> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.daftplug.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Cloud storage

> Connecting Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox, and what happens when uploads fail.

<Info>
  Cloud storage is a Pro feature. Free can download archives manually, which is the same protection with more steps.
</Info>

A backup stored on the same server as the site does not survive the failure that destroys the server. Cloud storage is what turns a backup into an actual safety net.

## Connecting a provider

Go to **Snapshotify > Settings > Storage**. Each provider has a card showing whether it is connected.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Select connect on the provider you want">
    You are sent to that provider's own consent screen.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Sign in and approve">
    Read what is being requested. It should be an app folder only.
  </Step>

  <Step title="You are returned to the settings screen">
    The card now shows the account you signed in as and the folder backups go to.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set Backups Location">
    Connecting a provider does not start using it. Choose it under **Backups Location** as well.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What each provider gets

All three use the narrowest access that works.

| Provider     | Access                      | Folder                         |
| ------------ | --------------------------- | ------------------------------ |
| Google Drive | Only files this app creates | `Snapshotify/<your-site>`      |
| OneDrive     | A dedicated app folder      | `Apps/Snapshotify/<your-site>` |
| Dropbox      | A dedicated app folder      | Its own app folder             |

<Note>
  None of them can read files you uploaded yourself. Your existing Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox is invisible to the plugin, which is how it should be: a backup plugin has no business reading the rest of your storage.

  The consequence is that a backup you move or rename by hand in the provider's web interface may stop being visible to Snapshotify.
</Note>

## How uploads work

Archives are uploaded in chunks rather than in one request, so a large backup does not depend on a single long-lived connection. An interrupted upload resumes from where it stopped.

## When an upload fails

<Warning>
  An upload failure never fails the backup. The archive completes as a **local** backup and the reason is written to that backup's activity log.
</Warning>

You end up with a working backup in the wrong place rather than no backup at all. This is the right trade, but it means a silent failure looks like success in the list unless you read the location.

<Tip>
  A row showing **Local** on a site configured for cloud storage is telling you the upload failed. Open that backup's activity log for the reason.
</Tip>

## Keeping the list honest

Snapshotify periodically checks the list against what is actually in your cloud storage.

* A backup whose cloud copy is gone is demoted to local, if a local copy still exists.
* If neither copy exists, the row is dropped.
* **If the provider's API is unreachable, nothing changes.** An outage never removes backups from your list.

## Local copies

By default a local copy is kept after a successful upload, so you have two. Developers can change that with [`snapshotify_keep_local_copy`](/snapshotify/reference/hooks#snapshotify_keep_local_copy).

<Warning>
  Turning off local copies is reasonable when disk space is genuinely tight, and risky otherwise: a deleted cloud file then leaves you with nothing.
</Warning>

## Choosing a provider

There is little to separate them for this purpose. Pick the one you already use, since you are more likely to notice a storage quota problem in an account you look at.

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Watch your quota">
    Backups are large and accumulate. A full Drive means uploads start failing, and by the fallback behavior above those failures are quiet. Set [retention](/snapshotify/settings/general#retention-options) so old backups are removed.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do not reorganize the folder by hand">
    The app can only see what it created. Moving archives elsewhere in your storage makes them invisible to the plugin, and the reconcile will treat them as gone.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="One account, several sites">
    Each site gets its own folder named after its host, so several sites can share one account without colliding.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Disconnecting

Each connected card offers a disconnect. That revokes Snapshotify's access; it does not delete archives already uploaded.

<Note>
  After disconnecting, set **Backups Location** back to local or to another provider. A location pointing at a disconnected provider means every backup falls back to local.
</Note>

## How the connection is built

Snapshotify sends you directly to the provider's consent screen. The token exchange happens through a small relay on daftplug.com, which is what holds the client secrets, since a secret shipped inside a plugin on thousands of sites is not a secret.

Developers can point the relays elsewhere with the [OAuth filters](/snapshotify/reference/hooks#cloud-storage), which is what you would use to run your own Google Cloud or Azure app instead of DaftPlug's.