Configure OneDrive as your data pipeline source ​

Set up OneDrive as a data pipeline source to extract and sync records into your destination.

Use this guide to review connection setup, pipeline configuration, and key behavior for working with .csv and .parquet files stored in OneDrive folders.

Features supported ​

The following features are supported when you use OneDrive as a data pipeline source:

• File format support: Extract and sync data from .csv and .parquet files in OneDrive folders.
• Full and incremental sync: Runs a full sync when the pipeline starts, then incremental syncs on every later run to pick up files created or modified since the last run.
• Drive selection: Select a specific OneDrive drive to sync from, including a shared drive or a SharePoint site document library.
• Field-level selection: Choose which fields to extract and replicate to your destination.
• Field-level data protection: Hash sensitive fields before they sync to your destination.

Prerequisites ​

Connecting OneDrive as a data pipeline source requires:

• A Microsoft OneDrive account: personal, business, or tied to a specific tenant
• Credentials for your chosen authentication method:
  • Authorization code grant: Register an app in the Azure portal and assign it the required permissions. Refer to Connect to OneDrive for setup steps.
  • Client credentials grant: Register a tenant-specific app in the Azure portal, generate a client secret, and obtain the tenant, client, and user IDs. This method is only available for tenant-specific accounts. Refer to Connect to OneDrive for setup steps.

Supported connection types ​

OneDrive data pipelines support the following authentication methods:

• Authorization code grant (OAuth 2.0): Sign in with a Microsoft personal, business, or tenant-specific account. Refer to Connect to OneDrive for setup steps.
• Client credentials grant (OAuth 2.0): Authenticate using a tenant-specific app's client ID and client secret, without an interactive user sign-in. This method is only supported for tenant-specific accounts.

Connect to OneDrive ​

The OneDrive connector supports the following authentication types:

• Authorization code grant authentication (OAuth 2.0)
• Client credentials-based authentication (OAuth 2.0)

Authorization code grant authentication (OAuth 2.0) ​

Use the Tenant ID/Domain value with tenant-specific account types.

Minimum and default scopes ​

The OneDrive connector requests the following scopes by default. These scopes support all triggers and actions. You must assign these as Delegated permissions in the Azure portal:

• Files.ReadWrite
• Group.Read.All
• Files.Read
• offline_access

You must add the following minimum scopes to establish a connection to OneDrive with authorization code grant authentication:

• Files.Read
• offline_access

OneDrive setup for authorization code grant authentication ​

Complete the following steps to set up OneDrive for authorization code grant authentication:

• Register the Workato app in Azure portal
• Assign permissions to your app
• Obtain the Directory (tenant) ID from the Azure portal

Register the Workato App in Azure portal ​

https://www.workato.com/oauth/callback

Assign permissions to your app ​

Obtain the Directory (tenant) ID from the Azure portal ​

Connect to OneDrive with authorization code grant authentication ​

Client credentials-based authentication (OAuth 2.0) ​

This authentication type requires the following values:

• Tenant ID/Domain
• User ID
• Client ID
• Client secret

Minimum and default scopes ​

We recommend the following scopes for client credentials-based connections. These scopes support all triggers and actions. You must assign these as Application permissions in the Azure portal:

• Files.Read.All
• Files.ReadWrite.All
• Group.Read.All
• Sites.ReadWrite.All

You must add the following minimum scopes to establish a connection to OneDrive with client credentials-based authentication:

• Files.Read.All

OneDrive setup for client credentials-based authentication ​

Complete the following steps to set up OneDrive for client credentials-based authentication:

• Register the Workato app in the Azure portal
• Assign permissions to your app
• Generate a client secret
• Obtain the Application (client) ID, Object ID, and Directory (tenant) ID from the Azure portal
• Obtain the User ID from the Azure portal

Register the Workato App in the Azure portal ​

https://www.workato.com/oauth/callback

Assign permissions to your app ​

Generate a client secret ​

Obtain the Application (client) ID, Object ID, and Directory (tenant) ID from the Azure portal ​

Obtain the User ID from the Azure portal ​

Connect to OneDrive with client credentials-based authentication ​

Connect Microsoft Entra ID to the OneDrive connector ​

Configure the pipeline ​

Complete the following steps to configure OneDrive as your data pipeline source:

[minute] [hour] [day of month] [month] [day of week]

0 8 * * *

Supported objects ​

OneDrive doesn't have a fixed object catalog. Instead, each folder and filename pattern configuration you add becomes an object that syncs as a separate table in your destination:

Refer to Sync modes and Delete tracking for more information.

Sync modes ​

OneDrive data pipelines run a full sync followed by incremental syncs on every later run. This sequence isn't configurable.

Full sync ​

A full sync lists all files matching the configured folder path, file type, and filename pattern, and extracts all rows from each matching file. This full sync runs only once, when the pipeline starts. Every later run is an incremental sync.

Incremental sync ​

Incremental sync is file-level, not row-level. Each run lists matching files and processes only files created or modified after the last recorded modification time. OneDrive doesn't provide row-level change tracking inside a CSV or Parquet file, so a modified file is reprocessed in full rather than diffed row by row.

Delete tracking ​

OneDrive doesn't support delete tracking. Workato doesn't remove or mark rows as deleted in your destination when a source file is removed, regardless of the merge strategy you choose. Include a column to track deletions in your source files if you require this behavior.

Schema and data type handling ​

OneDrive data pipelines infer the schema from the selected CSV or Parquet file:

• CSV files: Workato samples the file to infer column names and types. Ambiguous or unsupported values remain strings.
• Parquet files: Workato reads the embedded Parquet schema directly from the file. Nested structures and repeated fields are preserved according to the shared Parquet reader, with nested structures serialized as JSON strings where required.

All files matched by the same object configuration must maintain the same column structure and data format to ensure accurate schema mapping.

Synthetic columns ​

Workato adds the following synthetic columns to each destination table:

Refer to the Configure the pipeline steps for how to choose a merge strategy and primary key.

Sensitive data handling ​

OneDrive files can contain arbitrary customer data, including personally identifiable information (PII) and other sensitive or confidential content. Because file columns are customer-defined rather than fixed source API fields, OneDrive data pipelines don't expose a fixed list of sensitive fields.

Use the Hash option in field-level data protection during pipeline configuration to protect PII before it reaches your destination. Refer to the Configure the pipeline steps for more information.

Limitations ​

The following limitations apply when you use OneDrive as a data pipeline source:

Supported file formats ​

OneDrive data pipelines only support .csv and .parquet files. Other formats, including Excel, JSON, XML, PDF, images, and other binary files, aren't supported.

Folder traversal ​

OneDrive data pipelines only fetch files from the direct children of the configured folder. Files in nested subfolders aren't fetched or synced.

Maximum file size ​

Each file must be 10 GB or smaller.

Minimum sync frequency ​

The minimum supported sync interval is 15 minutes. You can't trigger syncs more frequently than this.