Choose folders, file types, and run an import

This article applies to every Paperplane connector — Google Drive, SharePoint, Dropbox, file servers (FTP, FTPS, SFTP), Gmail, Outlook and IMAP mailboxes. The connectors work in two ways:

• Google Drive, SharePoint, Dropbox and file servers run one-time folder imports. You pick a document library or folder, and Paperplane copies its supported files once. They are included on every plan, including Free.
• Gmail, Outlook and IMAP sync on a schedule. You pick a start date, a sync frequency, and the attachment file types, and Paperplane keeps importing attachments from new messages. Email integrations are a premium feature, available on paid plans and during a free workspace’s 30-day trial.

Prerequisites

• The Admin role in your workspace — only admins can set up connectors and start imports.
• At least one connector already connected. See the setup article for Google Drive, SharePoint, Dropbox, Gmail, Outlook, IMAP, or file server/SFTP.
• A sense of which folders, mailboxes, and file types actually matter — importing everything at once can bring in more than you need, and every imported file counts toward your plan’s document limit.

Steps

1. Open the connector on the Integrations page.
2. For Google Drive, SharePoint, Dropbox and file servers: browse to the document library or folder you want, then select it to import that folder and its subfolders, or import the account root. The import starts right away. Paperplane imports the file types it supports — PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, HEIC/HEIF images, plain text, Markdown, and CSV — and skips everything else.
3. For Gmail, Outlook and IMAP: choose the date to import messages from, the sync frequency (every 15 minutes, hourly, every 6 hours, every 12 hours, or daily), and which attachment formats to import. At least one file type is required. Then activate the sync; the first sync starts right away.
4. Watch the connector card: it shows the status of the latest job and when the connector last synced successfully.
5. When a job finishes, open the connector’s details and review the job history. For each job it shows how many files or attachments were discovered, imported, skipped, and failed.
6. To bring in more from a drive or file server, open the connector and use “Import another folder”. For Gmail, Outlook and IMAP, change the sync frequency or file types in the connector’s settings at any time.

Expected result

Imported files and attachments land in a folder Paperplane creates for each connector, keeping the subfolder structure of drive and file-server imports. They become searchable through both quick search and AI archive search, exactly like directly uploaded documents. The job history gives you a record of what happened in each run. Drive and file-server imports run once per folder you choose; Gmail, Outlook and IMAP connectors keep syncing new messages on their schedule, and files that were already imported are not imported again.

Common problems

• A file I expected doesn’t show up. Check the job history first. Files are skipped when they were already imported, have an unsupported or unselected file type, are empty, or exceed the maximum file size. For drives and file servers, also confirm you imported the right folder.
• The import is taking longer than expected. Large folders, large mailboxes, or many files at once can take a while to work through. Check the connector card for progress instead of starting a second import for the same folder.
• An import stopped early. Every imported file counts toward your plan’s document limit. When the workspace reaches the limit, the import stops; upgrade your plan or remove documents you no longer need.
• I imported too much by mistake. Choose a narrower folder or fewer file types next time. Documents already imported remain in your archive; remove individual documents there if you no longer want them.
• I don’t understand why a file failed rather than was skipped. A failure usually means Paperplane couldn’t download or process the file, for example because it was corrupted or the connection dropped. A skip means the file was intentionally left out, for example because of its file type, its size, or because it was already imported.