Selenic Systems

Send orders to Google Drive

Google Drive is for orders going out, and only for that. Drive cannot supply a catalogue, customers or prices to the tablet. A tablet that sends to Drive still receives from a folder on the tablet or an FTP or SFTP server, so set one of those up first.

Use Drive when the person who collects orders works from Google Drive, and wants each order to appear there as a file without anyone running a server.

Why Drive is orders out only

When you sign in, the app asks Google for access to the files it creates itself, and nothing else. It cannot see anything else in your Drive: not your documents, and not a catalogue file somebody else puts in a Drive folder, even one the app made. That is a deliberate limit, and it is why signing in asks for so little. The app can therefore write orders into Drive but cannot read your catalogue from it.

Step by step

  1. Open the Google Drive page

    Go to Settings › Data Integration › Sync & Integration › Connection details › Google Drive. It says Not signed in.

    The Google Drive page, showing Not signed in and a Sign In button
    Sign in here first: choosing Drive for sending is refused until an account is connected.

  2. Sign in

    Press Sign In. Google's own sign-in opens. Choose the Google account the orders should go to, and allow access. Google lists what is being asked for: only files this app creates. The card then shows the account you signed in with.

  3. Choose Drive for sending

    Go back to Sending and choose Google Drive. Receiving stays where it is.

    The Sending page with Same place it receives from, Device Folder, Google Drive and FTP / SFTP Server
    Every way orders can leave the tablet. Drive appears here and nowhere under Receiving.

  4. Read the note, then save

    The app repeats the limit under the choices: orders and new customers go out normally, and catalogue files are not seen. Press Save Settings.

    Google Drive chosen under Sending, with the note that catalogue, customer and price files in a shared folder will not be seen
    The note the app shows whenever Drive is chosen.

  5. Sync

    On the first sync to Drive the app asks before creating its folder: press Create & Continue. A folder called SelenicOrders appears at the top of My Drive, and each sync puts orders in SelenicOrders/Outbound.

    The Sync screen with the Sync Now button
    Sync as normal. Orders go to Drive; the catalogue still comes from the folder or server.

Each tablet signs in separately. A Google sign-in is never part of the settings shared between tablets, and it is not kept if the app is removed.

For your IT person

  • The app asks for Google’s drive.file access only: files the app created. It never asks for full Drive access.
  • Orders arrive as files in SelenicOrders/Outbound in the signed-in account’s My Drive, named as described in Connecting your ERP. Collect them from there with Drive for desktop or the Drive API.
  • Files you add to those folders yourself are invisible to the app, which is the same limit seen from the other side. Do not try to deliver the catalogue through them.
  • Moving SelenicOrders to the bin does not stop orders arriving: the app makes a new one at the next sync.

If it does not work

What you seeWhy, and what to do
“No Google account connected” under SendingSign in on the Google Drive page first
Sign-in closes and nothing changesSign-in was cancelled, or the tablet has no Google account. Add one in Android’s settings, then try again
The catalogue does not updateDrive cannot supply it. Choose Device Folder or FTP / SFTP Server under Receiving
Orders went to the wrong Google accountPress Sign Out on the Google Drive page and sign in with the right one