Cloud Drives

Keep your knowledge base in sync with your cloud documents.

Instead of manually uploading files, you can connect a cloud drive to your Knowledge Base. CrabShack will automatically sync documents from your chosen folders, keeping your agents up to date as your team creates and updates files.

Supported Providers

Provider	What It Connects To	Best For
OneDrive	Your personal OneDrive cloud storage	Individual users who store documents in OneDrive
SharePoint	A specific SharePoint site or team library	Teams that collaborate on shared document libraries
Google Drive	Your Google Drive storage	Businesses using Google Workspace instead of Microsoft 365

Connecting a Cloud Drive

OneDrive

1. Navigate to Knowledge Base in the CrabShack sidebar
2. Click the Cloud Drives tab
3. Click Connect OneDrive
4. Enter a display name for this connection (e.g., "My OneDrive" or "Work Documents")
5. Click Sign in with Microsoft
6. A popup window opens — sign in with your Microsoft account and grant CrabShack access
7. Once authenticated, the drive appears in the Cloud Drives tab as Connected

SharePoint

1. Navigate to Knowledge Base > Cloud Drives
2. Click Connect SharePoint
3. Enter a display name (e.g., "Engineering Docs" or "HR Policies")
4. Enter the SharePoint site URL — this is the URL of the SharePoint site or team you want to connect (e.g., https://yourcompany.sharepoint.com/sites/engineering)
5. Click Sign in with Microsoft
6. Sign in and grant access in the popup window
7. The drive appears as Connected

tip

For SharePoint, use the URL of the specific site you want to sync from, not the root SharePoint URL. You can find this by navigating to the site in your browser and copying the URL from the address bar.

Google Drive

1. Navigate to Knowledge Base > Cloud Drives
2. Click Connect Google Drive
3. Enter a display name (e.g., "Company Drive")
4. Click Sign in with Google
5. Sign in and grant access in the popup window
6. The drive appears as Connected

If the Popup Is Blocked

Some browsers block popup windows by default. If the sign-in popup doesn't appear:

1. Check your browser's popup blocker and allow popups from CrabShack
2. Alternatively, a paste code option appears below the sign-in button — use this to complete authentication manually by copying the code from the Microsoft sign-in page

Selecting Folders to Sync

After connecting a drive, you can choose which folders to sync:

1. Click the folder button on the connected drive card
2. A list of available folders appears
3. Check the folders you want to sync
4. Click Save

note

If you leave all folders unchecked, CrabShack will sync all files from the drive. This can be a large number of files — it's usually better to select specific folders that contain the documents your agents need.

Only files with supported file types are synced. Other file types are skipped automatically.

How Sync Works

Initial Sync

When you first connect a drive or select new folders, CrabShack performs an initial sync that pulls in up to 50 files. These files are processed and indexed just like uploaded documents.

Incremental Sync

After the initial sync, CrabShack checks for changes at regular intervals (every 6 hours by default). Each sync cycle processes up to 50 changes — new files, updated files, or deleted files. This means your knowledge base stays current without manual intervention.

Changes are detected automatically:

• New files in synced folders are downloaded and indexed
• Updated files are re-downloaded and re-indexed
• Deleted files are removed from the knowledge base

Sync Intervals

You can configure how often CrabShack checks for changes:

Interval	Best For
Every hour	Rapidly changing document libraries where currency is critical
Every 6 hours (default)	Most teams — a good balance between freshness and resource usage
Every 12 hours	Stable document libraries that don't change frequently
Every 24 hours	Archives or reference libraries that rarely change

The interval can be set up to once per week (168 hours). Adjust this in Configuration.

Manual Sync

You can trigger a sync at any time by clicking the Sync now button on the drive card. This is useful when you've just added important documents and don't want to wait for the next scheduled sync.

Managing Connected Drives

Checking Sync Status

Each connected drive shows:

• Status — connected, disconnected, or error
• File count — how many documents have been synced
• Last synced — when the last successful sync occurred

While a sync is in progress, the sync button animates and you can monitor progress.

Disconnecting a Drive

To remove a cloud drive connection:

1. Click the disconnect button on the drive card
2. Confirm the action

note

Disconnecting a drive removes all documents that were synced from that drive. Documents you uploaded manually are not affected. Your files in OneDrive or SharePoint are never modified or deleted — CrabShack only reads from your cloud storage.

Credential Security

Your sign-in credentials are handled securely, regardless of provider:

• OAuth authentication — CrabShack never sees or stores your Microsoft or Google password. Authentication is handled through each provider's own standard sign-in flow.
• Secure token storage — access tokens are stored in CrabShack's encrypted credential vault, not in plain text.
• Automatic refresh — tokens are refreshed automatically before they expire, so you don't need to re-authenticate.
• Read-only access — CrabShack only reads files from your cloud storage. It never creates, modifies, or deletes files in your connected drive.