Overview
Google Drive storage is a Bring Your Own Storage option: instead of keeping project files in Beeswax's cloud storage, Beeswax stores them in your own Google Drive. It sits alongside NAS storage as one of the two ways to use your own storage.
Connecting takes one click — you authorise Beeswax with Google, and from then on files attached to your projects live in a dedicated folder in your Drive.
There are two ways a file ends up in your Drive, and they behave differently:
- Upload it through Beeswax. Drop the file on your Google Drive card on a project's Files page. Beeswax writes it straight into your Drive and keeps no copy of its own.
- Link a file that is already in your Drive. Beeswax stores a link to it. The file never moves and is never copied — there is only ever the one copy, the one you already had.
Most of this article applies to both. The differences are set out under Uploading files compared with linking files.
Note: Google Drive storage is part of the Bring Your Own Storage feature and may not be included on every plan. If it isn't on your plan, the card shows an Upgrade to unlock badge.
Your privacy — Beeswax only sees what you give it
When you connect, Beeswax creates a single folder called Beeswax in your Drive and works inside it. Beeswax can see exactly two things:
- The files and folders it creates for you inside that Beeswax folder.
- Any file you pick yourself in Google's file picker when you link a file (see below). Picking a file is what gives Beeswax access to that one file — and to nothing else.
Beeswax cannot browse, search or list the rest of your Google Drive. There is no way for it to go looking, which is why linking a file uses Google's own file picker rather than a file browser inside Beeswax: Google shows you your Drive, you choose, and only your choices are handed over.
How to connect
You can connect Google Drive from either place:
- Money → Connected Apps — click Connect on the Google Drive card, or
- Account Settings → File Storage — click Connect Google Drive
Then:
- A Google sign-in window opens. Sign in to the Google account whose Drive you want to use.
- Review the permission request and Allow.
- Beeswax returns you to Storage Settings and creates the Beeswax folder in that Drive.
Once connected, the Google Drive card shows the connected account (the Google email) and when it was last checked.
Note: Connecting, reconnecting and disconnecting are done by Account Owners and Super Admins. There is one Google Drive connection per business.
Making it your default storage
Connecting Google Drive makes it available — it doesn't automatically become where new files go. On the Account Settings → File Storage page you'll see all your storage locations (NAS and Google Drive) with a Default column. Set the one you want new project files to use as the default. From the same page you can test the connection and manage per-project folders.
Uploading files compared with linking files
| Upload through Beeswax | Link from your Drive | |
|---|---|---|
| How many copies exist | One — in your Drive, in the project folder | One — the file stays where it already was |
| Counts toward your Beeswax storage limit | No | No |
| Version history (Upload New Version) | Not yet — there is no Beeswax copy to keep as a previous version | No — same reason |
| Share publicly by link from Beeswax | Yes | No — share it from Google Drive yourself |
| Google Docs, Sheets and Slides | Not applicable — you upload ordinary files | Can be linked; opened in Drive, not downloaded |
| Deleting in Beeswax can remove the file from Drive | Yes, if you choose to | Never — only the link is removed |
| Good for | Files that start life in Beeswax | Large files, and documents your team already works on in Drive |
You don't have to remember which is which: a project's file list has a Source column showing where every file lives and whether Beeswax holds a copy or only a link. See Files.
Linking files that are already in your Drive
Open a project, go to its Files page, and click Link files from Drive on the Google Drive card.
- Google asks you to sign in and confirm — this is Google's own window, not Beeswax's.
- Google's file picker opens showing your Drive. Browse or search as you normally would.
- Select one or more files and confirm. Folders can't be linked, only files.
- The files appear in the project's file list straight away, and Beeswax confirms how many were linked.
Linked files behave like any other file in the list — you can preview them, open them, mark them visible to clients, and organise them alongside uploaded files. Their Open in Google Drive action takes you to the file in Drive.
Good to know
- Link files from Drive appears once Google Drive is connected and set as the storage location your account is using.
- A file that is already linked somewhere in your business is skipped rather than linked twice — Beeswax tells you which project it's already in.
- Files sitting in Drive's bin can't be linked.
- Previews and thumbnails for linked files come from Google Drive's own previews, so they look the same as they do in Drive. This includes Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, which Drive generates previews for even though they aren't ordinary files.
Google Docs, Sheets and Slides
Google Docs, Sheets and Slides can be linked like anything else, with one difference: they can't be downloaded through Beeswax. They aren't ordinary files with contents to hand over — they only exist inside Google's editors. When you open one from Beeswax, Beeswax takes you to the document in Google Drive instead.
For the same reason, these documents don't show a file size in the list.
Deleting files — Beeswax never deletes a file it didn't create
Beeswax does not delete files it does not own. This is the rule for both Google Drive and NAS storage.
- Deleting a linked file removes the link and the entry in Beeswax. The file itself stays exactly where it is in your Drive, and you manage it there — in Google Drive, the same as any of your other documents.
- Deleting a file you uploaded works as it always has. Beeswax created that copy, so it can remove it: when the delete dialog offers to remove the file from your storage as well, that choice does exactly what it says.
If you delete several files at once and choose to remove them from your storage too, any linked files in the selection are still only unlinked. Beeswax will not delete them from your Drive.
If Beeswax can't open a linked file
Beeswax's access to a linked file is access to that one file, granted when you picked it. If the file is moved to the bin, deleted, or has its sharing changed in Drive, Beeswax loses sight of it and will say so when you try to open it. Nothing is broken — link the file again to restore access, or remove the entry if you no longer need it.
Files you uploaded through Beeswax live in your Drive too, but in Beeswax's own project folders, with a grant Beeswax holds rather than a per-file one you picked — so they are not affected by sharing changes elsewhere in your Drive.
Connection states
The Google Drive card reflects the health of the connection:
| State | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Connected | Working normally; new files can be stored in your Drive. | Nothing — manage the default and folders in Storage Settings. |
| Disconnected | The connection was deliberately turned off. Existing files stay linked. | Click Reconnect to store new files here again. |
| Needs attention | The Google authorisation expired or was revoked in your Google account. | Click Reconnect to re-authorise. |
| Upgrade to unlock | Google Drive storage isn't included on your current plan. | Upgrade your plan (or ask your account owner). |
Reconnecting
If a connection stops working — for example, access was revoked from your Google account — use Reconnect on the Google Drive card (or from Storage Settings). This re-runs the Google authorisation and restores storage without affecting files already saved.
Disconnecting
From the Google Drive card's ⋯ menu, choose Disconnect. Beeswax stops using that Drive for new files.
- Existing files stay linked — disconnecting doesn't delete anything from your Drive, and files already stored there remain attached to their projects.
- While disconnected, Beeswax can't open or preview files that live only in your Drive — that includes every linked file. Reconnecting restores access.
- New files will fall back to your other default storage.
- To use the Drive again later, simply Reconnect.
Note: Only Account Owners can disconnect Google Drive.
What happens to my files?
Files you upload through Beeswax are organised into per-project folders inside the Beeswax folder in your Drive. Files you link stay wherever they already were — Beeswax doesn't move them, rename them or tidy them into its own folders.
Either way you can work with them in Google Drive directly, and disconnecting never removes them — it only stops Beeswax from adding new files there.