Google Docs setup guide

Agents find, read and write your company's documents and files.

Ways to connect

Company admins connect apps, on the Integrations page in Everdeck: open Google Docs, choose one of the ways below, follow its steps and fill in its fields. Everdeck checks what you enter before it saves anything, and asks you to confirm it’s you (your second factor) before you type any secret. How connecting works.

Google Docs can be connected 2 ways. Where there’s a key or token to paste, that’s usually the quickest.

Your Google OAuth app

Your OAuth app.

This way signs in with an OAuth app you create for Google Docs, as its steps describe: Everdeck never uses an app of its own. Register this redirect URI with your app:

https://everdeck.io/api/oauth/callback

Then save the app’s client ID and secret in Everdeck, on the connect page or under OAuth apps, and sign in.

1. In Google Cloud console (https://console.cloud.google.com), create or choose a project, open APIs & Services > Library and enable both the Google Docs API and the Google Drive API.
2. Open Google Auth platform > Branding and fill in the app name and support email. Under Audience, choose Internal if you use Google Workspace. An External app left in Testing gets refresh tokens that expire after 7 days.
3. Under Data Access, add the two scopes listed below.
4. Under Clients, choose Create Client > Web application and add the authorized redirect URI https://everdeck.io/api/oauth/callback.
5. Copy the Client ID and Client secret into the form, then sign in with the Google account the agent should work as.

The scopes Everdeck asks for:

• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents
• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive

When you disconnect, Everdeck asks Google Docs to revoke the sign-in, then deletes the tokens it saved.

Google service account

Service account.

1. In Google Cloud console, enable the Google Docs API and the Google Drive API, then open IAM & Admin > Service Accounts and create a service account.
2. On its Keys tab, choose Add key > Create new key > JSON and paste the file's contents here. Organizations created on or after May 3, 2024 block key creation by default; an organization admin has to allow it for this project.
3. Share the documents or folders the agent needs with the service account's email address as Editor, or (Google Workspace) set up domain-wide delegation: in the Google Admin console open Security > Access and data control > API controls > Manage Domain Wide Delegation > Add new, paste the service account's Client ID with the scopes below, and enter the user to act as.

Field	What to enter
Service account key (JSON file contents)	A secret: Everdeck saves it encrypted and never shows it again. Where to find it.
User to act as (domain-wide delegation only) (optional)	Email address. For example [email protected].

The scopes Everdeck asks for:

• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents
• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive

Disconnecting deletes the credentials Everdeck saved, but Everdeck can't revoke them: the key, token or password itself keeps working at Google Docs until you delete or rotate it there.

What agents can do

An agent uses an action only when its charter grants it, on the agent’s Tools tab, where you choose whether each one runs by itself (Auto), asks first or never runs. Each action has a risk tier: tier 3 actions, which customers or the public see, ask first unless you choose otherwise, and tier 4 actions (money, deleting things, access) always need a person. How tools and tiers work.

Actions marked Reads outside content return things people outside your company may have written. Agents treat what they read as information, never as instructions, and their riskier actions later in the same session need approval.

• Find documentsTier 0 · ReadReads outside contentgoogle_docs_search_documents

  Find Google Docs by title or text. Returns id, title, last change and link.

• Read a documentTier 0 · ReadReads outside contentgoogle_docs_read_document

  Read a document's title and text as Markdown, tab by tab, including tables and lists.

• Create a documentTier 2 · ReversibleReads outside contentgoogle_docs_create_document

  Create a new Google Doc from Markdown (headings, lists, tables, links and bold text are kept), optionally inside a folder. Returns the document id and link.

• Add text to the endTier 2 · Reversiblegoogle_docs_append_text

  Append plain text to the end of the document's first tab. Start with a newline to begin a new paragraph.

• Replace textTier 2 · Reversiblegoogle_docs_replace_text

  Replace every occurrence of a piece of text in all tabs, for example filling {{client_name}} placeholders in a copied template. Returns how many were replaced.

• Suggest an editTier 2 · Reversiblegoogle_docs_suggest_replacement

  Propose replacing text as a tracked suggestion that a person accepts or rejects in Google Docs, instead of editing directly.

• List commentsTier 0 · ReadReads outside contentgoogle_docs_list_comments

  Read the comment threads on a document with the quoted text, status (open or resolved) and replies.

• Comment on textTier 2 · ReversibleReads outside contentgoogle_docs_add_comment

  Add a comment anchored to a passage of the document, optionally assigned to a person by email. Quote the exact text to comment on.

• Reply to a commentTier 2 · Reversiblegoogle_docs_reply_to_comment

  Reply to a comment thread on the document.

• Resolve a commentTier 2 · Reversiblegoogle_docs_resolve_comment

  Mark a comment thread as resolved once its request is handled.

What can start work

These events from Google Docs can become tasks for your agents through Intake. How Intake works.

A Google Doc the connected account can see was created or edited.

Connect Google Docs first. Then, on the Intake page, open Webhooks and sources, find it under Connector triggers and select Start watching. Then, on the Rules tab, select New rule to say which requests become tasks and who gets them.

Testing, problems and disconnecting

Everdeck checks the connection when you save it. On the connection’s page in Integrations, Test checks it again at any time.

If Google Docs later refuses the connection, for example because a key was deleted or a sign-in expired, the connection shows Needs attention on the Integrations page and the people who manage connections are told. Agents can’t use it until a company admin fixes it with Edit or Reconnect.

To stop agents using Google Docs, open the connection and select Disconnect. Agents stop using it at once and its saved credentials are deleted. What else happens depends on how it was connected: each way above says.