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Access Required

Guru Access: You need to be an Admin, Source Creator, or relevant custom role to set up Sources

Google Access:

• To assign access in Guru, you do not need to be a Google Admin.
• To inherit permissions from Google, you must be a Google Admin.
• On the Google Drive File Level the authenticating user will either need to have "Viewer" access to the document and to the Drive that the document resides on, otherwise, they need to have "Editor" level access to the document.

Walkthrough Video

Setting up Google Drive as a Source

1. Go to Manage > Sources.

2. Select Google Drive from the list of Source icons.

3. Choose your permissioning method:

Option 1: Assign Access in Guru

• What it does: Syncs only the Drive content visible to the authenticating Google account, and then you manually assign access in Guru.
• Who will see results in Guru: Only users you’ve granted access to inside Guru, regardless of Google Drive permissions.
• What gets indexed: Content the authenticating user can see.
• When to use it: If you want to control access from within Guru and are syncing only a limited or curated set of files.
• Permissions Required: Non-Admins in Google can add Google Drive to Guru if you are going to assign access in Guru. You'll need your Google Drive credentials.

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Note

Google Drive permissions are still respected if someone clicks the link in Guru, but they won’t affect visibility inside Guru.

Option 2: Use Inherited Permissions (from Authenticating User)

• What it does: Guru indexes content based on what the authenticating Google user has access to.
• Who will see results in Guru: Only the authenticating user’s visible files are searchable, and only users with matching Google permissions will be able to view those files.
• What gets indexed: Content the authenticating user can access.
• When to use it: Best for simpler setups or smaller teams, where indexing one user’s content is sufficient. No impersonation or special admin setup is needed. However, it’s limited to just one user’s Google Drive visibility — it won’t pull in files from across your organization.
• Permissions Required: You'd need to be a Admin in Google to set up inherited permissions with the following scopes:
  • Drive.readonly: See and download all your Google Drive files.
  • Admin.directory.group.readonly: View groups on your domain
  • Admin.directory.user.readonly: See info about users on your domain
  • Admin.reports.audit.readonly: View audit reports for your G Suite domain

Option 3: Use Domain-Wide Delegation (Impersonate Users)

• What it does: Guru uses a Google Workspace service account to impersonate all users across your domain, indexing Drive content as if it were them.

• Who will see results in Guru: Users only see what they personally have access to in Google Drive.

• What gets indexed: Files across all users’ Drives, based on each user’s permissions. This includes the "My Drive" folder for each individual and the Shared Drives.

• When to use it: For enterprise-wide rollout, where comprehensive search across the org’s Drive is needed.

• Permissions Required:

  • Credentials:

    • You'll need to be a Super Admin in Google to enable domain delegation. This is what you'll enter in Guru under Admin email once you've selected Domain Delegation. However, this does not need to be the email used in Guru.

    • Add API scopes in the Google Admin Console .

      • Navigate to Domain-wide Delegation.
      • Click Add new and paste the 21-digit Guru Service Worker Client ID (provided on the authentication page in Guru) into the Client ID field.
      • Copy and paste the following into the OAuth scopes (comma-delimited) field and then Authorize.
      • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/admin.directory.group.readonly,https://www.googleapis.com/auth/admin.directory.user.readonly,https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.readonly,https://www.googleapis.com/auth/admin.reports.audit.readonly

3. Under Connect to Google Drive, click Authorize Account and sign in with your Google credentials.

• You may choose to sync specific folders only.

4. If assigning access in Guru:

• Select which Groups should have access to the Source.
• Optionally, add a Source Owner (can also be done later under Manage Access).

5. Guru will send a confirmation email when the sync completes. In the web app, sync status will change from Initializing to Synced.

Objects synced from Google

Only the files in selected folders will be included.

Setting up Google Sheets as a Source

1. Navigate to Manage > Sources.

2. Select Google Sheet from the icon menu.

3. In the Connect Source: Google Sheet modal, fill in the following:

   • Add the URL of your tab (Required)
     Paste the link to the specific tab in Google Sheets you want to sync. Example: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/your-sheet-id/edit#gid=123456789

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     Note

     Only the tab you link to will be synced.

   • Authorize account (Required)
     Sign in with your Google credentials to allow sync access.

   • Provide a display name (Optional)
     A friendly name for the data Source (e.g., Customer Master List, Sales Reports).

   • Name your data object (Optional)
     Describes what each row represents (e.g., Account, SKU, Contract).

   • Header row (Optional)
     Enter the row number (starting at 1) where column headers exist.

   • Title column (Optional)
     Column letter with names or titles to display in search results (e.g., A).

   • Record URL column (Optional)
     Column letter with links to external systems (e.g., F for Salesforce links).

   • Unique Identifier (Optional)
     Column letter with a unique ID per row (e.g., B for contract IDs).

   • Icon (Optional)
     Upload a 32x32 icon to appear in search results.

4. Authenticate with your Google account.

5. If assigning access in Guru:

   • Select Groups that should access this Source.
   • Add a Source Owner now or later under Manage Access.

6. Click Connect Source to complete setup.

7. Guru will send a confirmation email after the initial sync.
   The sync status will change from Initializing to Synced in the Guru UI.

Frequently asked questions about Google Drive and Google Sheets Sources

What’s the difference between the Google Drive and Google Sheets connectors?

Guru provides two different connectors for Google content:

• Google Drive connector:
  Surfaces answers from a broad set of file types—Docs, Slides, PDFs, and Sheets.

• Google Sheets connector:
  Offers more granular indexing of structured data within Sheets. Ideal for complex tables, forms, and lists (e.g., inventories, trackers).

If your spreadsheet contains row-by-row data that needs detailed searchability, the Google Sheets connector is the better choice.

Are Shortcuts included in the sync?
Yes, shortcuts sync like regular files, even if Inherited Permissions are off.

• Key requirements:
  • Authenticated user must have access to both the shortcut and the original file.
  • End users need access to the original file to see results.
  • With Inherited Permissions, Guru mirrors Google Drive’s sharing settings.
  • Syncing across drives: Shortcuts only sync if the original file's drive was authorized during Source setup.