Google Drive allows you to store files securely online, access them from anywhere, and collaborate with others. With Google Drive integration, we make it easier for you to focus on your tasks and track your documents right on the board.
Set up by: each user separately (Admins can restrict installing the app by non-admin users)
Available on: browser version, Desktop app (full functionality and editing files); Tablet app, Mobile app (limited functionality, editing is not supported)
In this article:
- Enabling Google Drive
- Adding files from Google Drive and Shared drives
- Editing Google documents
- Managing access rights
- Saving your board to Google Drive
- Disabling the plugin
- Features unavailable in Google Documents Miro embed
- Frequently asked questions
Enabling Google Drive
To start adding files from Google Drive, you'll need to install the plugin and connect your Google Drive with Miro.
⚠️ Non-Admin users can't install the app if it's not allowed in the Apps & Integrations settings.
Go to Miro Marketplace and find Google Drive.
Google Drive plugin in Miro Marketplace
After clicking Get app you'll be suggested to choose a team to install the plugin for.
Choosing a team when installing the Google Drive plugin
You can also install the plugin from a board. Open the board's Upload menu on the toolbar > More > Google Drive. Click Get app on the pop-up window.
Then, connect Google Drive to Miro. There're 2 simple ways.
1. Go to your profile Integrations page, find Google Drive and click Connect:
Google Drive on the Integrations page
2. Connect your Miro account to Google Drive from within the board by clicking Google Drive in the Upload menu on the toolbar:
The Google Drive icon on the toolbar
Confirm authorization for the needed Google account and Allow the app to access your files:
Google Drive Permissions
Please note that those are the standard permissions for Google Drive.
- See and download all your Google Drive files - for a Google Drive file picker on a board. It allows for importing documents from Google Drive to Miro
- See, edit, create, and delete only the specific Google Drive files you use with this app - to have the ability to save a Miro board to Google Drive.
The Google Drive application only manages the files that we create on the Drive (links to boards, etc). Miro does not have an opportunity to manage any content within your Google Drive. To implement the integration, we use Google Drive API v3. In this API the scopes are grouped in such a way that write access permissions cannot be requested separately from full disk access permissions. If you'd like to take a look, check out out the permissions in Google's article, Scopes for Google APIs.
If you need to change the Google account connected to Miro, go to Profile settings > Integrations, click Log out next to Google Drive and connect to another account.
Google Drive connection in Profile settings
Adding files from Google Drive and Shared drives
Available on: browser version, Desktop app, Tablet app, Mobile app (limited functionality)
To add a file from Google Drive:
- Paste the document URL right onto the board (note that pasting a URL into a shape or a sticky note will not embed your document to the board but will add the link as simple text)
⚠️ When you copy a link to a specific sheet from Google spreadsheets and paste it to Miro board, the pasted spreadsheet will still start from the first page in Miro
or - Click the Upload button on the toolbar (shown in the screenshot above) and choose Google Drive. You will then see the picker menu. Select all the documents you would like to add and click Select. You can also use the search bar to find documents on your Google Drive.
💡 To add a Google Drive document on a board in the Mobile app, paste the document URL via the Upload menu.
Selecting a document in Google Drive
Add documents from Shared drives - switch to the tab and choose files.
Team Drive in the Google Drive picker
Editing Google documents
Available on: browser version, Desktop app
You can embed Google Documents, Spreadsheets and Slides right on the board, move and resize them and also swipe the documents' pages.
Click the document and you will see a context menu with the options to switch pages, pin a page, extract pages, edit content, reload, update or go to source.
To start editing the document, click the pen icon on the context menu or double-click the document. The document opens in a pop-up and you can edit it as if on your Google Drive. Click Close or grey area to finish editing. All the changes are automatically saved and visible on the board and in Google documents.
Editing an embedded Google Document
If you prefer you can also click the source button and the document will open for editing in the next tab.
If you made any edits directly from your Google Drive (especially when working offline), refresh the embed on the board using the Update button in the context menu. Embedded Google Drive files don’t get updated on Miro boards automatically (unless the board is refreshed or the file is edited from within Miro).
⚠️ We don’t sync extracted pages.
Update button
Managing access rights
Please note that access rights in Google Drive and in Miro are set separately. It means that to let someone edit a Google Document on the board you need to share the document with them in Google Drive with Editor's rights and also invite them as an Editor to the board.
If you allow someone to edit the document in Google but invite them to the board with viewing or commenting rights only - they will not be able to activate the document's edit mode. Vice versa, if you invite a person to the board as an Editor but do not share the document with them in Google Drive - Google will not allow them to edit it.
Please make sure that you and your team members are provided with the access level that is required for successful collaboration.
Saving your board to Google Drive
Set up by: Board owners
Click Save to Google Drive and the board will be available on your Drive just like one of your documents.
Creating a link to your board in Google Drive
In Google Drive, you can now click the saved board and it will open in a separate browser tab. If you delete the board from Google Drive it will still be available in Miro. However, if you delete the board in Miro, you won't be able to access it from Google Drive anymore.
⚠️ If you're not the Board owner, you will get the error message as below:
The error message that you don't have the right to save the board to Google Drive
Disabling the plugin
To uninstall the plugin for a team, find it in the Apps & Integrations section of the Team settings and click Uninstall for team.
Uninstalling Google Drive for a team
To disconnect Miro from Google Drive, open the Integrations page of your Profile settings and click Log out near the Google Drive icon.
Disconnecting Google Drive from Miro
Features unavailable for embedded Google Drive files
General
- Google Drive Start page
- Moving files between folders
- Sharing
- Help search
Google Presentations
- Presentation Mode
Frequently asked questions
- Can I open an embedded file in Google Drive?
- Yes, select the document and click the source button on the context menu. - Can I paste Miro board content into a Google Drive file?
- You can take a screenshot of the content and paste it.