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The Google Drive step turns your intelligent agent into a documentation and file organization assistant. It allows Tess to create documents (texts, images, audio, and base URLs), update materials, read content via download, or delete files directly in your cloud folders. All of this runs automatically within your flows.

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What is the Step?

This integration connects your agent to your Google Drive ecosystem, enabling actions for creation, reading, updating, and deletion. In practice, Drive acts as the storage layer of your agent’s intelligence, allowing data processed in the conversation to be persisted in the real world.

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Golden Rule: How Steps work

Like all App Integration flows in Tess, steps run BEFORE user interaction in the chat. The agent does not perform actions “mid-conversation.” Data must be available at the start through:
  • User Inputs (inputs filled by the user before the chat)
  • User Decision key (the agent actively asks for the required data before running the step)
  • Fixed variables or variables passed via backend integrations (Make, Zapier, N8N)

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Where to find it

  1. Go to AI Studio.
  2. Click Add AI Step.
  3. In Select Step Category, choose App Integration.
  4. In Choose an App, select Google Drive.
  5. In Select Step Type, choose the action you want to configure.

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How to use (Quickstart by action)

All options below include the User Decision key. If enabled, it forces the flow to ask for that information before running, if it is not already defined.

Create Audio File

Similar to image, it takes the link of an audio file and injects it into your Google Drive.
  • Audio File URL: The public URL where the audio is located (e.g., .../audio.mp3).
  • File Name in Drive: The saved file name.
  • Destination Folder ID: The destination folder ID.
Image

Create File From Text

Creates a text document from a content block (such as a report or transcription generated by AI).
  • File Name in Drive: File name (e.g., Report_{{cliente}}.txt).
  • File Content: The content inside the file.
  • Content Type (MIME): The text file format (e.g., text/plain).
  • Destination Folder ID: The folder ID where the file will be saved.
Image

Create File From URL

Creates a file in Drive from a public URL (such as documents, PDFs, or other hosted files).
  • File URL: The public URL of the file to be imported.
  • File Name in Drive: File name (e.g., Report_{{cliente}}.pdf).
  • Destination Folder ID: The folder ID where the file will be saved.
Image

Create Image File

Transfers an image generated or hosted on the web directly to your Drive. (Tip: Use it together with a previous image generation step).
  • Image File URL: The root URL where the image is located.
  • File Name in Drive: The file name (e.g., Campaign_Image.jpg).
  • Destination Folder ID: The destination folder ID.
Image

Delete File

Removes an “unused” or temporary document from your folder.
  • File ID: The exact ID of the file to be deleted.
Image

Download File

Downloads the file from the cloud and injects its information into the agent’s context, preparing it for the conversation.
  • File ID: The ID of the document to be read.
Image

Update File Content

Adds information or overwrites an existing text file in the cloud.
  • File ID: The specific document ID.
  • File Name in Drive: Option to rename the file during the update.
  • File Content: The new text/content to be updated.
Image

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Deeper explanation: File ID vs Folder ID

To configure any action, you will need Drive IDs. Where to find them?
Open the folder or file in Drive and look at the link (URL) in your browser. The ID is the long code made up of letters and numbers.
  • Folder ID (used in Create actions): drive.google.com/drive/folders/[FOLDER_ID]
  • File ID (used in Update, Delete, and Download): drive.google.com/file/d/[FILE_ID]/view

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Practical examples

Use Case 1: Automated Creative Pipeline (Create Image File)
  1. You configure the first AI Step of your agent to generate an advertising image via Prompt.
  2. The result of this first step is a temporary image URL.
  3. You pass this variable to the Image File URL field of the Google Drive Step.
  4. Without any manual action, the image is generated and saved directly in your Marketing team’s folder, and the agent notifies in chat: “Your image is already saved in Drive!”
Use Case 2: Continuous Feedback Log (Update File Content)
  • Your agent captures customer data from satisfaction surveys and WhatsApp support (via N8N/Zapier). The Update File Content step continuously appends responses into a single .txt file stored in the CS Drive, building a running history.
Best practices
  • Batch naming: In creation actions, include variables tied to dates or clients in the File Name in Drive (e.g., Contract_{{nome}}_{{data}}.pdf) to avoid generating multiple files with generic names like ImportDocument.pdf.
  • MIME Types: When creating text files, follow standard internet taxonomy if the platform requires the file type — text/plain ensures a universally readable file.

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Important notes

  • Mandatory Authentication: The respective Google account (Gmail or Workspace) must be previously connected in your Tess AI integrations.
  • Permissions: Tess API access requires “Edit” permissions in folders where actions will modify or add items. Folders where you are only a “Viewer” will return errors.
  • Credit Consumption: In addition to AI processing, downloads and uploads through the system consume credits based on your pricing or subscription.
By mastering Google Drive inputs (especially variables from URL sources), your agents gain the essential ability to build your team’s knowledge repository, eliminating local downloads and manual file transfers between platforms.