Keep Drafting in Drive or OneDrive — Collect Proof in ClearPolicy

TL;DR: Import Word documents and PDFs from Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive, publish a versioned document in ClearPolicy, and send signature requests — without maintaining a second document library or re-uploading the wrong file.

Your handbook probably already lives somewhere useful. Maybe it is a Google Doc the board still comments on. Maybe it is a Word file in OneDrive that HR updates every spring. The hard part is not writing the policy. It is getting a clean version into a system that can send it out, track who finished, and show proof when leadership or insurance asks.

Most teams bridge that gap with download, re-upload, and hope. ClearPolicy is built for the next step: import once, freeze a revision, collect proof.

Why re-uploading is a quiet liability

Downloading a PDF “one last time” feels fine until:

• Someone imports last year’s handbook by mistake.
• Two people each keep a slightly different Word file.
• You cannot show which cloud draft became the signed version.

Policy acknowledgment is about this person, this document version, and this completion. Spreadsheets and email threads do not connect those three cleanly. Enterprise HRIS platforms can — if you are already paying for the whole stack. Many small organizations only need the thin layer between cloud draft and tracked request.

For the broader problem of where sign-offs should live, see where to track policy acknowledgments and signatures.

What cloud import does in ClearPolicy

Google Drive and OneDrive are peer native integrations. Both connect per team member under Settings → Integrations. Both show up when you create a document or work on a draft revision.

	Google Drive	OneDrive
Connect	Settings → Integrations	Settings → Integrations
Pick when	New document or draft revision	Same
Typical files	Google Docs, PDFs	Word (.doc / .docx), PDFs
After import	Versioned ClearPolicy document → publish → send document requests	Same

A few important boundaries — so expectations stay honest:

• Import is a snapshot. ClearPolicy does not keep a live two-way sync with the cloud file. If the source changes, import again (or upload) and publish a new revision.
• Sign-in is not the same as import. Team members can use Google or Microsoft to log in without connecting Drive or OneDrive for document import — and the reverse. Connect the import under Integrations when you need it.
• No Zapier required. Drive and OneDrive import are built in. Zapier is for everything else.

How to import a policy in a few minutes

1. Connect Google Drive or OneDrive under Settings → Integrations (click Connect and complete the provider’s permission prompt).
2. Open Documents and start a New Document, or open a draft revision you want to replace.
3. Choose Pick from Google Drive or Pick from OneDrive.
4. Select the document. Word files convert to PDF on the way in. Google Docs export as PDF for use in ClearPolicy.
5. Give the document a clear name, publish when the content is ready, and send document requests to your people.
6. Track who is pending or complete. Export audit trails when someone asks for proof.

Step-by-step product help:

• Connect Google for sign-in and Drive import
• Connect Microsoft for sign-in and OneDrive import
• How ClearPolicy works
• Integrations overview

Work Microsoft 365 and admin approval

Personal Microsoft accounts can usually connect OneDrive themselves. On many work or school tenants, Microsoft shows a Need admin approval screen for file access. That is normal for apps that request access to files.

Ask a Microsoft admin for your organization to approve ClearPolicy once. After that, team members can connect OneDrive under Integrations and import Word or PDF policies. Details are in the Microsoft integration docs.

Who this is for

• Small businesses — Handbooks and workplace policies that already live in Drive or OneDrive.
• Nonprofits — Board COIs and staff handbooks drafted in shared cloud folders.
• Churches — Child safety and volunteer policies written in Word on Microsoft 365, or Google Docs for staff.

If you use Planning Center for people lists, that remains a people sync — not document import. Policies still come from upload, editor, templates, Drive, or OneDrive. See auto-assign acknowledgments from Planning Center.

From cloud draft to proof

Once the document is in ClearPolicy, the rest of the workflow is the same: publish a revision, send requests by email, send reminders when needed, and keep a timestamped record of who completed which version. Recipients do not need a ClearPolicy account — they open a link, review the document, and finish.

ClearPolicy is $29/month flat, with a 30-day free trial and no credit card required. Import from the cloud you already use, then focus on the part that matters when something goes wrong: proof they saw it and signed off.

Start your free trial · See integrations · How it works