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Files you add from Google Drive become knowledge base sources that follow the document: when the Doc or Sheet changes, Retell re-syncs it automatically, so your agent answers from the version your team edits. This page covers picking the files and keeping them current. Adding Drive files requires a connected Google Drive account.

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Add Drive files

1

Open the knowledge base

Go to Knowledge Base, open or create one, and open the Add menu. Your connected Drive accounts are listed there.
2

Pick the files

Select the Drive account, then pick files in the Google file picker. This is Google’s own picker embedded in the dashboard, so your browser must allow third-party cookies from Google for it to load (see troubleshooting).Google Docs and Google Sheets work natively, and so does every file format the knowledge base supports for document upload. Each file’s type decides how its content is extracted.
3

Wait for processing

Picked files are fetched, chunked, and embedded like any other source. The knowledge base shows each file with its processing status.

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Keeping content in sync

With auto-refresh enabled on the knowledge base, Retell re-checks each Drive source’s last-modified time on every refresh cycle (every 24 hours) and re-syncs only files that changed; unchanged files are skipped. If a file can’t be re-fetched (deleted, permission lost, or the connection removed), the knowledge base keeps serving the previously synced content rather than dropping it.

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Troubleshooting

The file picker is Google’s own picker, embedded in the dashboard from Google’s servers, and it needs a signed-in Google session inside that embedded frame. If your browser blocks third-party cookies, which is the default in incognito or private windows and in strict privacy settings, the picker can’t establish that session and the dashboard reports Google Picker failed to load after about 10 seconds. Allow third-party cookies for Google’s domains, or add an exception for the Retell dashboard, then try again.
The picker shows what the connected Google account can see. If the file lives in someone else’s Drive or a restricted shared drive, share it with the connected account first.
Check three things: the knowledge base has auto-refresh enabled, the Drive connection still exists on the Connected tab, and the connected account still has access to the file.
Sheets sync as cell values. Heavily formatted or sparse spreadsheets can chunk poorly for retrieval — see the knowledge base formatting tips for what retrieves well.

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FAQ

Google Docs and Sheets, plus any format the knowledge base accepts for document upload — PDF, DOCX, TXT, HTML, CSV, and the rest of the list on that page. If a file would upload fine, it syncs fine from Drive.
With auto-refresh enabled, changed files are re-synced on the knowledge base’s refresh cycle, which runs every 24 hours. An edit made this morning reaches the agent after the next refresh, not instantly.

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Next steps

Knowledge base

Create a knowledge base, tune retrieval, and see the formatting that retrieves well.

Connect Google Drive

Set up the OAuth connection and see exactly what access the drive.file scope grants.