Google Contacts Sync | Zoho Vertical Studio Help

Vertical Studio - Google Contacts Sync

Google Contacts sync allows you to synchronize contacts between Google Contacts and your Vertical Studio application in real time. This two-way sync keeps contact information current across both systems without manual updates.
This feature is available only in subscriber organizations, not in the Developer Console. You control your own sync settings, including which contact lists to sync, the sync direction, conflict resolution, sync frequency, and field mapping.

Prerequisites

Before you can activate Google Contacts sync, ensure:
  1. Your super administrator has completed the Google Integration Setup and configured OAuth credentials.
  2. You have a Google Workspace account with an email address from the same domain as your organization.
  3. You have the necessary permissions in your Vertical Studio application to sync contacts.
  4. You have Read and Write permissions for the Google Contacts you want to sync.

Activating Google Contacts sync

Note: If your super admin has not completed the OAuth credential setup, you will receive an error when attempting to authenticate. Contact your super administrator to complete the Google Integration Setup.
To activate and configure Google Contacts sync:
  1. Navigate to Setup > Marketplace > Google > Contacts.
  2. Click Authenticate Google Contacts. 

  3. Sign in to your Google account and allow permissions when prompted.
  4. In the Sync Contact configuration screen, configure all settings on a single page:
    1. Google Contact list: Select which Google Contact list to sync from the dropdown (e.g., Friends, My Contacts, or other contact groups). This determines which Google contacts are included in the sync.
    2. Vertical Studio Contact list: Select which Vertical Studio contact list to sync from the dropdown. Check Only contacts owned by me to sync only contacts you own, or leave unchecked to sync all accessible contacts based on your permissions.
    3. Sync Options: Choose the sync direction:
      1. Two-Way Sync: Sync both your Vertical Studio contacts and Google contacts with each other. Changes in either system sync to the other.
      2. Push from Vertical Studio Contacts to Google Contacts: Sync only your Vertical Studio contacts with your Google contacts. Changes flow in one direction only.
      3. Push from Google Contacts to Vertical Studio Contacts: Sync only your Google contacts with your Vertical Studio contacts. Changes flow in one direction only.
    4. Conflict resolution: If the same contact is modified both in Vertical Studio and Google, select which change should persist.
    5. Select how often contacts sync automatically from the dropdown: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Never repeat (manual sync only).

    6. Field Mapping: The screen displays default field mappings between Google Contacts and Vertical Studio, including standard fields such as Title, Company, Email, Phone numbers, Birthday, and Address. You can update or delete any of these default field mappings except for the Name/Contact Name field, which is required and cannot be modified. Click Map More Fields to add additional field mappings, including custom fields from Vertical Studio to Google Contacts.

  5. After configuring all settings, click Save to complete the configuration.
The sync will begin automatically based on the frequency you selected. You can verify the sync status by checking the Last Sync Time in the Contacts Synchronization page.

Contacts Sync Behavior

Sync frequency and limits

The first-time sync processes up to 10,000 contacts. After that, each sync processes up to 500 contacts. Google imposes a maximum of 25,000 records for any sync process. When this limit is reached, Vertical Studio stops pushing records to Google (partially-active sync). Synchronization can take several minutes to complete depending on the number of contacts.

Duplicate detection

Duplicate detection uses the Email field to identify matching contacts. The primary email in Vertical Studio application must match the Email Work field in Google Contacts. If you deactivate and reactivate sync, or delete and recreate the sync configuration, duplicates are not created because the system uses the mapped email address to recognize existing contacts.

Managing Google Contacts Sync

After activation, you can view sync status and manage your contacts integration.

Viewing sync status

Navigate to Setup > Marketplace > Google > Contacts to view:
  1. Sync Summary showing your active contact sync configuration.
  2. Last Sync time and Next Sync time for your contacts.

Deactivating contacts sync

To deactivate Google Contacts sync:
  1. Navigate to Setup > Marketplace > Google > Contacts.
  2. Click Deactivate.
  3. Confirm the deactivation.
When you deactivate Contacts sync:
  1. Future contact changes stop syncing.
  2. Existing synced contacts remain in both systems.
  3. You can reactivate sync later, and duplicate records will not be created (based on email matching).

Revoking Google authorization

In addition to deactivating within Vertical Studio, you can revoke authorization directly from your Google account:
  1. Sign in to https://accounts.google.com/.
  2. Navigate to Linked apps
  3. From the list of applications, select the relevant app.
  4. Click Delete all.
This removes Vertical Studio's permission to access your Google Contacts data.

Sample Use Case

Consider a sales team at an automotive dealership using a Vertical Studio application. The team uses Google Contacts for managing customer information and needs to keep contact data synchronized:
Scenario 1: New lead from website
A potential customer fills out a web form on the dealership's website. The lead is automatically added to the Leads module in Vertical Studio. With two-way sync enabled, the contact information immediately syncs to Google Contacts. Sales representatives can see the new lead in their Google Contacts on their mobile devices.
Scenario 2: Phone number update
A sales representative calls a customer and learns their phone number has changed. The representative updates the phone number in Google Contacts while on the call. The change syncs to the Vertical Studio application immediately. When colleagues view the customer record in Vertical Studio, they see the updated phone number.
Scenario 3: Lead conversion
A lead purchases a vehicle and converts to a customer. The contact record is moved from the Leads module to the Contacts module in Vertical Studio. The team sets up a separate sync for the Contacts module. Both leads and customers stay synchronized with Google Contacts using different sync configurations.
The result is unified contact management where the sales team uses Google Contacts on their mobile devices while keeping all customer data synchronized with their Vertical Studio application.

Best Practices

To get the most from Google Contacts sync:
  1. Choose the right sync direction: Use two-way sync for complete synchronization, or one-way sync if you want changes to flow in only one direction.
  2. Set up conflict resolution carefully: Decide which system should win when the same contact is modified in both places.
  3. Map custom fields: Take advantage of custom field mapping to sync specialized information between systems.
  4. Monitor sync limits: Be aware of Google's 25,000 record limit for sync processes.
  5. Sync multiple modules strategically: Set up different sync configurations for Leads, Contacts, and Vendors based on your workflow.
  6. Review last sync time: Regularly check the Last Sync Time to ensure sync is working as expected.
  7. Test with a small dataset first: Before rolling out to your entire contact database, test the sync configuration with a small number of contacts.
For additional guidance, refer to Google Integration Setup for super admin configuration steps.