How to Import Knowledge From Google Drive

Summary

Overview: Pick files or whole folders from your Google Drive and import them into Pippin's knowledge. Pippify remembers the folders you pick, so a later re-sync also brings in files you add to them.

Prerequisites:

• You are the Admin of the workspace.
• Google Drive is connected. See How to Connect Google Drive. (You can also connect from the Google Drive tab in Step 1.)

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Open the Google Drive tab

1. In the sidebar, open Settings › AI Studio. The Knowledge tab opens.
2. Click Add Knowledge, then the Google Drive tab.
3. You see Connected as [your email]. If you see Connect Google Drive or Reconnect instead, click it and sign in to Google first.

During setup, you can do the same from the Your knowledge step of the setup wizard: click Google Drive. The window opens with only the Google Drive and Paste text tabs. Imported files are listed on the step with Reading…, then Read.

Step 2: Pick files or folders

1. Click Choose files or folders from Google Drive. Google's file picker opens.
2. Select the files and folders you want, then confirm in the picker.
3. Back in Pippify, you see what you picked, for example "1 folder and 2 files picked".

Step 3: Import

1. Click Import [what you picked] (for example Import 1 folder and 2 files).
2. Pippify shows Importing N of M. A picked folder includes every file inside it, subfolders included.
3. You can wait, or click Continue in background. The import keeps running on Pippify's side.

Step 4: Read the summary

1. When the import ends, you see how many files were imported, updated, already up to date, skipped and failed.
2. Skipped and failed files are listed with the reason.
3. Click Done.

Imported files appear in the Knowledge list with a Google Drive icon. Their status moves from Queued to Indexing to Active.

Keep your Drive knowledge up to date

Pippify does not check Drive for changes on its own. To bring in changes:

• Everything: on the Knowledge tab, click Re-sync from Drive. This updates changed files and imports new files added to the folders you picked. A progress bar shows Checking Google Drive · N of M files, then a summary such as Re-sync done · 1 new, 2 updated, 10 up to date, 0 failed. Click a count to see the file names. Click × to close the summary.
• One file: click ⋮ next to it, then Re-sync from Drive.

Verify It Worked

Success criteria:

• Your files show Active in the Knowledge list.
• Click the Google Drive icon next to a file name to open it in Google Drive.
• Click Test Pippin and ask a question one of your files answers.

Troubleshooting

Common errors

• Skipped: "Old Word format (.doc): open it in Word or Google Docs and save as .docx": Fix: save the file as .docx in Drive, then import it.
• Skipped: "Old Excel format (.xls): open it in Excel or Google Sheets and save as .xlsx": Fix: save it as .xlsx.
• Skipped: "PowerPoint files are not supported: save it as PDF in Drive": Fix: save a PDF copy and import that. (Google Slides are imported as PDF automatically.)
• Skipped: "Shortcut: select the original file instead": Fix: pick the original file, not the shortcut.
• Skipped: "This photo format can't be read; use JPG, PNG, WEBP or GIF", "Videos can't be added to knowledge", "Audio can't be added to knowledge", "This file type is not supported": these files can't be used as knowledge.
• Skipped: "Larger than 50 MB" or "Google could not export it (over 10 MB)": Fix: split the file into smaller files.
• "This folder holds more than 5000 files. Pick its subfolders instead.": Fix: import the subfolders one at a time.
• "This folder has more new files than one run takes (500). Re-sync from Drive to bring in the rest.": Fix: click Re-sync from Drive until everything is in.
• "Pippify cannot see this file in Google Drive.": the file was removed or isn't shared with the connected account. Fix: check the file in Drive.
• "Google Drive access has expired. Reconnect Google Drive and try again.": Fix: see Why Does Google Drive Say Reconnect Needed?
• "Google Drive could not be reached. Try again in a moment." or "Import failed. Please try again.": Fix: try again shortly.
• "Google Drive is not available yet.": Google Drive import is not available for your workspace. Fix: contact support.

Limitations & considerations

• Google Docs are imported as Word files, Google Sheets as Excel files and Google Slides as PDFs.
• If a file is deleted, trashed or unshared in Drive, it shows No longer in Drive in the Knowledge list after a re-sync. It stays in Pippin's knowledge until you delete it.
• Travel Agency: if Pippify finds supplier rates in an imported file, a rates chip appears next to its name. See How to Manage Supplier Rates.

Next Steps & Related Resources

• Next steps:
  • How to Manage Knowledge Documents
  • How to Test Pippin Before Going Live
• Related articles:
  • How to Connect Google Drive
  • Why Does Google Drive Say Reconnect Needed?
  • How to Add a File to Pippin's Knowledge

Need more help? For more information and assistance, please send an email to support@pippify.ai.

Last Updated: 10/19/2026