Mail Sync is a powerful tool that allows you to connect your inbox to SharpSpring.
Once enabled, any email you send through that inbox—and any Smart Mail that you send out of SharpSpring will be recorded.
This way, you can keep track of you and your team’s emails with your leads.
This article will provide details and information on how to connect your mailbox with your Google account.
When to Connect via Google Accounts
There may be a time when your normal Mail Sync connection to Gmail fails. This is usually due to authorization issues between the two platforms, which is usually cleared up within a short time.
However, this does not mean that you will be unable to connect to your Google account during this time. You can use your Google account to serve as the main connection mechanism. In this case, you will need to generate an application-specific password in your Google account settings. This is a special password that you will need to use to connect Google with SharpSpring.
An application-specific password enables you to sign in to securely access Google account from a non-Google application. Mail Sync uses this application-specific password to connect to your Gmail mailboxes from SharpSpring.
Disabling Current Google Account Mail Sync
You will need to disable your current Mail Sync connection with Gmail before you can connect your Google account.
To disable Mail Sync, do the following:
Click 13personas.png User Menu > Settings in SharpSpring’s top toolbar.
Click User Email Settings, located under My Account in the left panel.
Click Disable Syncing.
Select Keep all previously synced email communication.
Click Disable Sync.
Enabling Two-Step Verification
In order to connect your Google account and SharpSpring, you will need to use an application-specific password. However, you can only use application-specific passwords after you have enabled Google’s two-step verification security measure.
Two-step verification provides an additional layer of security to your Google account. It is, in essence, a second password that you use to log in to your account. This password is different from your primary Google password, however, in that this password is randomly generated. More than that, this second password lasts only a minute or so before it is replaced by another password that is randomly generated.
This password generation system is unique to your account. It is sent to your smartphone from Google via a SMS text message or through Google’s own two-step verification app. This means that if a third party ever obtains your primary password—something you should change regularly to prevent exactly that—they most likely be unable to access your account because they will not have access to your smartphone.
SharpSpring strongly recommends using two-step verification, regardless of how you connect to Mail Sync.
To enable two-step verification, do the following:
Open a new tab in your web browser.
Navigate to https://www.google.com/landing/2step/ in that browser tab.
Click Get Started.
Click GET STARTED.
Enter your Google account credentials.
Select one of the following verification options:
Smartphone prompt
Text message or call
Security key
Enter your phone information.
Complete the configuration process.
Optionally, add backup verification methods.
Optionally, add recovery information.
Refer to Google’s help documentation for more information about enabling two-step verification in Google.
Generating Application-Specific Passwords
Once you have enabled and configured two-step verification, you can connect your Google account with SharpSpring. That said, in order to complete connecting your Google account with SharpSpring, you will need to generate an application-specific password.
To generate an application-specific password, do the following:
Open a new tab in your web browser.
Log into your Google account in that browser tab.
Click your user portrait.
Click Manage Your Google Account.
Click Security in the left panel.
Click App Passwords.
Enter the password for your Google account.
Select your operating platform from the Select device drop-down menu.
Select Other from the Select app drop-down menu.
Click Generate.
Copy or save the application-specific password.
Refer to Google’s help documentation for more information on issues with generating application-specific passwords through Google.
Syncing via Google Authentication
You can sync your Google account with SharpSpring by using Google’s secure authentication process. As this is Google’s main method of authenticating account information, SharpSpring recommends using this process.
To sync Google accounts with SharpSpring via Google’s authentication process, do the following:
Open a new tab in your web browser.
Log into your SharpSpring instance in that browser tab.
Click 13personas.png User Menu > Settings in SharpSpring’s top toolbar.
Click Mail Sync, located under My Account in the left panel.
Click Google in the Choose your provider menu.
Click Sign in with Google.
Select the desired Google account.
Click Allow.
Click Close.
If you would prefer to not use the Google authentication process, you can instead enter your account username and password. Your saved application-specific password will be used as the password when connecting the Google account to SharpSpring.
To sync Google accounts with SharpSpring, do the following:
Open a new tab in your web browser.
Log into your SharpSpring instance in that browser tab.
Click 13personas.png User Menu > Settings in SharpSpring’s top toolbar.
Click Mail Sync, located under My Account in the left panel.
Click Google in the Choose your provider menu.
Enter your Gmail username into the Username field.
Enter your copied application-specific password into the Password field.
Click Connect.
If you are unable to use Mail Sync after connecting your Google account, contact SharpSpring Support.
Validating Mail Sync Status
There are many moving parts with Mail Sync, so the process might not connect or may otherwise result in error. However, you can tell if Mail Sync was successful with just a glance.
The Mail Sync settings page provides a running log of all recent errors. The page details the date and time that the error occurred, what the error was, and how best to fix the error.
Click 13personas.png User Menu > Settings > Mail Sync to access the log of all recent errors.
In addition, user accounts with Mail Sync enabled will display their current connection status, as well as any relevant issues.
Once you have enabled Mail Sync, the associated email address will update with one of the following colors and statuses:
