Google Drive automation with read-only access by design.
Cronable searches your Drive and reads file details for workflows that need to know what changed: new contracts in a folder, files nobody has touched in a year, uploads waiting to be processed. The integration is read-only, so it never modifies your files.
A Google Drive workflow on the canvas
Each card is one job. A wire means the next job runs when the one before it succeeds, or when it fails.
Post to #legal
Slack·Running
After Yesterday’s files (succeeded)
1s
Yesterday’s files
Code·Succeeded
After New contracts (succeeded)
2 min ago
New contracts
Google Drive·Succeeded
Daily at 07:00
2 min ago
New contracts
Google Drive·Succeeded
Daily at 07:00
2 min ago
Yesterday’s files
Code·Succeeded
After New contracts (succeeded)
2 min ago
Post to #legal
Slack·Running
After Yesterday’s files (succeeded)
1s
“Every morning, list the files added to my Contracts folder in Google Drive yesterday and post them to #legal in Slack.”
Every Google Drive step Cronable ships
Actions
Steps a workflow can take in Google Drive.List and search files
List a folder or search with Drive’s query syntax, choose the sort order, and page through results or fetch every page in one run.
Get a file
Read one file’s metadata by ID, with the fields you choose.
Custom request
Any other read-only Drive API path.
Triggers
What starts a Google Drive workflow.Google Drive has no trigger in Cronable. Run a Drive search on a schedule for files modified since the last run, or use the Folder watch trigger to react to files in a local folder on your machine.
Google Drive workflows worth automating first
New files in a folder
Each morning, list a folder, let a Code step keep the files created yesterday, and post the list with links to Slack.
Stale document report
Search for files not modified in a year and email the owners a list to archive or update.
Upload intake
List a shared upload folder every hour and hand new files’ details to the next step for review or logging in a sheet.
Weekly Drive inventory
Fetch every file in a shared drive once a week and append counts by type and owner to a Google Sheet.
How you connect
Connecting Google Drive
Google Drive uses a service account with the read-only Drive scope. No consent screen, no verification.
- 1Create a service account in Google Cloud and download its JSON key once.
- 2Store the key as a Google service account credential in Cronable.
- 3Share the files or folders with the service account’s email, or add it to a shared drive. A service account only sees what is shared with it.
Your Google Drive automation, on your own machine
Runs on your own machine
Install Cronable as a Mac or Windows app, or on a server you own. Your Google Drive jobs, secrets and run history stay on that machine by default.
Built from one sentence
Describe the workflow in plain English and the built-in assistant builds the jobs, the schedule and the failure handling for you to review on the canvas. On every plan, including Free.
Unlimited runs
Plans count the jobs you define, not how often they fire. A job that touches Google Drive every hour costs the same as one that runs once a month.
Credentials encrypted locally
Keys and tokens are AES-256-GCM encrypted in a local database, referenced from jobs by name and masked out of logs and run output.
Google Drive automation, answered
Can Cronable read Google Drive?
Yes. It lists folders, searches with Drive’s query syntax, reads a file’s metadata and calls other read-only Drive endpoints.
Can it change or delete my files?
No. The Google Drive integration uses the read-only Drive scope, so it cannot modify, move or delete anything.
Why does the search come back empty?
A service account is not a person and only sees what is shared with it. Share the folder with its client_email address, or add it to the shared drive.
Where is the Drive key stored?
Encrypted in Cronable’s credential store on your own machine, with the whole key masked in logs and output.
Can a new file start a workflow?
There is no Drive trigger. A scheduled search for recently modified files does the job, and for files on your own disk the Folder watch trigger fires as they arrive.
Related integrations
Solutions that use Google Drive
Anything you do twice in Google Drive is cronable.
If you check a Drive folder every morning, the checking is cronable.