Edit office files in the app and connect Google Drive

Before you begin

Groundwork holds every document's file, its versions and its audit history. Nothing else is ever the record: the built-in editor edits the file in place, and a Google Drive connection is an optional way to work on a file in Google that brings the result back as a new version. You need the workspace owner to switch on the editor, and a Google account for the workspace if you want to connect Drive. A Microsoft 365 connector is not available yet.

Steps

1. As the workspace owner, go to Settings → Integrations → Document editor and switch it on. It stays off until you do.
2. Open any Word, Excel or PowerPoint file in a project's documents. With the editor on, it opens for editing in the browser. The editor runs on Groundwork's own infrastructure, so the file does not leave the platform to be edited.
3. Save. Every save is kept as a new version of the file, so the earlier versions are still there.
4. To connect Google Drive, open the Google Drive card in Settings → Integrations and connect the workspace's own Google account. Each workspace connects its own account.
5. From a file, choose to open it in Google. Edits made there come back to Groundwork as new versions.
6. If a file changed both in Groundwork and in Google, an admin resolves the conflict. Nothing is overwritten silently.
7. To stop syncing without losing anything, set the Google Drive card to Paused. Pausing keeps the settings and everything already synced.

What happens next

The version history on each file shows every save, whether it was made in the built-in editor or came back from Google. Status changes made from project files go through the document register and are recorded there, and publishing a document always needs an approver's signature.

Where the record lives

The file, all of its versions and its status history stay in the project's documents in Groundwork. The Google Drive connection and the editor switch are managed only in Settings → Integrations.

Troubleshooting

Office files don't open for editing: the document editor has not been switched on for the workspace. Ask the workspace owner to turn it on in Settings → Integrations.

Google edits are not coming back: check that the Google Drive card is connected and set to On rather than Paused.

A file shows a conflict: it changed on both sides. An admin resolves it; nothing is overwritten without that decision.