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Storage (BYOS)

Connect your own storage — Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Azure Blob, Amazon S3, Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2, DigitalOcean Spaces, or Wasabi — so every file uploaded into CRMown lands in your own cloud account. For Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox, the sync is bidirectional: files you drop into the provider's CRMown folder also show up in CRMown. Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox are OAuth-connectable — click "Connect Dropbox" (or Connect Google / Connect Microsoft 365) under Settings > Communications > Connected Accounts to authorize the account, then pick the provider in File Storage below.

Open in CRMown →

Steps

  1. Go to Settings > Communications and open the File Storage section.
  2. Pick a provider card (Local, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Azure Blob, S3, Backblaze B2, DO Spaces, or Wasabi) and authenticate / enter credentials.
  3. For OAuth providers (Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox), you must first connect the account under Connected Accounts at the top of the Communications tab — then return here and pick the provider card.
  4. Once connected, files uploaded via Tools > Folders (📎 button) are stored in your provider.
  5. For Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox, the Inbound Sync panel shows the last sync time, push-notification status (Active / Polling only / App-level), and any sync error. Click "Sync now" to pull changes on demand.
  6. Tools > Folders shows a quick "Change" shortcut that jumps straight to this section.

Good to know

  • BYOS (Bring Your Own Storage) means you keep full control of your files.
  • Upload size caps: individual file uploads are capped at 200MB (enough for most videos) and JSON/form bodies at 50MB. Larger files error with "File too large". For very large videos, compress first or host externally and paste the link into a note/message.
  • Storage is used for documents, attachments, and course content.
  • This setting lives under Communications, not Integrations.
  • Sync direction: For Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox, sync is two-way. Files you upload in CRMown land in your provider; files you drop directly into the provider's CRMown folder (or subfolders) appear in CRMown's Document Vault within 5 minutes (or seconds with push notifications). Deletes propagate both ways. Renames update metadata.
  • Push notifications vs polling: Drive and OneDrive subscribe to provider webhooks on connect (change latency ~seconds). Dropbox uses an app-level webhook configured in the Dropbox app console. If a subscription can't be created (e.g. webhook URL unreachable), a 5-minute polling worker still keeps things in sync — the UI shows "Polling only" in that case.
  • Inbound sync is NOT yet supported for S3-family (S3, R2, B2, DO Spaces, Wasabi), Azure Blob, or Local — outbound still works for these. S3 Event Notifications / Azure Event Grid support is on the roadmap.
  • Per-provider quota reporting: Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox have full real-time quota. S3-family report estimated quota. Azure Blob and Local don't report quota.
  • You can change providers any time. Existing files stay in the old provider; new uploads go to the new provider. The prior provider's push subscription is torn down automatically on switch. Re-uploading existing files to migrate is a manual step today.
  • Folder scopes: every folder is one of four scopes — org (everyone), team (team members only), user (private to one person), or contact (record-scoped). The scope drives the physical path in your provider vault: /CRMown/_org/…, /CRMown/_teams/{teamId}/…, /CRMown/_users/{userId}/…, /CRMown/_org/contacts/{contactId}/…
  • Private folders land in _users/{yourId}/ on the connected provider. OWNER and ADMIN retain audit access via the "Members' private" filter on the Folders page.
  • Team folders live in _teams/{teamId}/ — team members see them from the moment the folder is created. Removing a user from a team removes their access immediately; the folder itself stays.
  • Storage account: for Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox, the /CRMown root lives in one connected user's drive (the "storage authority"). Settings > Communications > File Storage shows who owns it. OWNER/ADMIN can switch to a different connected account — the switch creates a fresh /CRMown in the new account; files in the old account stay where they are and need manual migration.
  • Plan downgrade: deactivating a suite (manual toggle, plan change, or subscription cancel) hides every folder attached to that suite from the Folders tree immediately. On managed storage (Local / EFS), hidden folders are scheduled for permanent deletion 60 days later — OWNER/ADMIN gets an in-app warning at day 45 and day 59. On BYOS (Drive/OneDrive/Dropbox/S3/Azure), hidden folders are preserved indefinitely — reactivating the suite restores visibility with zero data loss.
Example: A privacy-conscious legal firm picks Cloudflare R2 as their storage. Every uploaded contract, signed PDF, and CMA report lands in their R2 bucket — they keep the encryption keys, control access via R2 IAM, and can produce a complete audit trail of every file from their Cloudflare dashboard. Switching providers later is one re-pick + a data migration job.

Troubleshooting

A file I dropped into my Drive/OneDrive/Dropbox CRMown folder isn't showing up in CRMown
Inbound sync runs on push notifications (seconds) or a 5-minute polling fallback. If the file was just added, it may not have been picked up yet. The Inbound Sync panel shows when the last sync ran.
Fix: Settings > Communications > File Storage. If the push-notification status shows "Polling only", click "Sync now" to run immediately. If the sync panel shows a red error, the OAuth token likely expired — disconnect and reconnect the provider.
Inbound Sync panel shows a red error
OAuth token expired, the provider revoked the app's access, or the configured storage folder was deleted from the provider side.
Fix: Click Disconnect, reconnect the provider to refresh the token, then verify the CRMown folder still exists in your Drive/OneDrive/Dropbox root.
My files disappeared after a plan downgrade
Deactivating a suite hides every folder tied to that suite from the Folders tree. On managed storage (Local / EFS) they are also scheduled for permanent deletion 60 days out; on BYOS (Drive/OneDrive/Dropbox/S3/Azure) they are preserved indefinitely.
Fix: Reactivate the suite under Settings > Billing (or upgrade the plan) to restore visibility. If the org is on BYOS, the files never left the provider — just the tree rendering is hidden. If the org is on managed storage, reactivation within 60 days restores everything; after 60 days the retention worker will have hard-deleted them and they can't be recovered from CRMown (provider-side trash / backups permitting).
I hit my plan limit — what happens to my files?
Plan limits drive suite activation, and suite deactivation drives folder hiding. When you exceed a plan cap (users, contacts, etc.) billing might downgrade suites automatically, or you might need to manually deactivate a suite to stay under cost.
Fix: Nothing is deleted immediately. Suite-scoped folders are marked "hidden from tree" but files stay in your provider vault untouched. On managed storage you get 60 days to reactivate before permanent deletion (with day-45 and day-59 warning notifications to OWNER/ADMIN). On BYOS, reactivate whenever — files are always there. Settings > Billing shows your current limits; Folders page hides anything attached to inactive suites.
Team member can't see the shared folder I made
Most common: (1) the folder was created with scope=user (private to you) instead of scope=team, (2) the user isn't a member of the team that owns the folder, or (3) the folder is in a suite that isn't active on the org.
Fix: Confirm scope on the folder row — look for a "Team · {name}" purple pill, not an "Only you" teal pill. If it's the wrong scope, create a new folder at the same location and move contents (scope is immutable after creation). Verify team membership under Settings > Teams > {team} > Members. If the suite is inactive, the folder is hidden from everyone — reactivate the suite under Settings > Billing.
Multiple admins connected, but uploads all go to one person's drive
By design. The /CRMown root lives in one connected user's drive — the "storage authority". Every upload from every user routes through that one account so the whole org sees the same folder tree. See Settings > Communications > File Storage > Storage account for who currently holds it.
Fix: No action needed unless the current authority is leaving the company or their account is no longer accessible. Switch the authority under Storage account — the switch creates a fresh /CRMown in the new account; files in the old account stay where they are and must be migrated manually (export from old drive, re-upload via CRMown on the new account).

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