If you’re an MSP, tracking and managing your contacts is extremely critical for your business. In case you use your Google account (or Gmail, for that matter) to manage them, you might find this integration particularly helpful.


You can sync your Google Contacts with your Freshservice account.


Here’s how you can enable the integration:


1. Login to your Freshservice account as an administrator. Go to the Admin > Apps > Get More Apps. Locate the Google Contacts sync app and install it.



2. You will be taken to a screen shown below. Click on Enable.


3. Select the Google account where the contacts are saved. 



4. Once you do, you’ll be requested for permission to integrate. Click on Allow.





5. You’ll be redirected to the page shown here. Choose the Groups which contain the contacts to import.





6. In the Sync Settings section, choose a specific ‘Sync Tag’. This tag helps distinguish other Google accounts you might choose to add. It also lets you choose which Google account a particular contact will be synced to.


7. The ‘Overwrite existing contact details’ switch helps you decide what happens when a contact being imported, already exists in Freshservice (identified by their email address). If you enable this, the contact in your Freshservice account will be overwritten with the Google contact.


8. Once done, click on Import and Activate.


This starts the import. A folder named Freshservice Contacts is created in your Google Contacts and all your Freshservice contacts are synced back into this folder. All future syncs will happen with this folder.


Once all the contacts are imported, a confirmation email will be sent to the account admin. From that point on, your contacts at both places will be synced every hour.



Adding Contacts


Once you have synced, both the accounts you can add Contacts using one of the two methods:


    • From the ‘Freshservice Contacts’ group in Google Contacts

    • From your Freshservice account


Option 1:


To add a contact using the ‘Freshservice Contacts’ group in Google, enter the following details:


  • Name

  • Job Title

  • Companies ( Separated by “,” ) Eg: HR, QA, IT

  • Email

  • Mobile Phone

  • Work Phone

  • Address

  • Note (Linked to the background information of the Contact in Freshservice)




At the next sync, a contact will be created in Freshservice. The details you added will be added to the corresponding fields in Freshservice.






Option 2:


To add a Contact from Freshservice, make sure they are verified. Then go to the Contact details page and click on Add Tags. Here, add the corresponding Sync Tags for the Google accounts you want to sync the contact with.




Updating Contacts


This, again, can be done from either of the accounts. Let’s consider updating one of the fields listed above:


1. From the Google ‘Freshservice Contacts’ folder.


  • All changes to any of these fields will be reflected in the Freshservice account.

  • However, in case the Company field is cleared, the contact will be disassociated from that company in Freshservice.

  • Updates will reflect in Freshservice irrespective of whether the contact is verified or not.


2. From your Freshservice account.


  • Updating any of these fields will reflect in all the Google accounts with the same Sync Tag.

  • Updates will reflect in the Google account only if the Contact is verified.


Deleting Contacts


  • When a verified Contact is deleted from the Freshservice account, it is removed from the Google account at the next sync.

  • Deleting a Contact from your Google account will delete them from Freshservice irrespective of whether they’re verified or not.



Some key points to remember about the sync:

 

  • Sync happens once every hour.

  • For a Contact in Freshservice to be associated with a specific Google account (and vice versa), they should have the same 'Sync Tag' as the said account.

  • A specific Contact in Freshservice is linked to the corresponding Contact in Google (and vice versa) by the common email address.

  • Contacts that are updated/added after the ‘last sync’ time in the Gmail "Freshservice Contacts” group will be updated/(added as an unverified Contact) in Freshservice.

  • Contacts that are updated/added after the ‘last sync’ time in the Freshservice App will be updated/(added as an unverified Contact) in Gmail "Freshservice Contacts" group.

  • Let’s say, there are multiple Google accounts with the same Sync Tag. Now, when a new contact is added to Freshservice with that tag, he will be synced with all those Google accounts.

  • Contacts without Sync Tags will not be synced with any Google account.