# General Translation Integrations: Configuring Google Drive
URL: https://generaltranslation.com/en-US/docs/integrations/google-drive/guides/configuring-google-drive.mdx
---

title: Configuring Google Drive
description: How to connect a Project to Google Drive with a personal Google account or an Organization shared drive.
related:
  links:
    - /docs/integrations/google-drive/guides/translating-content
    - /docs/integrations/google-drive/guides/managing-translations
    - /docs/integrations/google-drive/guides/using-translated-content

---

A Project reaches Google Drive through one of two identities: each member's own Google account, or a single translation account that an Organization admin gives access to your shared drives. Which one you pick decides whose files the Project can browse.

## Before you start [#before-start]

You need:

- `project:write` permission to connect the integration.
- `translations:content:write` permission to add, remove, or translate files.
- A plan that includes Project integrations. Shared drive access is a separate plan feature.

## Connect the integration [#connect]

1. Open **Project > Integrations > Catalog**.
2. Find **Google Drive** and click **Connect**.
3. Choose an access mode if the Dashboard asks.

The catalog marks Google Drive as connected, and the integration moves to **Project > Integrations > Connected**. Open it from there to add files, translate them, or reconnect an account.

## Choose an access mode [#access-mode]

The Dashboard offers a choice only when your Organization already has an active shared drive connection on a plan that includes it. Otherwise the Project uses personal accounts.

- **Personal Google account:** each member authorizes their own account and picks their own files. Choose this when the sources live in individual accounts.
- **Organization shared drive:** everyone on the Project works through one translation account. Choose this when the sources live in shared drives and access should not depend on any one person leaving.

Files added through a shared drive connection must live in a shared drive; files in **My Drive** are rejected.

## Connect a personal Google account [#personal-account]

On the integration's management page, click **Connect account** and complete Google authorization. Then click **Add files** and choose your Google Docs or Google Slides in the Google Picker.

General Translation receives access only to the files you select and the translated copies it creates, not to your whole Drive. See [Connection](/docs/integrations/google-drive/reference/connection#personal-account) for the exact scopes.

<Callout type="info">
  If the Google Picker opens without showing your files, reload the page and accept Google's cookie prompt. Browsers that block cross-site cookies by default can prevent the picker from loading.
</Callout>

## Set up an Organization shared drive [#shared-drive]

An Organization admin does this once, and every Project in the Organization can then use it.

1. Open **Organization > Connections**.
2. Click **Add connection**, then **Set up** for Google Drive.
3. Copy the translation account email the Dashboard displays.
4. In Google Drive, add that email to each shared drive it should reach, with the **Content manager** role.
5. Return to the Dashboard and click **Verify access**.

Once the connection is **Active**, Projects can select it. To add another shared drive later, grant the same translation account **Content manager** on it and verify access again.

## Disconnect access [#disconnect]

- **Personal account:** click **Disconnect account** on the management page. Your Google credentials are removed and the Project's linked files stay in place, but you cannot translate them until you reconnect. Other members keep working through their own accounts.
- **Organization shared drive:** an Organization admin clicks **Disconnect** on the connection under **Organization > Connections**. Every Project using it loses Drive access until the connection is set up again.

A Project cannot move from a shared drive connection to personal accounts while shared drive files are still linked. Remove those files first.

Disconnecting never deletes anything in Google Drive. Removing a file from the integration only drops the Project's link to it, leaving the source and its translated copies untouched. If the integration loses access to a file it already translated, see [Managing translations](/docs/integrations/google-drive/guides/managing-translations#drive-access).

## Next steps

- /docs/integrations/google-drive/guides/translating-content
- /docs/integrations/google-drive/guides/managing-translations
- /docs/integrations/google-drive/guides/using-translated-content