Drive is excellent storage. Drive's PDF editor is...not great. The pairing that works: Drive holds the files, Flint does the editing, Drive holds the output.
Here's the loop.
Drive as your canonical storage
Mirror your local `/Archive` structure in Drive. `/Drive/Archive/<year>/<category>/`. Sync your local working folder to Drive so files are available everywhere.
Drive's strength is access from anywhere. Use that — your PDFs should be on your laptop, phone, and any browser you sign into.
Open in Flint via download
Drive's preview is good but editing is limited. To process: download from Drive to local, open in Flint, process, save back to Drive.
The download-edit-upload loop sounds clunky but takes 10 seconds for typical PDFs. Way faster than fighting Drive's native editor.
Share via Drive links, not attachments
Once a PDF is on Drive, share by link. Set permissions (view, comment, edit) explicitly. Recipients see the latest version always — no email-attachment version drift.
For external clients, you can keep the link private and revoke access after the engagement.
Version history is your safety net
Drive keeps version history on PDFs by default. If you accidentally overwrite a good version with a broken edit, restore from history. Saves you on bad days.
For critical contracts, also keep a manual backup outside Drive — version history doesn't help if the whole account loses access.
FAQ
Should I use Drive's native PDF editor?
For tiny edits (a single text correction), it's fine. For anything substantial — merge, sign, compress, redact — Flint is faster and more capable.
What about Drive's eSignature?
Available in some plans. Works for routine signing. For your own self-signing or quick external signing, browser tools are often simpler.
How do I keep Drive and local in sync?
Drive for Desktop syncs a folder bidirectionally. Most professionals keep the working folder synced; the archive lives Drive-only.
Is Drive secure enough for sensitive PDFs?
For most business sensitivity, yes — combined with password-protected PDFs and Drive's permission controls. For very high sensitivity, supplement with end-to-end encryption.
Drive stores, Flint processes. The two together cover the whole PDF lifecycle. Process your next Drive PDF in Flint.