Four ways to get scans into Drive
Each of these works. They differ in how much of the filing is left for a person to do afterwards.
| Approach | What you get | What is left to do |
|---|---|---|
| Drive mobile app, scan button | A PDF of what you photographed, in the folder you pick | Naming, and any details, one document at a time |
| Scanner or copier that sends to Drive or email | One PDF per scan, usually with a generic name | Splitting stacks, renaming, filing into folders |
| Scan into a folder synced with Drive for desktop | Whatever the scanner software saved, copied to Drive | Naming and filing, unless the scanner software does it |
| Capture software that uploads to Drive | One named file per document, in the right folder, with details | Checking anything the software was unsure of |
The first three are about moving files. The fourth is about filing them. If you scan more than a handful of documents a day, the time goes into the filing, so that is the part worth automating.
Plan folders and ownership before you scan
Use a shared drive for team documents
A file uploaded to someone’s My Drive belongs to that person. If they leave and their account is removed, their files go with it unless someone transfers them. Files in a shared drive belong to the team. For invoices, HR files or client records, create a shared drive (or use one you have) and give the right group access there, rather than relying on a folder shared out of one person’s Drive.
Keep the tree shallow and predictable
People browse by one or two things: usually the kind of document and then a name or a month. A good starting tree for accounts payable looks like this:
| Level | Built from | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Folder 1 | Document type | Invoice |
| Folder 2 | Vendor | Northwind Supply |
| File name | Invoice date and invoice number | 2026-09-14_INV-20931.pdf |
The details you search or report on (purchase order, total, due date) belong in the file’s details rather than in more folders. Our automatic file naming guide goes through conventions for other document types.
Decide which account uploads
The account that signs in owns the uploads in My Drive and appears as the uploader in a shared drive. A dedicated scanning account that belongs to the team keeps working when one person is on leave. If your organization uses Google Workspace and limits which third-party apps people can connect, your Workspace administrator may need to allow CapturePoint before anyone can sign in.
Step by step with CapturePoint 6
CapturePoint 6 is document capture software for Windows. It scans from TWAIN scanners or imports PDF, TIFF, JPEG, PNG, BMP and GIF files, splits stacks into documents, recognizes each document type and reads the fields, all on the PC. Then it files the finished PDF where you choose. These steps assume a job is set up; pointing it at a folder of sample documents sets one up without questions, and ten ready-made sample jobs are included.
- 01
Set the naming
In Job setup › Export, choose Change how files are named and set the folders and file name for each document type. Drive gets exactly the folders and names the job builds.
- 02
Add Google Drive as another destination
Choose Other destinations, then Google Drive. Documents still go to the job’s own folder or Content Central as well, so you keep a local copy.
- 03
Sign in to Google Drive
CapturePoint opens Google’s sign-in page in your browser. Finish signing in there; the card then shows the account and opens the folder picker.
- 04
Choose the folder
“Choose a Google Drive folder” lists My Drive, folders shared with you and your shared drives. Search, walk in, use New folder if needed, then choose Use on the folder.
- 05
Keep the details option on
Also add the values to each file’s Drive details is on by default. It is what makes the values visible and searchable in Drive.
- 06
Save and test
Save, then Test delivery: it puts a small PDF in the folder and removes it, so you know the account can write there. If the job exported documents earlier, CapturePoint offers to send those too.
What arrives in Drive
Take the sample Northbridge Office Supply invoice from the screenshot above. In Drive you get:
- One searchable PDF in the folders the job’s naming built, under the folder you chose.
- A description with one line per field, for example
Vendor: Northbridge Office Supply,Invoice number: INV-2401,Purchase order: PO-1031,Total: 480.00. Open the file’s details panel in Drive to see it. - Properties on the file holding the same values for other tools and scripts. Drive does not allow spaces in a property name, so
Invoice numberis stored asInvoice_number; the description keeps the field’s own name. - The values inside the PDF as its title, subject and keywords, so they stay with the file if it is downloaded or moved.
Drive limits how much a property can hold and how many one app can add to a file. Very long values are shortened in the properties; the full values stay inside the PDF.
Finding documents later
Because the values are in the name, the description and the text layer, ordinary Drive search works the way people expect:
- Type an invoice number such as
INV-2401into Drive search to go straight to it. - Type a vendor name to find every document from them, wherever it was filed.
- Browse Invoice › Northwind Supply to see one vendor’s invoices in date order, because the file names start with the date in year-month-day form.
- Open any file’s details panel to read its captured values without opening the PDF.
Pitfalls to avoid
Uploading into one person’s My Drive
It works on day one and causes trouble when that person changes roles. Use a shared drive for anything the team depends on.
Synced folders that lose the details
Scanning into a folder that Drive for desktop syncs is quick to set up, but only the file travels. Names and folders are whatever the scanner software made, and no values reach the file’s details.
Stacks scanned as one file
A 60-page scan of 25 invoices is one file in Drive unless something splits it first. See batch scanning and document separation for the ways to split a stack reliably.
The PC is off
CapturePoint uploads from the PC while the app is open. Documents exported while it is closed wait and go when it next opens; a dropped connection is retried on its own, and nothing is sent twice. If Google stops accepting the sign-in, the card says how many documents are waiting until you sign in again.
The folder is moved to the trash
If someone trashes the destination folder, waiting documents say that Google Drive no longer shows it, with a prompt to choose the folder again. Pick a new one and send them; nothing is lost.
Private values in names and descriptions
Anyone who can open the folder can read file names and descriptions. Leave tax IDs and account numbers out of the naming, and check who the folder is shared with before turning on details for sensitive document types.
Using Microsoft 365 instead? The SharePoint and OneDrive guide covers library columns. For CapturePoint setup articles, see the CapturePoint help library. CapturePoint 6 can also send to Dropbox, with the values inside each PDF, and to Nucleus One, filling fields with the same names.
For the product side: