Google Drive folders and files

Introduction

Google Drive content reaches InfoBox screens in three common ways: a single file (image, PDF, video), a Slides presentation, or a Sheets dashboard. For presentations, the connected Google Slides integration is now the recommended path; this article covers the Drive-side patterns and the publish-to-web alternative.

Pattern 1: Single file (image, PDF, video)

If you have one file in Drive you want on screens:

• Right-click the file in Drive → Share.
• Set sharing to Anyone with the link with Viewer access.
• Copy the link.
• Better path: download the file from Drive and upload it directly to InfoBox's Media Library. Faster on screens, no Drive dependency, no public-link concerns. Skip iframe entirely.
• Use the iframe path only when you want Drive to remain the source of truth and edits to flow automatically.

Pattern 2: Google Slides presentation

For presentations, use the connected integration first:

• Recommended: the connected Google Slides integration. Connect your Google account and import the presentation directly; every slide becomes its own slide on the screen and stays in sync automatically. See the Google Slides presentations article.
• Alternative: Publish to web. If you'd rather not connect a Google account, open the presentation, click File → Share → Publish to web, pick Embed, choose the auto-advance interval, copy the iframe `src` URL, and paste it into a Website slide.
• Publish-to-web caveat: Slides treats the auto-advance interval as the master timing. Set your per-slide duration in Slides itself, then make the InfoBox slide duration long enough to play through the whole presentation.

Pattern 3: Google Sheets dashboard

Sheets makes a passable dashboard for live numbers:

• In Sheets, click File → Share → Publish to web.
• Pick the sheet or specific range.
• Pick auto-republish on edit if the data changes.
• Copy the embed URL.
• Add it as a Website slide in InfoBox (Add new slide → Web → Website).
• Set a refresh interval (e.g. 5 minutes for live data).
• Design tip: format the sheet for screen viewing. Large fonts, simple colour-coding, no formula columns visible. Hide rows and columns that aren't needed in the published view.

Design tips for Drive content

Get screen-friendly results:

• For Slides: native 16:9 layout matches landscape screens. Use 9:16 for portrait.
• For Sheets: design the dashboard at 1920×1080 px viewport. Test by viewing in a private browser at that size.
• For PDFs: stick with the InfoBox PDF slide type rather than Drive iframe. Better playback.
• For images and videos: just upload to InfoBox Media Library directly.

Summary

For presentations, use the connected Google Slides integration. Sheets works for simple live dashboards via Publish to web. For static files, just upload to InfoBox directly.