The moment it happens

Set up a shared folder for each new client

Each new client gets a folder with your standard subfolders, shared with them.

Runs: The moment it happens
Apps: Google Drive
AI: Not needed
Access: read+write

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: give me a link my intake form can send to. Create a folder named after the client with Contracts, Invoices and Assets subfolders, share it with their email and send me the link.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

Add to ChatGPT Add to Claude

First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

A bookkeeping firm signs up three or four new clients a week through an intake form. Afterward someone creates a Drive folder named after the client, adds subfolders for Contracts, Invoices, Tax Documents and Correspondence, shares it with the client's email address and writes a message with the link. Each step is small, but they are done differently every time, and a folder shared with the wrong email address is a real confidentiality problem.

The moment the form is submitted, ClickRuntime creates the client folder, or reuses it if one with that name already exists, then adds your standard subfolders. It gives the client's email address access to the folder and sends them an email containing the link, so they can start uploading documents straight away.

Law firms, agencies, accountants, consultants and photographers use the same pattern for projects, cases and events.

What you get out of it

Every client gets the same structure
When subfolders come from one template, your team always knows where an engagement letter or a receipt belongs. New staff find files faster, and nothing ends up in a random top-level folder named final-v2.
Fewer sharing mistakes
The address typed by the client is the address that gets access, with no retyping between a form and a Drive dialog. That removes the classic error of granting a folder to the wrong person with a similar name.
Clients can upload on day one
The welcome email with the folder link arrives right after sign-up, while the client is still engaged. Onboarding documents come in sooner than they do when the link waits for an admin to get to it.
No duplicate folders when forms repeat
Reusing an existing folder means a client who submits twice, or an existing client who fills the form again, does not end up with two folders holding half of their documents each.
Admin time goes to real work
Setting up a folder, five subfolders and a permission takes several minutes of clicking. Across a few hundred clients a year, that is days of staff time that can go to billing and follow-up instead.

How it works

What happens, step by step

When a new client fills in your onboarding form, ClickRuntime receives their details straight away.
It creates a folder for the client in Google Drive, or reuses it if one already exists, and adds standard subfolders.
It shares the folder with the client's email address.
You get an email with the folder link and who it was shared with.

Before it runs live

Connect Google Drive
Paste your automation's link into the other app's webhook settings

What you get

RunsThe moment it happens

Set up a shared folder for each new clientjust nowSucceeded

Email · Client folder: Northwind Ltdhttps://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QwErTyUiOp Shared with ops@northwind.example

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. 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.

Changes you can ask for

Act only on the items that match your own rules, and skip the rest
Add an AI step, for example to summarize, sort or draft a reply
Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
Combine it with other Google Drive steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.

create_a_client_folder_from_a_form.pyexample

from google.oauth2.credentials import Credentials
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
from clickruntime import on_event, credentials, notify

CLIENTS_ROOT = "clients-root-folder-id"
FOLDER = "application/vnd.google-apps.folder"

@on_event
def handle(event):
    form = event.json or {}
    drive = build("drive", "v3", credentials=Credentials(credentials.connection("google", "work")), cache_discovery=False)
    name = form["client"].replace("'", "\\'")
    found = drive.files().list(q=f"name = '{name}' and mimeType = '{FOLDER}' and '{CLIENTS_ROOT}' in parents and trashed = false",
                               fields="files(id,webViewLink)").execute()["files"]
    if found:
        return {"created": False, "link": found[0]["webViewLink"]}
    root = drive.files().create(body={"name": form["client"], "mimeType": FOLDER, "parents": [CLIENTS_ROOT]},
                                fields="id,webViewLink").execute()
    for sub in ("Contracts", "Invoices", "Assets"):
        drive.files().create(body={"name": sub, "mimeType": FOLDER, "parents": [root["id"]]}).execute()
    drive.permissions().create(fileId=root["id"], sendNotificationEmail=True,
                               body={"type": "user", "role": "writer", "emailAddress": form["email"]}).execute()
    notify.email_me(f"Client folder: {form['client']}", root["webViewLink"])
    return {"created": True, "link": root["webViewLink"]}

FAQ

Common questions

What happens if the client has no Google account?

Drive can share with any email address, and people without a Google account usually receive a link that asks them to sign in or verify their address. If your clients commonly lack one, you can share the link more openly, though restricted sharing is safer for confidential files.

Can the client see other clients' folders?

No. The permission is added only to that client's folder, so they see their own folder and subfolders and nothing else in your Drive. Make sure the parent folder where these are created is not itself shared with clients.

Can I set how the subfolders are named and what access the client gets?

Yes. You can list the exact subfolder names and choose whether the client can view, comment or edit. Give your AI assistant the list, such as Contracts, Invoices and Tax Documents, and the access level before it goes live.

What permissions does it need?

read+write. Nothing else in your accounts is used.

Does it need AI?

No. It runs without AI, so it doesn't use your plan's AI allowance.

How many runs does it use?

One run for each event the app sends.

Can I change how it works?

Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

The moment it happens