Google Drive Integration

This integration syncs files from Google Drive to Crowdin for translation, then syncs translations back to Google Drive.

How it works:

1. You share a folder from a Shared Drive with the integration's service account
2. You add the folder URL to the app
3. You select files and request translations
4. Translated files appear in the same folder in Google Drive

Quick Start Guide

1. Create a Shared Drive in Google Workspace (or use an existing one)
2. Create a directory inside the Shared Drive for files you want to translate
3. Add your source files to the directory
4. Share the folder with the integration's service account:
   • Click Share on the folder
   • Enter the service account email (displayed on the login screen and in Settings)
   • Select role: Contributor
5. Copy the folder URL (click "Copy link" after sharing)
6. Paste the URL in the app — either on the login screen or in Settings (when adding more folders)

Supported Content

Supported file types and export formats:

• Google Docs → DOCX
• Google Sheets → XLSX
• Google Slides → PPTX
• PDF files → DOCX (or OCR app output format)
• Plain files (JSON, TXT, SRT, etc.) → As-is, no conversion

Not supported:

• Google Forms, Apps Script, Drawings, Sites
• Image, video, and audio files
• ZIP/archive files

Auto-Sync

• Enable automatic synchronization for connected folders
• New files added to connected folders are automatically sent for translation
• Tip: Set up an automatic workflow in Crowdin to assign linguists automatically

Spreadsheet Configuration

When translating spreadsheets (XLSX/Google Sheets), additional configuration is required:

1. Go to Project → Sources → Files in Crowdin
2. Configure which columns are translatable, or indicate that the entire spreadsheet should be translated
3. Without this configuration, Crowdin won't know which content to extract for translation

How Others in Your Organization Can Request Translations

Team members who aren't localization managers can request translations:

1. Create a directory in the Shared Drive with the files to translate
2. Share the folder with the service account email (the localization manager can find it on the login screen or in Settings)
3. Send the folder URL to the localization manager

The localization manager then adds the folder via Settings in the app.

Translation Output

Choose how translated files are organized in Google Drive:

Option 1: Naming Pattern (default)

Translated files are saved alongside source files with a modified name:

• Prefix with locale — [fr] Report.docx
• Suffix with locale — Report [fr].docx
• Underscore separator — Report_fr.docx
• Folder per language — fr/Report.docx

You can also enable "Group translations by source file" to create a folder for each source file containing all its translations.

Option 2: Language Folders with Original Structure

Preserves your exact folder structure and original file names under language-specific directories:

Source files:                    Translations:
/Marketing/                      /Marketing/
  /docs/report.docx               /docs/report.docx
  /presentations/slides.pptx      /presentations/slides.pptx
                                  /fr/
                                    /docs/report.docx
                                    /presentations/slides.pptx
                                  /de/
                                    /docs/report.docx
                                    /presentations/slides.pptx

This option is ideal when you need:

• Original file names preserved exactly
• Clean separation of languages
• A mirror of your source structure for each language

Translated files are updated in place when syncing multiple times (no duplicates created).

Folder Management

• Connect multiple Shared Drive folders from a single integration
• Add or remove folders anytime from the Settings page

File Display Settings

• Show non-translatable files: Displays all files including images, videos, and archives (shown as disabled with tooltips)
• Show translated files: Displays files that appear to be translations based on your naming pattern

Files that appear to be translations (e.g., [fr] Report.docx) are hidden by default to prevent circular syncing.

Known Limitations

• If Google Drive auto-converts uploaded files to Google Docs format, they will be exported as DOCX — the original format (e.g., .md) cannot be recovered
• Google Apps Script, Drawings, Forms, and Sites cannot be translated
• Image, video, and audio files are not supported by this integration
• ZIP/archive files are skipped during sync

Limits

• Maximum 5,000 files displayed in the file browser
• Maximum folder depth: 10 nested folders
• Maximum file size: 100 MB per file