this file" setting in the file link settings to TRUE. This means any files with shared links can be found and accessed by any user through the search. | |
| Use domain admin access | Indicate is you want to allow domain-level administrator access to all Google shared drives, regardless of membership. The default value is No. This means the connection can only access shared drives the administrator is a member of. Selecting Yes allows the connection to access all shared drives in the administrator's domain/enterprise. | Optional |
Features and Limitations
Platforms all have unique features and limitations. SkySync’s transfer engine manages these differences between platforms and allows you to configure actions based on Job Policies and Behaviors. Utilize the Platform Comparisontool to see how your integration platforms may interact regarding features and limitations.
Files and Folders
Below is list of supported and unsupported features as well as additional file/folder restrictions.
Supported  | Not Supported  | Other Features and Limitations  |
|---|---|---|
| Version preservation | File lock propagation | File size maximum: 5 TB |
| Timestamp preservation | Mirror lock ownership | Invalid characters: / |
| Author/Owner preservation (SeeAuthor Preservation/Audit Trail Preservation below.) | Tags map | Path length maximum: None (SeePath Lengthsbelow) |
| Account map | Segment path length: 500 (SeePath Lengthsbelow) | |
| Group map | Restricted types: SeeRestricted Types below. | |
| Permission preservation (SeePermissions below.) | No leading spaces in file name/folder name | |
| User impersonation | No trailing spaces before or after file extensions | |
| Metadata map |
Author Preservation/Audit Trail Preservation
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SkySync supports author preservation in Shared Drives. It does this by impersonating the user that last modified the file when uploading the file. However, there are some limitations:
- The impersonating author must have access to the shared drive. If the shared drive and its permissions are transferred by the job, the source must have these permissions in place in the corresponding folder.
- SkySync cannot preserve the audit trail of external or deleted accounts since they cannot be impersonated.
Google Shared Drive Limits
Google limits the number of items, members, and daily uploads you can have in shared drives. Refer to Google's Shared drive limits documentation for more information.
Path Lengths Anchor Paths Paths
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Google does not impose restrictions for the total path length.
Segment path lengths are limited to 500 character. Segments are delimited by a forward slash (/). For example, <max 500 characters>/<max 500 characters>.
Permissions
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In Shared Drives, SkySync can assign the following permissions:
- Permissions are supported at the Shared Drive level (membership)
- A Shared Drive is comparable to a SharePoint Library.
In Shared Dives , SkySync cannot assign the following permissions:
- Permissions for folders within the Shared Drive
- Permissions for files within the Shared Drive
External/Internal file permissions can be added if they are not a part of the membership, but this must be configured in Shared Drives before it will work.
Restricted Types
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Google shared Drives also has the following restrictions and limitations for content. SkySync will handle the content as indicated.
Non-Transferable File Types and Elements
The following file types and elements cannot be transferred.
- Sites, Forms, Fusion Tables, My Maps, and Google Workspace Marketplace are all files that are not transferable.
- Comments in Docs, Sheets, and Slides are not transferable.
- You cannot transfer permissions to folders other than the shared drive.
- You cannot transfer demoting/deny permissions (disinheritance).
Google Docs
Native Google documents will be handled as indicated below.
- Although some platforms such as Box and Dropbox support Google Docs, SkySync does not currently support transferring them to Google Shared Drives.
- When transferring Google Docs from Google Shared Drives to another platform, SkySync will export the documents as Microsoft Office documents.
- Google Forms, Fusion Tables, Sites and My Maps are not available for download in Google Shared Drives. This means SkySync is prevented from transferring these items. Expected behavior is the item will be flagged with the error message "IO Violation and message:Downloading content is not supported for file...".
Microsoft Office Documents
When transferring Microsoft Office documents to Google Shared Drives, you can choose to either keep their original format or import them as Google Docs when setting up the connection.
Root File Transfers
You cannot transfer files to the root of your Google Shared Drives connection. Folders transferred to the root of the Google Shared Drives connection will be created as Team Drives.
Create connection | SkySync API
The sample code below shows how to create a shared drives connection that uses impersonation. Make sure the following fields are set accordingly.
- The client_email should be the Google Workspace Admin Service Account.
- The subject should be the email for the user you would like to impersonate.
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{
"name": "Google Shared Drives",
"type": "service_account",
"project_id": "your-project-id",
"platform": {
"id": "google-teams"
},
"auth": {
"private_key": "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----...-----END PRIVATE KEY-----\n",
"client_email": "your-service@your-project-id.iam.gserviceaccount.com",
"client_id": "12345678901234567890",
"subject": "youradmin@example.com",
"delete_behavior": "permanent"
}
} |