Google Drive & Xero

ActiveManage can write files to Google Drive and to shared drives, using the same connection configured for Google sign-in.

What it can do

• Upload a file — from a file ActiveManage holds, or from generated content.
• Update a file — replace the contents of a file already in Drive.
• Create folders — including find-or-create, which avoids a pile of duplicates.
• Delete a file.
• Find files and read their details — look one up by name within a folder.
• List folders and shared drives — with paging handled, so long lists come back complete.

A folder can be identified either by its ID or simply by pasting a Google Drive address, so users do not have to know the difference.

Choosing the level of access

This is the decision that matters. There are two levels:

• Per-file access — recommended. ActiveManage can only touch files it created itself, or that the user explicitly opened with it.
• Full access — ActiveManage can reach the user's entire Drive. Only ask for this if you genuinely need it.

Start with per-file access. It covers the overwhelming majority of uses and is far easier to justify to whoever approves it.

Changing the level needs re-authorisation

If the required access was not granted when the connection was first authorised, existing connections do not have it and calls will fail. Adding it means somebody must authorise again — so decide the level before rolling it out.

Personal drives and shared drives

Files in a shared drive behave differently from files in somebody's personal Drive, particularly around ownership. Where content belongs to the organisation rather than to an individual, put it in a shared drive — otherwise it leaves when they do.

Worked Examples

• Document delivery: generated reports filed into a client folder in a shared drive.
• Evidence packs: photographs and forms uploaded to a per-job folder created on demand.

The Xero integration connects ActiveManage to Xero accounting organisations. Xero notifies ActiveManage when things change, which keeps data current without repeatedly asking.

The 60-day problem

A Xero authorisation expires 60 days after it was last granted. When it lapses, Xero stops sending notifications and data is missed — which often requires a full resynchronisation to put right.

The failure is quiet. Nothing breaks visibly and no error appears; data simply stops arriving, and it can be weeks before anybody notices the accounts do not match.

The warning system

A daily task exists for exactly this. It warns the people you nominate once an integration is within a set number of days of expiring, and keeps warning every day until it has been re-authorised. The repetition is deliberate — a single e-mail is far too easy to miss.

Setting it up

Two settings sit on each Xero connection:

• Notification recipients — one e-mail address per line. Leave it blank and no warnings are sent at all, which means a connection nobody has configured will lapse in silence.
• Days before expiry — how early to start warning. Default 7.

Recommendations

• Set recipients on every Xero connection. Blank is not a safe default here. This is the single most useful thing in this article.
• Use a shared mailbox or a distribution list, never one person's address. Sixty-day cycles have a way of landing during annual leave.
• Consider more than seven days if re-authorising needs somebody with Xero administrator rights who is not always available.
• Re-authorise promptly. The warning is the cheap part; the resynchronisation after a lapse is not.

If warnings are not arriving

They are sent from the system e-mail account — the same one used for password resets. Check that account and the E-mail Log.