Google Drive sync

Google Drive sync is for signed-in accounts. Open Settings, then Account, and find Google Drive under Cloud Sync. It is the same in every app and on liveworkspace.app, and connecting once covers them all. Choose Connect: Google asks you to let liveworkspace create files in your Drive and appear in its Open with menu, then brings you back to Cloud Sync.

liveworkspace only sees files it created, or a file you open with it. Google gives it no view of the rest of your Drive.

The first time, liveworkspace makes a folder called liveworkspace and copies your work into it, oldest first, in folders that match yours, each item a file named after it with its app's extension (.livediagram, .liveplanner, .livedocuments, .livedesign) and a picture of it as the thumbnail. Cloud Sync shows the progress, and the copy carries on if you close the tab. You may rename or move the folder in Drive; liveworkspace keeps using it.

Everything you own outside a team, from every app, in your own folders. Not synced: items in a team, items others shared with you, and anything kept only in this browser (This Browser and Offline). Move an item into a team and its file goes to Drive's bin; move it back out and the file returns.

The copy in Drive is a mirror. Your work still lives in liveworkspace, so sharing, realtime editing and history work exactly as before.

An item's contents go one way, from liveworkspace to Drive. Names, folders and the bin go both ways.

It works the other way too: rename a file in Drive, move it to another folder in the liveworkspace tree, or move it to the bin, and the item follows. Restoring it from Drive's bin restores the item; deleting it for good from Drive deletes it only if it is already in your Trash. Folders follow the same way. Edits to a file's contents made in Drive are not taken in: liveworkspace writes its copy again on the next sync.

Syncing is automatic, and it runs on liveworkspace's servers, so it keeps up whether or not you have a tab open. There is nothing to press.

• A change you make is synced about half a minute after you stop, so a burst of edits is one sync.
• An item's contents are written at most once every 5 minutes, so a long editing session writes to Drive a few times rather than on every change. Renames, moves and the bin are never held back.
• Google tells liveworkspace when your Drive changes, and a change there follows about half a minute later. A slower check every so often catches anything missed.
• Opening Cloud Sync checks straight away.

The Google Drive row in Cloud Sync says where it stands: Last synced a while ago (or Not synced yet), Syncing…, or Copying 3 of 12… during the first copy. Under the row, it names the Drive folder your work is synced to. When something needs you, the status turns amber with a warning sign (Needs reconnecting, Needs attention or Offline) and a second line says what happened, with the button to fix it.

In the Explorer, each item you own carries a small cloud by its Updated time:

• Synced, a tick: Drive has its latest version.
• Waiting, an arrow: it will be copied on the next sync.
• Syncing, turning arrows: it is being copied now.
• Failed, an exclamation mark: it couldn't be copied, and is tried again automatically.

A small locked folder beside an item's name means its file sits in a Drive folder liveworkspace can't see (below).

A folder you make in Google Drive itself is invisible to liveworkspace until you show it one. If you move an item's file into such a folder, the item moves to the root of your work here, and Cloud Sync and the item's Explorer row say so. The file stays where you put it in Drive. The notice clears as soon as the item moves again, from either side: move the file into one of the folders liveworkspace made, or move the item into a folder here.

Folders you make in liveworkspace always appear in Drive, so building your tree here needs no extra step.

Right-click a file in Google Drive and choose Open with, then liveworkspace. Your own item opens in its app straight away. A copy you made in Drive, a file someone shared with you, or one from another liveworkspace is offered as Import as a copy, which makes a new item of your own from it and opens it. Copies made in Drive are never picked up on their own: Google keeps them hidden from liveworkspace until you open one this way.

If you are signed out, you sign in first. If liveworkspace has no access to Drive yet, choose Allow access: it connects Drive and comes back to the same file.

• Offline. Google Drive can't be reached just now. liveworkspace tries again by itself.
• Needs reconnecting. Google stopped accepting liveworkspace's access: you removed it from your Google account, or Google expired it. Syncing pauses and nothing is deleted, here or in Drive. Choose Reconnect (in Cloud Sync, or on the banner in the Explorer) and sync carries on.
• Needs attention. An item moved in Drive into a folder liveworkspace can't see. Move it into one of your liveworkspace folders, in Drive or here, and the notice clears.

If you reconnect with a different Google account, nothing changes until you choose. Switch Google Account? asks first: Switch Account moves Cloud Sync to the new account and starts a fresh copy in its Drive, and the files already in the other account's Drive stay there untouched. Keep Current Account leaves everything as it was. The question waits 30 minutes; after that, connect again.

Choose Disconnect in Cloud Sync. liveworkspace stops updating Drive and forgets its access; your files stay in Drive. Connect again later and liveworkspace finds the same folder rather than making a second one.

Deleting your liveworkspace account disconnects Drive the same way, and the files in your Drive stay yours.