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The OneDrive two-way sync keeps your files in Financial Cents and OneDrive in sync automatically. When you add, edit, or delete a file in one system, the change appears in the other. You can connect a personal Microsoft account or a work/school (Microsoft 365) account.
With this integration, you can:
Access OneDrive files from within Financial Cents
Print or save files from any application (tax software, document tools, etc.) to a OneDrive folder and have them appear in Financial Cents automatically
Preview files in Financial Cents and open them in OneDrive to edit
Auto-create a OneDrive folder when you add a new client in Financial Cents
ℹ️Heads up! Connecting an account and linking or browsing OneDrive folders requires the Manage Integrations permission, which is Owner-only by default. Team members without that permission can still view files already synced to a client and use the Sync Client Folder button, but cannot connect an account or link a new folder.
How to Set Up the Integration
Step 1: Connect Your Microsoft Account
Navigate to Settings > Integrations
Find the OneDrive card and click Manage (or Enable if this is your firm's first connected account)
Click Sign in with Microsoft and select the Microsoft account you want to connect
You can connect a personal Microsoft account (an @outlook.com or @hotmail.com-style address) or a work/school account tied to your firm's Microsoft 365 tenant. You can also connect more than 1 Microsoft account to the same Financial Cents firm, exactly like Google Drive. Each connected account gets its own row here, its own folder location, and its own client matching.
ℹ️Heads up! If the Microsoft account you connect only has SharePoint access and no OneDrive drive, Financial Cents will show a message that the account isn't supported yet. SharePoint is a separate integration and isn't covered in this article. Connect a Microsoft account that has a personal or business OneDrive drive instead.
Step 2: Grant Permissions
Microsoft's sign-in screen will ask you to approve Financial Cents' access to your files. Unlike Google's consent screen, Microsoft does not show a separate checkbox to opt in or out of write access. Approving the sign-in grants Financial Cents full read/write access in one step, which is what the two-way sync needs to work.
⚠️Please note. The exact permissions list Microsoft shows (which can vary by tenant and by whether your Microsoft 365 admin requires separate admin consent for site-wide permissions) is controlled by Microsoft, not Financial Cents. If your firm's IT admin blocks the consent screen, ask them to approve Financial Cents' Microsoft Graph permissions for your organization.
Step 3: Choose Your OneDrive Folder
Select the folder in OneDrive where your client folders live. Expand your OneDrive drive the same way you would a Google Drive root, then browse down to the folder that contains your client folders.
Once you select a folder, Financial Cents remembers where it lives, so it knows where to look for future syncing and where to create new client folders.
Step 4: Match Your Clients to OneDrive Folders
Financial Cents automatically matches clients to folders based on an exact name match. The name in Financial Cents and the folder name in OneDrive must be 100% identical for automatic matching to work.
For clients that do not match automatically, use the folder picker next to the client to browse to and select the correct OneDrive folder, or leave them unlinked and come back to match them later.
ℹ️Heads up! A client can only be linked to 1 connected drive account at a time, whether that's OneDrive or Google Drive. If a client is already linked through Google Drive, you will need to unlink it there first before linking it to OneDrive.
Step 5: Sync Your Mapped Clients
Click Sync Mapped Clients at the bottom of the client-matching screen to start the initial sync. This pushes all existing files between Financial Cents and OneDrive so both systems match.
Accessing Files After Setup
Once the integration is active:
Preview a file: Click the file name in Financial Cents to see a preview
Open in OneDrive: Click the OneDrive icon next to a file to open it directly in OneDrive in a new tab
Edit a file: Open the file in OneDrive to make your edits. Changes sync back to Financial Cents automatically. The file must be in a format OneDrive can edit (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. via Office Online). Non-editable formats like scanned PDFs require conversion first.
Sync status indicators
Files in Financial Cents show their sync status:
Spinner: The file is currently syncing. Wait for it to finish.
Gray icon: The file synced successfully. Click it to view the file in OneDrive.
Red icon: The sync failed or is still pending. Click it to try again.
Keep One Client's Folder in Sync On Demand
If a single client's files look out of date, you do not need to re-sync your whole OneDrive account. Open that client and click Sync Client Folder on their Files tab to re-check that one client's mapped folder against OneDrive.
ℹ️Heads up! Sync Client Folder only requires view access to that client, so any team member who can open the client can use it, even without the Manage Integrations permission. If a company-wide sync is already running, this button is temporarily unavailable for that client.
Auto-Create Client Folders
You can turn on automatic folder creation so that when you add a new client in Financial Cents, a matching folder is automatically created in OneDrive under your selected folder.
To enable this, open Settings > Integrations, click Manage on the OneDrive card, and check the auto-create option next to the account you want it to apply to. It is off by default.
⚠️Please note. Financial Cents only allows 1 connected drive account to have automatic folder creation turned on at a time, whether that account is on OneDrive or Google Drive. If another account already has it enabled, turning it on here will show an error until you turn it off on that other account first.
ℹ️Heads up! This only works in 1 direction. Creating a new folder in OneDrive will not create a new client in Financial Cents.
Managing Clients with Multiple Folder Locations
If your client folders are spread across multiple locations in OneDrive, for example across 2 different connected Microsoft accounts, you can still link them all:
Choose your first folder location and complete the client matching
Navigate back to the integration settings
Choose your second folder location and match the remaining clients
Changing your selected folder does not disconnect clients that were already linked to a different folder.
Disconnect the Whole Integration
Disconnecting an account (from Settings > Integrations) stops all syncing for every client on that account, but:
All files remain in both Financial Cents and OneDrive
Nothing is deleted
Financial Cents remembers your client-to-folder links, so if you reconnect later, you do not have to redo the matching
Reconnecting with the same Microsoft account restores the previous links and resumes syncing automatically. Reconnecting with a different Microsoft account starts a new connection and does not carry over the old links.
Unlink a Single Client
To stop syncing just 1 client without affecting anyone else, open that client's Integrations section and click Disconnect next to OneDrive.
⚠️Please note. Unlinking a client is different from disconnecting the whole integration. Files already synced to that client stay in Financial Cents, but the folder link itself is removed. To resume syncing for that client, you need to match or create a folder for them again on the client-matching screen.
FAQs
Setup
Do I need a Microsoft 365 account to use this integration?
No. A free personal Microsoft account with OneDrive works. A work/school Microsoft 365 account also works.
Can I connect multiple Microsoft accounts to 1 Financial Cents account?
Yes. You can connect multiple Microsoft accounts, but each client can only be linked to 1 OneDrive (or Google Drive) folder at a time. You match clients separately for each connected account.
Syncing
Can I also send files from Financial Cents back to OneDrive?
Yes. The two-way sync works in both directions. Files added in Financial Cents appear in the linked OneDrive folder, and files added to OneDrive appear in Financial Cents.
What if a file I added in OneDrive doesn't show up in Financial Cents?
Financial Cents only picks up items created inside a client's mapped folder. A file or folder created outside a linked client folder, for example at the top level of your OneDrive, will not sync into Financial Cents.
Can I use this integration to print tax returns into Financial Cents?
Yes. If you sync a OneDrive folder to your computer with the OneDrive desktop app, you can print or save tax returns from tax software (Drake Tax, UltraTax, Lacerte, ProSeries, ProConnect, CCH Axcess, TaxAct) directly to a client's OneDrive folder, and the file syncs into Financial Cents automatically.
Deleting and Disconnecting
What happens if I delete a client in Financial Cents?
The OneDrive folder remains intact. Only the link between the client and the folder is removed. If you restore the client from the trash, you will need to re-link the folder.
Does disconnecting an account remove anything from Microsoft's side?
No. Disconnecting stops Financial Cents' webhook subscriptions for that account so it stops listening for changes, but it does not revoke the sign-in or remove any files from OneDrive. All files stay exactly where they are in both systems.
For more help, contact support with your firm name and, if the issue is client-specific, the client's name.