Integrations
Google Drive
Add images, PDFs, videos and Google Docs, Sheets and Slides from your Drive, and bring in a new version when a file changes there.
Add files from your Google Drive to a Static files project without downloading them first. Pick images, PDFs and videos, or a Google Doc, Sheet or Slides deck, which comes in as a PDF. When a file changes in Drive, layernote says so, and one click brings it in as a new version, with the comments kept on the old one.
Google Drive comes with every plan. It is yours, not the workspace's: you connect it once and it works in every workspace you're in. You find it on the Integrations page in the sidebar.
Connect Google Drive
On the Integrations page, click Connect for Google Drive. Google asks you to pick an account and allow layernote; once you do, the window closes by itself and the page says which account is connected.
You can also start in a project: choosing From Google Drive there connects Drive first when it isn't yet, then opens the picker.
- layernote only sees the files you pick. It can't look through the rest of your Drive.
- Each person connects their own Drive. Your teammates don't need one to see the files you added, comment on them or bring in their new versions.
- Reviewers on a share link don't see Google Drive.
Add files from Drive
In a Static files project, click Upload files at the foot of the Files sidebar and choose From Google Drive. In a project without files yet, click Choose from Google Drive. Google's picker opens: pick up to 20 files at once, from My Drive or a shared drive. They come into the project like an upload, and your teammates see them appear right away.
On a phone, open the project, then its menu, and choose Add from Google Drive.
- A file from Drive counts toward the same upload limits and storage as one from your computer. See Plans and limits.
- A file that is already in the project can't be picked again. Its changes come in as new versions of the file that is there.
What comes in
| In Google Drive | In layernote |
|---|---|
| Images: JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, AVIF and SVG | The image |
| PDFs | The PDF, with every page in the page strip |
| Videos, such as MP4, MOV, WebM, MKV or AVI | The video. A format a browser can't play is converted to MP4 first |
| Google Docs, Sheets and Slides | A PDF, so a Doc called Brochure becomes Brochure.pdf |
| Google Drawings | A PNG |
Other files, such as Word files and forms, don't show in the picker. A file in the trash, or one whose owner doesn't allow downloading, stays out, and layernote says which file it was and why.
When a file changes in Drive
layernote keeps track of the Drive file each file came from. When someone changes it in Drive, the file gets an Updated in Drive mark in the Files sidebar, and the same words show beside the version menu in the header. Hover it to see who changed it and when; click it to bring the new one in as the file's next version. The comments stay on the version they were made on, as with any version of a file.
Nothing comes in by itself: a new version arrives only when someone clicks. layernote asks Drive while the project is open, at most every five minutes per file, so a change can take a few minutes to show.
- Anyone who can add files to the project can bring in the new version, without connecting Drive themselves: layernote asks Drive with the account of whoever added the file.
- The version menu has New version from Google Drive… on any file, to pick its next version in Drive yourself. On a file from Drive it also has Open in Google Drive.
- When a file can't come in again, the version menu says why: Drive no longer lets layernote open it, it is in the trash, whoever added it has left the project, or their Drive was disconnected.