Do I need the Google Drive App Installed to Sync With Google Drive?

Codebook
1

Apologies for jumping into an ancient post but I had a question about this.

So I just came across this point saying there was no actual need to even have Google Drive installed, let alone running, to handle Codebook Sync via Google Drive and was wondering, is this true and is this still the case?

I was always under the impression I had to go through quite a process to properly complete a Codebook sync via Google Drive:

  1. Sync master Codebook to Google Drive on that device (usually my main Mac Desktop/Laptop) on which Google Drive had to be installed but not necessarily running at the time.

  2. Actually open Google Drive on that Mac to make sure it had ingested the codebook sync changes and uploaded them to the Google servers (since it does not do this unless it’s up and running)

  3. Then open Google Drive on the second Apple device I wished to propagate the above changes to, allowing the updates to be copied over to that devices local Google Drive (Google Drive does not sync to my knowledge unless it’s actively running).

  4. Then open the second devices Codebook and run Sync there to get the new changes above from its local Google Drive.

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Hi @phillipwj

Thanks for using Codebook and posting to the discussion forum. I’ve separated your post into a new topic as it will be easier for other folks with a similar question to find.

Correct, you don’t need to have the Google Drive App installed on the device which is using Codebook and syncing with Google Drive.

Let me provide a brief overview of how Codebook interacts with Google Drive to clarify:

  1. When first attempting to sync with Google Drive, you will be prompted to authenticate with Google Drive and allow access to a specific hidden AppData folder[1]. After authentication completes, Codebook is provided with tokens to make requests on your behalf.
  2. When performing a sync, Codebook uses the Google Drive API to make requests using the tokens which will upload and download files (encrypted changesets) to the hidden AppData folder.

You shouldn’t need to download/install or open the Google Drive app during any of this process as Codebook doesn’t utilize it. In fact, you won’t even be able to see the changesets that Codebook syncs in the Google Drive app as it’s present in the hidden AppData folder associated with Codebook.

This information may be useful to add to our documentation page about Google Drive sync to help clarify the behavior. I’ll bring that up with the rest of the team and we’ll see about adding information to that page about

  1. Codebook is only allowed to access this hidden AppData folder and nothing else in your Google Drive. Similarly, nothing else can access the data in the hidden AppData folder except the Codebook applications. ↩︎