Google Sites integration guide: How to connect

Last updated: September 16, 2026


This article provides technical documentation for the Kinfolk Google Sites connector, which enables you to sync Google Sites pages. By interacting with Google Vault and Google Drive APIs, this connector makes content discoverable through Kinfolks’s unified knowledge search.

Prerequisites & restrictions

  1. You have modern “Google Sites” format which is accessible from Google Drive, not a “Legacy Google Sites” platform.

  2. Google Cloud Platform (GCP) must be available for you to enable programmatic access.

  3. You must have at least a Google Workspace Business Plus subscription to enable Google Vault feature. Alternatively, you may enable it as a separate subscription.

  4. Known Limitations:

  • Single Google Site page export limit is 100 Mb

  • Direct page URLs are available on best effort (as those are not available on any API and we try to restore those programmatically, but it’s not 100% precise)

  • Only whole-site reindex is available

How to set up the connector

You will need to create a service account in your GCP to give it programmatic access to your cloud. We would use Google Vault service for extracting data from Google Sites and enable domain-wide delegation to allow the service account to understand the user's visibility.

That includes a number of steps to be done:

  1. GCP: Create new project GCP

  2. GCP: Enable necessary APIs in your cloud for programmatic access

  3. GCP: Create service account

    • Get service account JSON

  4. Google Workspace: (Optional) Create separate integration user

  5. Google Workspace: Create user role to access Google Site & Google Vault

    • Assign role to user you use to connect Kinfolk to manage visibility (e.g. integration user)

  6. Google Workspace: Enable Domain-Wide Delegation (DWD) for created service account

  7. Google Workspace: Enable Google Vault

  8. Google Workspace: Google Vault Matter object for running Google Site exports

    • Store Google Vault Matter ID

  9. Kinfolk: Configure Google Sites integration

    • Pass Service account JSON - to provide authentication

    • Pass Google Vault Matter ID - to give us ability to export data from Google Sites

    • Pass User email who has assigned role in step (4)

      • If you use Google Drive integration - we’ll use that user email by default

GCP configuration

1. Enable GCP

ℹWe recommend creating a new Google Cloud project for the integration to keep it isolated and scoped

This step is necessary if you have never used Google Cloud in your organisation. This is required to enable programmatic access to data.

  • Go to Manage Resource section in Google Cloud console

  • Create “New Project”. Create it with any organisation and project name you like. We recommend use “Kinfolk integration” for clarity.

    • Write down Project ID (shown under project name)

  • Go to Billing section

    • Use existing billing or create another one for newly created project

    • Account without billing is not available for operations

2. Enable APIs

Here is a list of services necessary for enabling programmatic access. Make sure to replace [PROJECT_ID] with real project ID from step above.

3. Create Service Account

  • Go to Service Accounts section

  • Select project from step (1) and click Open

  • Click Create Service Account.

    • Enter service name kinfolk-admin and optional description. ID would be auto-generated

  • Skip Grant this service account access to project and Grant users access to this service account. Click Done.

  • Back on the Service Accounts page for your project, you should now be able to see the service account that was just created.

  • Click on created service account, Details tab will open

  • Click “Advanced Settings”

    • In section “Domain-Wide delegation” copy Client ID - it will be used for DWD in step (6)

  • Go to Keys tab

  • Click Add Key > Create New Key. In the panel that appears, select the key type JSON then click Create.

    • A private JSON key will be saved to your computer.


⚠This secret is shown only once and can not be re-downloaded. Keep it private. Best to remove the file once uploaded to Kinfolk.

Note: JSON key usage is restricted

JSON key is a simple and reliable way of operating service accounts, especially since we provide minimal permissions, and is industry standard. Google has recently pushed for more complex permission flows, so if you create a new organisation in GCP, you may have the JSON key disabled by default.

Google Workspace configuration

This configuration happens in Google Workspace Admin Console

4. Create separate integration user

ℹThis step is optional and you’re free to reuse any existing user, but having a separate user will simplify managing integration and keep it tightly scoped with minimal permissions

  • Go to User page

  • Click “Add new user” and provide user with email e.g. kinfolk-integration

5. Create admin role

  • Go to Roles page

  • Click Create new role

    • Name “Kinfolk integration”

  • Under Admin Console Privileges, select the following

    • Users → Read

    • Services → Drive and Docs → Settings

    • Google Vault → Manage matters

    • Google Vault → Manage exports

    • Google Vault → Manage searches

  • Under Admin API Privileges, select the following

    • Users → Read

  • Click Continue, and then Create Role

  • You should be redirected to a page where you can assign users to the “Kinfolk Integration” role you just created. Click Assign members, and add a Google Workspace user created in step (4).

    • ⚠ This user needs to have logged in at least once to the Google Workspace and accepted the Terms of Service.

    • Click Assign role

6. Enable Domain-Wide Delegation (DWD)

  • Go to Domain-wide delegation section in Google Admin Console

    • You need to be logged as an admin

  • Click Add new

  • Add Client ID copied from Service Account in step (3)

  • Insert following string into “OAuth Scopes”:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/admin.directory.user.readonly,https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.readonly,https://www.googleapis.com/auth/ediscovery,https://www.googleapis.com/auth/devstorage.read_only

  • This list includes following permissions:

    • Read users (admin.directory.user.readonly)

    • Read Google Drive (drive.readonly)

    • Manage Google Vault (ediscovery)

    • Export data from Google Vault (devstorage.read_only)

7. Enable Google Vault

If you don’t have Google Vault enabled in your plan (Must be Business Plus or higher) - it can be purchased separately, start by reading this support article from Google

8. Create Google Vault Matter

  • Open Google Vault

  • Go to the Matters page.

  • Click Create

  • Create new matter with name “Kinfolk Matter”

  • Click Share button

    • In “Invite people” add email of Integration user from step (4)

  • Copy ID of created Google Vault Matter

    • It can be seen in URL and looks like UUID like f81d4fae-7dec-11d0-a765-00a0c91e6bf6

Kinfolk configuration

9. Configure Google Sites integration in Kinfolk

  • Go to Kinfolk Integration Settings

  • Find Google Sites, and click to connect

  • Provide following details

    • Integration user email from step (4)

      • If you have Google Drive connected with user already, this user would be used by default

    • Vault Matter ID from step (8)

    • Service Account JSON from step (3)

Kinfolk behaviour

  • You should now have “Import Google Site” button available in the Knowledge Page

  • Click the button to view available Sites, and from the modal select which Sites you want to sync

  • For newly-selected Sites import will start

How syncing works

  • Each Google Site instance becomes “Folder” in the knowledge list

  • Each individual page of the site becomes “Item” inside that page

  • Only whole Google Site can be reindexed

  • Reindexing is blocking, next reindex may start only once previous reindex is completed

Deleting vs. toggling pages off

  • Deleting a page is not permanent. If the Google Site is still connected, the page can be added back the next time that site is manually refreshed from the UI.

  • Use the OFF toggle to exclude a page. Toggled-off pages remain off after reindexing. The page stays visible in the list, but is excluded from the knowledge base.

  • The 24-hour automatic refresh does not reindex Google Sites. Deleted pages come back only when someone manually clicks refresh on that Google Site folder in the UI, as long as the site is still connected.