---

name: connector-google-drive
description: Use when a lawyer or legal-operations user needs to read, search, or attach Google Drive documents to a legal matter — including retrieving draft contracts, precedent documents, due-diligence files, or correspondence stored in Drive as context for AI-assisted drafting or review. Requires Google OAuth per-user authorization. Triggers on requests to access a Drive file, find documents by keyword, or attach Drive content to a matter workspace.
license: MIT
metadata:
id: connector.google-drive
category: connector
jurisdictions: [multi]
priority: P2
intent: [connector]
related: [connector-gmail, connector-notion, connector-calendar, connector-apple-notes]
source: Louis — HAQQ Legal AI (github.com/sboghossian/mini-claude-for-legal)
version: "1.0"

Connector — Google Drive

What it does

The Google Drive connector provides access to documents, spreadsheets, PDFs, and other files stored in the user's Google Drive workspace. In a legal-AI context, its primary use is surfacing existing documents — precedents, draft contracts, due-diligence questionnaires, matter files — as context for AI-assisted drafting, review, and analysis.

Core functions:

• Search — find documents by keyword, file name, owner, or date.
• Read — retrieve the content of a document for use as context.
• Attach to matter — link a Drive document to a matter record.
• Download — export a Google Doc as a PDF or DOCX for further processing.

Setup / auth

Authentication uses Google OAuth 2.0 with per-user delegation:

• Each user authorizes their own Google Drive — no admin-wide delegation unless Google Workspace is configured with domain-wide delegation.
• OAuth scopes:
  • drive.readonly — for search and read operations.
  • drive.file — for creating or modifying files the app created (narrower than full Drive access).
  • drive.metadata.readonly — for file metadata only (name, owner, modified date) without reading content.
• Default to drive.readonly unless a write capability is explicitly required.
• Tokens stored per-user, encrypted at rest.

Capabilities

Capability	Scope	Notes
Search files by name or keyword	drive.readonly	Searches filenames and Google Docs full-text
Read Google Doc content	drive.readonly	Returns as plain text or markdown
Read Google Sheet data	drive.readonly	Returns rows/columns; useful for data-room indexes
Download as PDF	drive.readonly	Exports any Google Doc to PDF
Download as DOCX	drive.readonly	Exports for redlining in Word-based workflows
List folder contents	drive.readonly	Useful for matter folder inspection
Create a new document	drive.file	Only creates new files; does not modify existing
Upload a file	drive.file	Stores generated documents back to Drive
Share file (change permissions)	drive (full)	Requires explicit approval; high-risk

Usage patterns

Pattern 1 — Retrieve a precedent before drafting

User: "Draft an NDA based on our standard template"
→ Search Drive for "NDA template" in the firm's Precedents folder
→ Return the most recent version as context
→ Draft a new NDA using the template as the base, adapting for the specific parties

Pattern 2 — Data room indexing

For an M&A due diligence, the data room is often shared via Google Drive:

• List all files in the shared data room folder.
• Return a structured index: file name, type, last modified, and folder path.
• Flag missing items against a standard due-diligence checklist.

Pattern 3 — Contract review from Drive

User: "Review the SPA at [Drive link]"
→ Retrieve the document content from Drive
→ Run the contract through the relevant review skill
→ Return a structured review with flagged clauses

Pattern 4 — Generate and save a document back to Drive

After generating a contract draft:

• Export as DOCX.
• Upload to the designated matter folder in Drive.
• Return the Drive link for the lawyer to access.

Pattern 5 — Matter folder organization

For each new matter, create a standard folder structure in Drive:

/Matters/2024-045 Al-Hamdan v. TechCo/
  ├── 01 Correspondence/
  ├── 02 Pleadings/
  ├── 03 Evidence/
  ├── 04 Research/
  └── 05 Drafts/

This can be automated via the connector on matter creation.

Document security considerations

• Shared drives. In law firms using Google Workspace, most matter documents are in Shared Drives (formerly Team Drives). Confirm the user has access before attempting to read.
• External sharing. Do not change the sharing permissions of a client document without explicit lawyer instruction. Accidental "anyone with link" sharing of privileged documents is a confidentiality breach.
• Version history. Google Docs maintain version history. When reviewing a contract, confirm you are reading the current (most recent) version — not a draft that has since been superseded.
• Privileged documents. Documents in Drive may be attorney-client privileged or subject to work-product protection. Treat all matter documents as potentially privileged unless the user confirms otherwise.

Permissions & safety

• Read-first. Default to drive.readonly. Escalate to write scope only when a write operation is explicitly requested.
• No autonomous sharing. Changing file permissions requires explicit human instruction and a confirmation step.
• Audit log. All reads, searches, and writes are logged with user ID, timestamp, and file ID.
• Tenant isolation. Each user's Drive access is scoped to their own account and shared drives they are members of.

Failure modes

Failure	Cause	Resolution
File not found	File deleted, moved, or access revoked	Check with the file owner; do not retry with a search for similar names
403 Forbidden	User lacks access to the specific file or shared drive	Request access through normal channels; do not attempt workaround
Export format unsupported	Non-Google file type (e.g., a PDF uploaded to Drive)	Download the raw file bytes instead of using the export API
Large document timeout	Google Doc >500 pages	Paginate the read; split into sections for processing
Drive API quota exceeded	High-volume firm with many concurrent users	Implement request queuing and respect 429 backoff

Related skills

• [[connector-gmail]]
• [[connector-notion]]
• [[connector-calendar]]
• [[connector-apple-notes]]