Using Space Brain
Connect Drive and Dropbox
Keep folders from Google Drive or Dropbox in sync with a knowledge base.
Instead of uploading by hand, Connect data keeps chosen cloud-drive folders copied into your Brain. When a file changes in the drive, you pick up the change with one click.
Before you start
- An Org Admin must have added the app (Google Drive or Dropbox) under Integrations. See Integrations.
- If your organization has each person connect their own account, you'll be asked to sign in the first time.
- You need a knowledge base you can edit to receive the files.
Set up a sync
- Open Brain › Connect data.
- Pick the app (Google Drive or Dropbox).
- Pick the knowledge base the files should go into.
- Tick the folders you want. Folders open one level at a time, and ticking a folder includes its subfolders.
- Click Sync.
The sync starts in the background. Under Your syncs you can watch its progress and see how many files were added, updated, removed and skipped, plus any error.
Day-to-day
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Sync now | Looks for changes and brings them in. Unchanged files aren't downloaded again. |
| Edit | Reopens the folder list with your folders ticked. |
| Untick a folder and sync | Deletes that folder's copied files from your Brain. |
| Remove | Deletes everything the sync copied, then the sync itself. |
Syncs run when you ask. There is no automatic schedule yet.
What gets copied, and where
- Files are copied into your own Library under
/me/connected/…, then processed and searched like any upload. They're yours, with your permissions. - Each synced folder joins the knowledge base as a live folder, so later files are included too.
- A file removed or moved out of the folder in the drive is removed from your Brain at the next sync, with everything derived from it.
What is skipped
A sync skips files it can't use, and tells you why for the first twenty:
- Audio, video and archives (like
.zip) - Google Forms and other Google file types that can't be exported
- Files that can't be downloaded
- Files over the upload size limit (up to 20 MB)
Limits
Each sync reads up to 8 levels of folders, 20 folders and 2,000 files. Progress is saved every ten files, so searching can begin while a large sync is still running. If a sync is interrupted by a restart, it picks up again automatically after a couple of hours.
Google Drive notes
- The starting list shows My Drive.
- Files in Shared with me aren't listed directly. Add the shared folder to My Drive first, and it will appear.
- Shared drives aren't listed.
One sync per person
A sync is personal: one per person, per connection, per knowledge base. If the connection or the knowledge base is later deleted, the sync stays visible so you can still remove its files, and it explains why it can't run.