Creating a Gmail integration using custom connectors

Creating a Gmail integration using custom connectors

Hello everyone!

Greetings from Deluge. Following up on our series aimed at exploring the capabilities of Deluge, today we'll take an in-depth look into the Deluge custom connections that can be created across Zoho services.

Deluge boasts an extensive range of over 260 built-in integrations spanning more than 35 Zoho services. These integrations streamline data access and modification with these services, from a single point in Zoho, without having to toggle between services. However, we understand that the needs of our users vary widely, and sometimes existing integrations may not cover every scenario.

That's where custom connections come in. Think of them as the Swiss Army Knife of integrations, enabling connections with hundreds of services—such as Gmail and Outlook—and seamlessly integrating them with your favorite Zoho services. With custom connections, you have the power to build your own integrations with virtually any third-party service and tailor them to meet your requirements. Moreover, since the custom connections use the OAuth 2.0 authentication mechanism, you're getting best-in-class security while integrating with third-party services.

What are connections? 
Before we dive into the details of custom connectors, let's take a glimpse at what connections are in Deluge. Connections are a means to connect your Zoho account and any third-party accounts you wish to integrate with. Once a connection is created and connected, you can use it in Deluge integration tasks or invokeURL scripts to perform REST operations on the target service from the required Zoho service. For more information, visit our Connections help doc.
  
Use case 
Assume the sales team of an organization uses Zoho CRM for managing leads, customer retention, and customer acquisition, and uses Gmail for communication purposes, like following up with potential clients via email.   While the system works as is, it's time-consuming and prone to error, so an integration between Gmail and Zoho CRM is necessary to improve efficiency.

A custom connection to your Google account will enable you to sync your Zoho CRM and Google accounts, allowing you to perform actions related to your Google account from Zoho CRM. For example, you can invoke the connection using the invokeURL task in Zoho CRM and send an email to your leads from your Gmail address.

Steps to configure the Google custom connection

Configuration video


Configuration steps
Creating Google OAuth credentials
  1. Visit https://console.cloud.google.com/.
  2. Click the dropdown and choose the required project.
  3. Navigate to the hamburger menu on the left and click APIs and services -> Library.
  4. You'll be taken to the API library page. Navigate to the Google Workspace section and click Gmail API.
  5. Next, click Enable on the Gmail API product details page.
  6. In order to use this API, you'll need to create credentials. Click CREATE CREDENTIALS.
  7. On the Create credentials page, choose Gmail API in the Select an API dropdown and User Data under the What data will you be accessing? section. Click Next.
  8. Next, on the OAuth consent screen, enter the App name, User support email, and Developer contact email address. Then click Save and Continue.
  9. Next, under the Scopes section, click the ADD OR REMOVE SCOPES button.
  10. In the Update selected scopes pane, search and select the gmail.readonly scope. Click Update, and then click Save and continue.


  11. Now, under the OAuth Client ID section, choose Web application in the Application type dropdown. Then name your app.


  12. Enter https://deluge.zoho.com/delugeauth/callback as the Authorized redirect URI.
  13. Click Create and download your credentials. This Client ID and others will be required later, while creating a connection in Zoho CRM.
  14. Navigate to the OAuth consent screen and click Add users under Test users. Enter the user's email address and click Save.
Creating a custom connector for Gmail
  1. Now the action shifts to Zoho CRM. Navigate to crm.zoho.com -> Settings -> Connections.
  2. Choose Custom Services and click Create Service.
  3. On the Create Service screen, choose OAuth 2.0 as the Authentication type and Header as the Parameter.
  4. Enter the Client ID, Client Secret, and Authorize URL generated from Google as shown in step 12 above.
    Tip: Having the Offline access type will allow your application to refresh tokens even when the user is not actively using the application.
  5. Then enter https://oauth2.googleapis.com/token as the Access token URL and Refresh token URL.
  6. Specify the necessary scopes like read and create, etc. and then click Create Service.
  7. On the next page, click Create Connection. Give the connection name and choose the scopes. Then click Create and Connect.
  8. Finally, authenticate the connection on the Google accounts page. Your custom connection will be created, and the two services can be integrated!
Now that the connection between Zoho CRM and Gmail has been established, you can use the invokeURL task to access and modify data in Gmail using the different APIs.

Sample
You can use the below code in invokeURL task to get the latest emails from Gmail.

userId = "emailaddress@gmail.com";
get_gmail = invokeurl
[
url: "https://gmail.googleapis.com/gmail/v1/users/"+userId+"/messages"
type: GET
connection : "connectionname"
];
messageID = get_gmail.get("messages").get(0).get("id");

get_gmail_withID = invokeurl
[
url: "https://gmail.googleapis.com/gmail/v1/users/"+userId+"/messages/"+messageID
type: GET
connection : "connectionname"
];

Content_of_the_mail = get_gmail_withID.get("snippet");
info "Mail Content : " + Content_of_the_mail;

gmail_values = get_gmail_withID.get("payload").get("headers");
for each headers in gmail_values
{
if ( headers.get("name") == "Subject" )
{
info "Subject of the Mail : " + headers.get("value");
}
if ( headers.get("name") == "From" )
{
info "From Address : " + headers.get("value");
}
}

References

----

And that's a wrap for today! We hope you found this post informative and start using custom connections to experience the full capabilities of Deluge and Zoho.

Kindly let us know if you have any questions, feedback, or suggestions in the comments, or write to us at support@zohodeluge.com!
 
Regards,
The Deluge Team

      Zoho Campaigns Resources


        • Desk Community Learning Series


        • Digest


        • Functions


        • Meetups


        • Kbase


        • Resources


        • Glossary


        • Desk Marketplace


        • MVP Corner


        • Word of the Day


        • Ask the Experts


          Zoho CRM Plus Resources

            Zoho Books Resources


              Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                Zoho Projects Resources


                  Zoho Sprints Resources


                    Zoho Orchestly Resources


                      Zoho Creator Resources


                        Zoho WorkDrive Resources



                          Zoho CRM Resources

                          • CRM Community Learning Series

                            CRM Community Learning Series


                          • Tips

                            Tips

                          • Functions

                            Functions

                          • Meetups

                            Meetups

                          • Kbase

                            Kbase

                          • Resources

                            Resources

                          • Digest

                            Digest

                          • CRM Marketplace

                            CRM Marketplace

                          • MVP Corner

                            MVP Corner




                            Zoho Writer Writer

                            Get Started. Write Away!

                            Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                              Zoho CRM コンテンツ




                                ご検討中の方

                                  • Recent Topics

                                  • Tip #62- Exploring Technician Console: Send Ctrl + Alt + Del- 'Insider Insights'

                                    Hello Zoho Assist Community! Imagine you are a technician supporting a remote employee who cannot log into their system. The computer is stuck on the login screen after multiple attempts, and the user is unsure how to proceed. Instead of walking the user
                                  • SKUs for Invoices, POs, etc.

                                    It doesn't appear that one can enable SKU display on invoices, POs, etc. This is problematic, and I don't see a good reason why this shouldn't be an option. Some of our vendors and customers use this in their system. Every other identifier code is available
                                  • Introducing Bigin's Add-in for Microsoft Outlook

                                    Hello Everyone, Email is an important way to communicate with customers and prospects. If you use Outlook.com for emails and Bigin as your CRM, the Outlook Add-in helps you connect them easily so you can see your Bigin contact details right inside Outlook.com.
                                  • how to avoid duplicate customer

                                    How can i avoid to create a duplicate customer. I charged a same customer with two different plans and it showed up twice in my customer list and subsequently in Zoho books contacts. It creates confusion to have a same customer appears multiple times in customer or contact list. How can i avoid it.
                                  • Release Notes | January 2026

                                    We have rolled out a set of powerful new enhancements across Zoho Vertical Studio that bring several long-awaited capabilities to your applications. These updates focus on deeper customization, smarter automation, better reporting, and improved usability
                                  • RSC Connectivity Linkedin Recruiter RPS

                                    It seems there's a bit of a push from Linkedin Talent Solutions to keep integrations moving. My Account Manager confirmed that Zoho Recruit is a Certified Linkedin Linkedin Partner but does not have RSC as of yet., (we knew that :-) She encouraged me
                                  • im facing issue on generate the Estimate price

                                    i couldn't understand what is the issue , i cant generate Estimate price where is the issue
                                  • cannot be able to add user

                                    Dear team I tried to add a new user for sales team, but after entering the OTP its showing error message cannot add now
                                  • Changing an existing item to different accounts & inventory-tracked

                                    Hi everyone, I have an item in Zoho Books that was originally set up as a non-inventory item. Over time, I associated it with different sales and purchase accounts, and I now have many invoices, bills, and reports that use this item. My business process
                                  • New 2026 Application Themes

                                    Love the new themes - shame you can't get a little more granular with the colours, ie 3 different colours so one for the dropdown menu background. Also, I did have our logo above the application name but it appears you can't change logo placement position
                                  • How do I edit the Calendar Invite notifications for Interviews in Recruit?

                                    I'm setting up the Zoho Recruit Interview Calendar system but there's some notifications I don't have any control over. I've turned off all Workflows and Automations related to the Calendar Scheduling and it seems that it's the notification that is sent
                                  • API keys not showing in ZeptoMail dashboard

                                    Hi there, I'm hoping someone can provide some assistance as support isn't replying. I am trying to configure my transactional emails, but the dashboard doesn't show any of my API details - the `div` is there but it's emtpy. Every time I click "Generate
                                  • Bookings duration - days

                                    Hi team, Is there any way to setup services/bookings that span multiple days? I am using Zoho Bookings for meeting room bookings. Clients may wish to book a room for more than one day, for up to a month.  If not, is there a plan to allow services to be setup with durations of Days as well as hours and minutes? Many thanks, Anna.
                                  • Empty folders are now appearing in the sidebar...

                                    ...and the folder list is now auto-collapsed by default with no way to change. Neither of these recent updates are useful or user-friendly. ==================== Powered by Haiku https://www.haiku.co.uk ====================
                                  • big 5 accounts

                                    how do you find what accounts are listed as Big 5 ?
                                  • Zoho recruit's blueprint configuration is not functioning as mapped

                                    Current Status: Zoho Blueprint is not functioning as configured. Issue: We are moving a Candidate status in Zoho Recruit "for active file" but we encountered: "Status cannot be changed for records involved in Blueprint." This happens to various client
                                  • Actual vs Minimum

                                    Hi all, I am sure I am not the only one having this need. We are implementing billing on a 30-minute increment, with a minimum of 30 minutes per ticket. My question is, is there a way to create a formula or function to track both the minimum bill vs the
                                  • Delay in rendering Zoho Recruit - Careers in the ZappyWorks

                                    I click on the Careers link (https://zappyworks.zohorecruit.com/jobs/Careers) on the ZappyWorks website expecting to see the job openings. The site redirects me to Zoho Recruit, but after the redirect, the page just stays blank for several seconds. I'm
                                  • How to add interviews through API

                                    I'm trying to add an interview without much luck. The documentation gives examples of adding just about everything except an interview. However, the issue might be the way I'm formatting it, because the documentation is unclear to me. It seems as if the xml should be passed in the url, which seems unusual. I've tried the data as both plain and character escaped, but nothing seems to work, nor do I even get an error response. https://recruit.zoho.com/recruit/private/xml/Interviews/addRecords?authtoken=***&scope=recruitapi&version=2&xmlData=<Interviews> <row
                                  • Can't scroll the page down unless I refresh the page

                                    Hello, This issue has been going on with me and a lot of other users in my organization, we can't scroll down! the scrolling side bar doesn't appear and scrolling down through mouse or keyboard keys doesn't work, it seems that the page just ends in the
                                  • Offer already made- but I withdrew it

                                    I made an offer letter, but made a mistake on it. I withdrew the offer but now I can't recreate the correct offer. Zoho keeps saying that "A same offer has already been made". I look in the "offers" and there are NO offers (this is the first time I've
                                  • Control the precision of answer bot responses

                                    Hello everyone, Admins can control the precision with which the Answer bot analyzes and generates a response by adjusting the threshold levels. Based on predefined threshold values, Zia analyzes how closely the query matches with the available KB articles.
                                  • Rebrand your CRM with the all-new custom domain mapping setup

                                    UPDATES TO THIS FEATURE! 19th Jan, 2024 — Custom domain mapping has been made available for portal users in Zoho One and CRM Plus. 23rd June, 2023 — Custom domain mapping has been made available for all users, in all DCs. Hello everyone! We are elated
                                  • Add Israel & Jewish Holidays to Zoho People Holidays Gallery

                                    Greetings, We hope you are doing well. We are writing to request an enhancement to the Holidays Gallery in Zoho People. Currently, there are several holidays available, but none for Israel and none for Jewish holidays (which are not necessarily the same
                                  • Sender Email ID is duplicate

                                    My sender id "automate@erplaunchpad.com" is coming as duplicate but I have not used it anywhere else please help
                                  • CRM x WorkDrive: File storage for new CRM signups is now powered by WorkDrive

                                    Availability Editions: All DCs: All Release plan: Released for new signups in all DCs. It will be enabled for existing users in a phased manner in the upcoming months. Help documentation: Documents in Zoho CRM Manage folders in Documents tab Manage files
                                  • Building Toppings #6 - Install and uninstall actions

                                    Hello Biginners! In our previous forum post, we explored creating connections - specifically, custom service connections in the Bigin Developer Console. In this post, we'll focus on another feature that can be used in every topping: install actions. We'll
                                  • New UI in Zoho One CRM

                                    Hello, Just switched to the new UI for Zoho One CRM, do not like it, especially the search functions. What are the steps to backstep to the previous UI? UPDATE: I found it.
                                  • App like Miro

                                    Hi all, is there a way to have a interactive whiteboard like in Miro? We want to visualize our processes and workflows in an easy way.
                                  • Important updates to your connectors

                                    Hello everyone, Greeting from Zoho Creator! We're excited to announce that we'll be rolling out significant backend updates to Zoho Creator's built-in connectors to enhance security by following the latest frameworks. The existing version of some of the
                                  • Product Request: Send email to Secondary email

                                    Guys, we should be able to send the campaign to the secondary email too.  Is this on the plans for Zoho Campaign? It looks like I can map the secondary email from the CRM to the Campaigs, but can not send the message.  
                                  • Logic for sending to a non-primary email address

                                    Hi, I have a scenario where contacts are able to sign up for emails with 2 different email addresses (example: work, personal). I've mapped both to Campaigns from Zoho CRM, but when I go to target an email only the primary email addresses are pulling in. How can I update this to look at both of the email addresses - or specifically the secondary email address in Campaigns? Thanks, Jenny
                                  • How Do Mutliple Sales People Prospect in the "LEADS" module without calling the same leads?

                                    We have 4 sales reps and the Leads module does not have real time intuitive knowlodge to make the sales rteps dont call the same people at the same time. How can we crate a fluent prospecting sytem where the salres reps can go out bound without calling
                                  • Keeping track of project expenses

                                    I have talked to a few support techs and it is very hard for me to believe that Zoho's project accounting software can't keep accounts for my projects. I must not understand what they're saying. We get a contract to build something. So the project revenue
                                  • Mailbox delegation - A secure way to enable collaboration

                                    Admins often encounter scenarios where a user needs another team member to access and manage their mailbox during extended leave, role transitions, or while handling high email volumes. In such situations, ensuring business continuity without sharing
                                  • Canvas View bug

                                    I would like to report a bug. When clone a canvas view from an existing canvas view, if the original canvas view have canvas button with client script. Then the new create canvas view will have canvas button, it is make sense. But when I try to delete
                                  • Export blueprint as a high-resolution PDF or image file

                                    This would be a good feature for organizations that want to share the blueprint process with their employees but don't want them to have access to the blueprint in the system settings. At the moment all that users can do is screenshot the blueprint or
                                  • Zoho Recruit Community Meetup - London 🇬🇧 (Venue Finalised)

                                    Hello Recruiters! We’re excited to announce that the Zoho Recruit team is coming to the UK for an in-person Zoho User Group (ZUG) Meetup in London! This is your chance to connect with fellow Zoho users, learn from experts, and walk away with actionable
                                  • Users may not pick the fields to be shown as columns in the Choose Account window when creating a new Deal record

                                    Hi there, by talking with other users I found out that I, as an Admin, am the only one who can pick fields to be shown as columns in the Choose Account window when creating a new Deal record. In fact, if other users click on the "Add Column" symbol on
                                  • Create custom rollup summary fields in Zoho CRM

                                    Hello everyone, In Zoho CRM, rollup summary fields have been essential tools for summarizing data across related records and enabling users to gain quick insights without having to jump across modules. Previously, only predefined summary functions were
                                  • Next Page