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Connect Google Drive to WhatsApp Business

Your documents and files live in Google Drive, and your customers are on WhatsApp. Connecting them lets you answer questions from your own documents, file the photos and receipts people send, and deliver finished files straight to someone's phone.
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Ideas

What you can do with Google Drive and WhatsApp Business

Files and answers moving between Google Drive and WhatsApp. These are ready-made starting points. Anything else you can describe works too.
The moment it happensAI

Answer WhatsApp questions from your Google Drive documents

Customers ask questions on WhatsApp and get answers drawn from the FAQ and policy documents in your Drive folder.

See how it works
The moment it happensAI

Save photos, receipts and voice notes from WhatsApp to Drive

Anything you send to your WhatsApp business number is filed in Google Drive, receipts get their details pulled out, and you get a confirmation.

See how it works
Every 10 minutes

Send finished files from Drive to people on WhatsApp

When a file named with a phone number lands in your Drive Outbox folder, it's sent to that person on WhatsApp and moved to Sent.

See how it works Your own logic

Any other automation you can describe in words

Your own rules, schedule and AI steps with Google Drive and WhatsApp Business, plus any other app. Describe it and your assistant builds it.

See how to build your own

Build your own

Build any Google Drive and WhatsApp Business automation you can describe

The ideas above are ready-made starting points, not a fixed list. Describe what should happen between Google Drive and WhatsApp Business in your own words, with your conditions, other apps or an AI step, and your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.

  • Your own rules

    Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.

  • Any number of apps

    One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.

  • AI where it helps

    Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.

  • On a schedule or on each event

    Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

For example, ask your assistant

Save WhatsApp images to a Drive folder named after the sender, and reply asking for a clearer photo if the AI cannot read a receipt.

When a PDF is added to a customer's Drive folder, send it on WhatsApp only if their phone number is in the folder description.

Use cases

Why people connect Google Drive and WhatsApp Business

How the two apps work together

  • WhatsApp messages and media reach a trigger link right away through the WhatsApp Business Platform webhook.
  • Media is downloaded and saved to the Drive folder you choose, named by sender and date.
  • The script checks Drive folders for new files every few minutes and sends them on WhatsApp when needed.

  • Field staff send photos to the office

    Site photos and documents sent on WhatsApp are saved to the right Drive folder. Nobody has to export chats.

  • Businesses deliver documents to customers

    When a quote or invoice PDF is added to a Drive folder, it is sent to the customer on WhatsApp. Customers get it on the app they use.

  • Support teams answer from manuals

    WhatsApp questions are answered using product manuals and policies stored in Drive. Answers stay current when documents change.

  • Accountants collect client receipts

    Clients send receipt photos on WhatsApp and they are filed in their Drive folder by month. Bookkeeping starts with organised files.

More apps

Google Drive, WhatsApp Business and other apps in one automation

An automation isn't limited to two apps. Add the next step in another app and it runs as part of the same automation.

Log received files in a sheet

When a customer sends a document on WhatsApp, save it to Drive and add a row to my Documents sheet with the phone number, file link and date.

Email the office when files arrive

When a site photo arrives on WhatsApp, save it to the job's Drive folder and email the project manager a link from Gmail.

Receipts from WhatsApp to Drive and QuickBooks

When a client sends a receipt photo on WhatsApp, save it to Drive and create an expense in QuickBooks with the amount the AI reads.

Setup

Connect Google Drive and WhatsApp Business once

Every idea on this page uses the same two connections, so you set them up once. If one is missing, your assistant tells you and links to the right place.

Google Drive

File storage

  1. At console.cloud.google.com, create a project and enable the Google Drive API.
  2. Set up the OAuth consent screen and add the scope https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.
  3. Create an OAuth client of type Web application with the redirect URI https://clickruntime.com/oauth/callback.
  4. In the ClickRuntime dashboard, open Connections, choose Google Drive and enter the client ID and secret, then connect.
  5. Prefer a service account? Under IAM & Admin → Service Accounts, create one and add a JSON key, share your folders or a Shared Drive with its email, and save the key as a secret on Connections & secrets.

WhatsApp Business

Messaging

  1. At developers.facebook.com/apps, create a Business app and add the WhatsApp product to it.
  2. In business.facebook.com, open Business Settings, go to System users and add one. Assign it the app with Manage app and your WhatsApp account with Manage WhatsApp Business accounts.
  3. Generate a token for that system user, select the app and add business_management, whatsapp_business_messaging and whatsapp_business_management, then copy it.
  4. Under WhatsApp, API Setup, note your Phone Number ID and WhatsApp Business Account ID.
  5. In the ClickRuntime dashboard, open Connections & secrets and save the token as a secret for WhatsApp Business, along with the two IDs.

FAQ

Questions about connecting Google Drive and WhatsApp Business

Do I need the WhatsApp Business API?
Yes. These use the WhatsApp Business Platform from Meta. Set up a number in Meta's developer dashboard and save its token in your ClickRuntime dashboard.
Which Drive folders can it use?
Only the folders you point it at. It uses your Google connection, so it can't see files your account can't.
Is there a file size limit?
WhatsApp limits documents to 100 MB and images to 5 MB. Larger files are better shared as a Drive link.
Why do some messages need an approved template?
WhatsApp only lets businesses start a conversation, or write more than 24 hours after the customer last messaged, with a template Meta has approved. Replies within 24 hours can be free text.
Which Drive folders can it use?
Any folder the connected Google account can access, including shared drives.
Can it send large files?
WhatsApp has media size limits, so larger files are better sent as a Drive share link.
Will the customer's files be private?
Files are saved with the permissions of the folder you choose. The script only creates share links if you ask for them.

Related pages

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