GDrive Integration

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What is this website for?

    This site has a single purpose: it provides a way for you to grant us very restricted access to your Google™ Drive.
    • You can then use our GDrive Integration on Apify™ to automatically create or append any Apify Dataset to a Google™ Sheet document.
    • We can not see any of your other documents.

  2. Doesn't Apify already have an Integration to do this?

    Yes, but...
    • That only supports creating new documents every time, each containing a full copy of a single dataset.
    • But our service also supports:
      • The option to append data to an existing document.
      • Define specific columns as row keys, to avoid duplicates i.e., skip rows that already exist.
      • Coming soon: In-order Insert of new data. Preserve row ordering when inserting: if the new data does not naturally belong at end of existing spreadsheet, it is inserted where it belongs.

  3. What does it cost?

    That depends:
    • You can always grant access to your Google™ Drive, here, at any time, for free.
    • But using our GDrive Integration on Apify™ to send data to a spreadsheet, may incur costs.

  4. I dont like the sound of granting you access to my Google™ Drive account.

    You might be interested to know that:
    • We never see your login credentials (e.g. password).
    • If you sign-in here, we can only access documents we create for you, or that you share with us.
    • All other documents are invisible to us. While sign-in lets us see your email address, and standard profile information, we never see anything else in your Google account.
    • We do require two sets of permissions when you sign-in:
      • Sign in with Google
        • This lets you log in to this site, and lets us see your standard profile info & email address.
        • This is a standard minimum set of permissions associated with the Sign in with Google feature.
        • See more information here: support.google.com
      • The drive.file 'scope'
        • This is described by Google as recommended, and non-sensitive because it only supports creating documents for you, and modifying documents created by our service for you, or shared by you with our service. All other documents are invisible to us.
        • See more information here: developers.google.com
    • You can always revoke our access to your Google™ Drive account, by deleting us from your list of Google connections here: https://myaccount.google.com/connections

  5. Is my data secure?

    • Yes, your data is processed securely.
    • We use industry-standard encryption algorithms to protect all private or sensitive data.
    • We strive to process data in-memory only, where possible, and fit in to the existing security models and APIs that Apify already has in place.
    • If data must be stored, it is only for the briefest time possible to support the features you are using, and then deleted if no longer needed.
    • We do not archive your data, or share it with third parties without your explicit permission. Take a look at our Privacy Policy for more information. Review documentation on Apify to understand more about how and where they store your data.

  6. If GDrive Integrations create new Spreadsheets in my Google Drive. Do I lose control over them?

    • No. All documents in your Google Drive are always yours. You can always edit, delete, move, rename, duplicate or anything else.
    • GDrive Integrations expect the first row to name the data in each column. These cells correspond exactly to the field names in your Apify Dataset. Editing them may confuse any attempt to append new data.
    • If you need to manipulate the Spreadsheets created by GDrive Integrations, while still appending new data, it is recommended to either work on a duplicated/snapshot document, or reference the un-edited GDrive Integration document from your some other document of yours.
    • Any duplicates made by you of your Spreadsheets created by GDrive Integrations, are never available or visible in any way to GDrive Integrations, unless explicitly shared with us.
    • Once a GDrive Integration creates a Spreadsheet for you, you can always rename the file, even if your GDrive Integration is appending new data. We use the Google Document Id identify the document, not the name.
    • If you delete any document from your Google Drive, it goes into your Google Drive bin for 30 days. After that it is permanent deleted. Before it is permanently deleted, you can always take a document back out of the bin. Read more here: support.google.com
    • Deleted Spreadsheet documents in your Google Drive bin are still accessible to your GDRive Integrations, and if your GDrive Integration is configured to append, your document will continue to be updated until it is permanently deleted.
    • If you do not want a GDrive Integration to update a document in your Google Drive bin, you should permanently delete it, or delete the GDrive Integration that is pointing at your deleted document.
    • If a GDrive Integration is unable to find a document it created, it assumes it has been permanently deleted, and it creates a new Spreadsheet from the data in the current Apify Dataset.

  7. Do I need to install anything to use this tool?

    No installation is required. This is a web-based tool for granting permission, that you can access directly through your browser.
    Check out Apify.com to understand more about what they offer, and how to use their features.

  8. What should I do if I encounter errors, or other issues?

    • We really do want to improve this tool, so please get in touch if you have any issues, suggestions or any other feedback.