Security and GDPR
A secure client portal where your data stays yours
Your Drive, your website, your keys.
Drive Workflows is secure client portal software that runs on your own WordPress site. Documents stay in your Google Drive, and nothing is copied to us.
- Stored in your company DriveUnder your control, with Google's security.
- Each client sees only their foldersChecked on every click, in the browser and the app.
- GDPR tools includedIn the free version too.
Self-hosted client portal
Your clients' data never leaves your own tools
- Documents: in your Google DriveUploads go straight to the client's folder. The site keeps only a short list of file names, so folders open fast.
- Accounts and requests: in your WordPress siteRequests, their steps and the activity log stay in your site's database, at your host.
- Nothing copied to useSociete never receives your documents, your clients' names or your requests.
Who can see what
- Each client sees only their own folders. Every click is checked against the folder set for them, so changing a link leads nowhere.
- Your Google connection is stored encrypted on your site.
- You choose what clients can do: read only, or rename, copy and delete their own files.
- Approval links open a confirmation page first, so a mail scanner can't approve on its own. You can ask approvers to sign in.
- Phones can be unlinked at any time: by the client, by you, when the password changes, after 90 days without use, or all at once with an emergency button.
"Each client sees only the folders you set for them, and nothing else of your Drive."
GDPR tools included
In the free version and in every paid plan.
Export a client's data
From WordPress's own privacy tools, with everything Drive Workflows holds about the client.
Erase a client's data
Requests anonymised, phones unlinked, log de-identified. The Drive folder kept or moved to the Drive trash, as you choose.
Retention periods
You set how long the plugin keeps its data, and a ready text adds the same periods to your data retention policy.
Inactive accounts
Locked, warned by e-mail, then deleted. Never staff, paying clients or anyone with an open request.
Drive clean-up
Old files in client folders go to the Drive trash, with a preview first. Off until you turn it on.
Deletion log
Every deletion logged by account number only, with no names or file names. Ready to export.
Also: Site Health checks for your team's two-factor sign-in and your retention settings. Uninstalling removes the plugin's data only if you ask, and never touches your Drive.
What the notification service keeps
To reach the Cloud Docs Pro app, notifications go through a small relay run by eSociete on Cloudflare, then through Google's Firebase Cloud Messaging and Apple's notification service.
The texts are generic ("New document in your space"), so no file name ever shows on a lock screen.
The notification relay
Keeps:
- the list of sites registered to send notifications
- daily counters
Doesn't keep:
- documents
- notification texts
- phone identifiers
Hosted in:
- Region to be confirmed once the relay is set up
What we don't claim
Drive Workflows gives you the tools for your GDPR duties; it doesn't make a business compliant on its own. We hold no security certification such as ISO 27001 or SOC 2 today. When we do, it will be shown here with its proof.
Drive Workflows is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google. Google Drive is a trademark of Google LLC. WordPress is a trademark of the WordPress Foundation.
Questions
Where are my clients' documents stored?
In your own company Google Drive. Uploads go straight into the client's folder there, and the documents you share come from there. Client accounts and requests are stored in your WordPress site, at your host. Drive Workflows keeps no copy of your files.
Is it a secure document sharing portal?
Yes. Each client signs in to your site and sees only their own folders, checked on every click. Files travel from your site to your Google Drive and are never kept on your hosting. The portal is self-hosted on your WordPress site, so accounts and requests never leave it.
Do you have access to my files?
No. Your site connects to your Google Drive through your own Google Cloud project, and the connection stays on your site, encrypted. eSociete never receives your documents, your clients' details or your requests. The only service we run is the notification relay for the app, which keeps no document and no notification text.
Is it GDPR compliant?
Drive Workflows gives you the tools for GDPR compliant file sharing: export and erasure, retention periods, inactive account clean-up and a deletion log. Compliance also depends on how you use it and on your own policies, so we don't claim it for you.
How do I export or erase a client's data?
With WordPress's own privacy tools (Tools → Export Personal Data and Erase Personal Data): Drive Workflows adds its data to them. On erasure, requests are anonymised, phones unlinked and the log de-identified. You choose each time whether the client's Drive folder is kept or moved to the Drive trash.
What happens to the files when a client leaves?
By default, nothing: losing access deletes no folder, document or request, so the client can come back. If you want, an inactive-account rule locks, warns and then deletes the account, and a Drive clean-up rule moves old files to the Drive trash after the period you choose. Both are off until you turn them on.
Can a client see another client's folder?
No. Each client's folder is signed by your site, and every request is checked against it, sub-folders included. A client who changes a link gets an error, not another client's files. Administrators can choose to see the whole Drive on the site; in the app, nobody ever does.