Data Organization for Teams

Derek3 · 03-12-2020 05:21 PM

I published a new article about data organization for teams. It is available in the AppSheet help docs. Check it out!

The article describes how to use a Google Shared Drive or an O365 SharePoint site to store data for your team. Using a shared data location can be helpful to ensure longevity beyond a single user’s cloud account. It also makes transferring apps between owners a breeze.

The article focuses on using a single shared drive for the whole team. The same process could be applied to use multiple shared drives as well.

hru

Hi @Derek, in the reference article for setting the SharedDrives, the terminology to use is still TeamDrive.
https://help.appsheet.com/en/articles/2615244-working-with-google-team-drive

Where the root folder path as per the help article is:

/[TeamDrive]MyTeamDrive/appsheetdata

Last week, I have just connected my team to the SharedDrives using the above “TeamDrive” as connection name and it was working fine.

However, I wonder if this connection using TeamDrive as the connection name would be depreciated in the future and what will be the impact to the connected Apps?

Derek3

Hi @Heru,

That is a great question to raise. On May 31, 2019, the “Team Drives” feature of Google Drive was renamed to “shared drives.”

Backwards compatibility is always a priority when making updates to the platform. If the AppSheet terminology is updated in the future, the change will be made in a way to ensure existing root folder path definitions continue to work as expected.

hru

@Derek, Last year when the name was changed from TeamDrive to SharedDrives, the functionality is the same, except for any excel files linked to other excel files and any links pointing address using a TeamDrive name - we have to change it manually to get the links back to functions.

Now, reading your response, I am happy since it clarifies my concern.

Thanks.

hru

Hi @Derek, an update today as one of my new member team being set-up for the SharedDrives was having difficulties to connect to the drives using the root folder path similar to below with [TeamDrive]:

/[TeamDrive ]MyTeamDrive/appsheetdata

Until he report back and I just blindly test with a new connection root folder path with SharedDrives as the name, see below:

Unfortunately, it works.

So I imagine that the next time connection to be made to SharedDrives shall use this new [SharedDrives] as folder root path naming, at least, that’s what I will tell my team to do.

Derek3

Hi Heru,

Thanks for posting. I’m surprised that using [SharedDrives] worked as that is not a supported keyword.

The supported process is described in this article. The syntax is:
/[TeamDrive]MyTeamDrive/appsheetdata

[TeamDrive] is a keyword and should be copied as is.
“MyTeamDrive” is the name of the Shared Drive. It should be replaced with the name of your shared drive.
“appsheetdata” is the name of a folder inside the Shared Drive. It should be replaced with the name of your target folder.

I would recommend looking for other areas where there could be an issue. Possible areas to check are the name of the Shared Drive and your team mate’s permissions on the Shared Drive.

hru

There might be an issue, but I have to recheck and get back to you later.
When tries to use the syntax /[TeamDrive] as below:

He got a new folder with [TeamDrive] in his MyDrive:

People that already connected last week still can access the TeamDrive designated for AppSheet, only new people could not.

And I was reporting too early yesterday, actually [SharedDrive] did not work, and just producing a new folder like this in his MyDrive:

I will try to create a dummy account and report back to you.

Update:
He was able to connect to TeamDrive, with steps as follow: After remove appsheet access on their google account, logout from appsheet, clearing cache, log-in back again to AppSheet, make sure default folder changed, and try to copy one app.

Derek3

Hi Heru,

I’m glad your team mate got the connection to a Shared Drive working!

elco

@Derek Can you please clarify the syntax that is working ATM? The docs are outdated.

Do we have to use [TeamDrive] or [<Shared drive name>]?
Are you meant to remove all spaces from drive name or was that example path i.e. /Shared Drives/Drive Name/... becomes /[SharedDrives]DriveName/...?
Are you meant to combine the [Shared drives] with the root <Drive Name> as 1 path element i.e. [Shared drives]/…`?
Do you have to use [ & ] for root Shared drives?

And please update this document because that is the first place to look no the forums.

hru

below is what I have been using:

A new folder with the app name will be created for each of the app - inside my Appsheet shareddrives forlder.

elco

Is you Shared drive called APPSHEET? I’m still not sure if we should keep spaces or not; our drive is called Engineering Corporate Identity for example. I’ve tried both versions though and neither worked.

Can you not just refer to full path for files/images in shared drive w/o moving the app to the same drive? We have many drives which I will need access to and links to folders doesn’t work.

hru

Yes.

I’ve just tested this and you should be able to connect with the following:
/[TeamDrive]Engineering Corporate Identity

takuya_miyai

Hi @Heru

Thanks for the good tips.

I also tried it and it behaves differently depending on whether the folder already exists in Shared Drive or not.

The folder exists.

As you mentioned, I can create a new app in a folder in Shared Drive.

The folder does not exist

A new application was created under My Drive with the name of Defalut folder.

ex)
My Drive > [TeamDrive]AppSheet > Sandbox-xxxxxxxxxxx

Former Community Member

Hi, this is not working for me.

Created a new TEAM drive (not a standard “shared” folder)
I’m the owner, named it AppsheetRepo.

Changed my account settings as:

/[TeamDrive]AppsheetRepo/

But every time I create a new app, It keeps generating a new folder inside My Drive named [TeamDrive]AppsheetRepo including app definition.

Any hint?

takuya_miyai

Hi @tsambruni,

The trailing slash may be unnecessary.

/[TeamDrive]AppsheetRepo/
↓
/[TeamDrive]AppsheetRepo

My example

Former Community Member

You’re right, thanks!

elco

Thank you so much for testing this!

I still cannot get it to work. I’m using the full path /[TeamDrive]Engineering Corporate Identity/Icons/[Team Name].png to an image but it never loads. I can’t figure out if it’s some sharing issue.

Can you access any images/files on shared drives other than the one your App data and the spreadsheet is in?

hru

Yes, because I am the super admin.

Rockn

That partially answers my questions.

What about relational databases, can you use more than one table and populate foreign keys or does it only work with flat/table style data? I am trying to replicate forms on another platform that has some data, I believe, is in different tables

hru

You might want to see an explanation on data with this reference: