Using Google Drive actions in action flows

By connecting the
action builder
to external systems, such as Google Drive,
admins can integrate Zendesk with external systems in automated workflows,
improving
collaboration and maintaining a seamless experience across multiple platforms.

Note: The
steps associated with external systems in action flows are referred to
collectively
as external actions.



This article contains the following topics:


Connecting Google Drive to action builder


Using Google Drive actions in action flows


Recipe: Looking up the sales playbook in Google Drive when a Zendesk ticket is identified as a lead





Connecting Google Drive to action builder


Before you can include external actions in your action flows, you must
connect the
action builder to the external system.


When connecting to external systems for use in action flows, the following
best practices are recommended:


All external actions performed by an action flow are attributed
to the user who connected the
external system. Therefore, it's a best practice to use a dedicated
service
account rather than personal credentials when connecting to each
external
system.


All integrations request access to necessary scopes. However,
it's important that you review and validate the scopes before
authorizing the connection to the external system.


When managing credentials for API key-based tools, such as OpenAI,
it's best to store keys in a secure vault or credential manager.




To connect action builder to Google Drive


In Admin Center, click
Apps and integrations in the sidebar, then select Actions > Action
flows.


Create
or
edit
an action flow.

Open the step sidebar.

Under External actions, click
Google Drive.


Click Connect.


Follow Google's prompts to authenticate and complete the connection.

You'll
log into a Google Workspace or Google Drive account, and
admin approval
might be required in managed environments.


The following scope is
required for the account you authenticate with:
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file.


Note: All
external actions performed by an action flow are attributed
to the user
who connected the external system. Therefore, it is a best
practice to
use a dedicated service account rather than personal credentials
when
connecting to each external system.





After you've connected to the system, you'll see an indicator that it's
connected and
details about the instance you're connected to, as well as the actions
available for
Google Drive.




Using Google Drive actions in action flows

Google Drive action steps can be used to send new emails.

The following Google Drive actions are available:


Search file


Search folder


Create folder


Create file





Searching for files in Google Drive


Use the Search file action to find a file based
on the file's name and
other file metadata.

This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs

Required: File name

Optional:
Match type,
Additional
filters,
Parent folder ID,
File type




Output

File metadata, including
original file
name,
ID,
Owner,
type, and
Modified timestamp









Searching for folders in Google Drive


Use the Search folder action to find a folder
based on the folder's name
and other metadata.

This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs

Required: File name

Optional:
Match type,
Additional
filters,
Parent folder
ID




Output

File metadata, including
original file
name,
ID,
Owner,
type, and
Modified timestamp









Creating a folder in Google Drive


Use the Create folder action to create a new
folder in Google Drive.

This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs

Required: Folder name

Optional:
Parent folder ID




Output
File metadata








Creating a file in Google Drive


Use the Create file action to create a file
in Google Drive.

This action has the following inputs and outputs:










Variables




Inputs

Required: File name,
File
content

Optional: File type,
Parent folder ID




Output
File metadata










Recipe: Looking up the sales playbook in Google Drive when a Zendesk ticket
is identified as a lead



The following example action flow uses ticket tags added by agents to
automatically
look up the appropriate sales playbook file in Google Drive and send
a link to it to
the Sales team when a ticket is identified as a lead.


Such an action flow would consist of the following steps:


Add an action flow trigger with the following details:


Click Add trigger.


In the step sidebar, under Zendesk,
click
Tickets.


Click Lifecycle and select
Ticket is tagged.


Click Add condition.


Under Variable, click
Ticket tags changed and
select
Tags (added).


Set the Operator to
Contains at least 1 of.


Under Value, enter
sales_lead.




Add a step to look up ticket details:


In the action builder, beneath the action flow trigger,
click the
Add step icon ( ).


In the step sidebar, under
Zendesk actions, click
Look up
ticket.


Under Ticket ID, click
into the field and then click
Select a variable instead.


Within the variable menu, select
Ticket is tagged as the
step
that output the variable you want to use, and then select
Ticket
ID.




Add a step to look up user details about the ticket requester:


In the action builder, click the
Add step icon ( ).


In the step sidebar, under
Zendesk actions, click
Look up
user.


Under User ID type, select
Zendesk user ID.


For User ID, click
Add variable.


Within the variable menu, select
Look up ticket as the step
that outputs the variable you want to use, and then select
Requester ID.




Add a step to lookup details about the ticket requester's organization:


In the action builder, click the
Add step icon ( ).


In the step sidebar, under
Zendesk actions, click
Look up
organization.


Under Organization ID type,
select
Zendesk organization
ID.


For Organization ID, click
Add variable.


Within the variable menu, select
Look up user as the step
that outputs the variable you want to use, and then select
Organization ID.




Add a step that searches Google Drive for the relevant sales
playbook
file:


In the action builder, click the
Add step icon ( ).


In the step sidebar, under
External actions, click
Search
file.


Under File name, enter
sales_playbook_location_.pdf,
where
location
is a variable:

Click
Add variable. Within
the variable menu, select
Look up ticket as the
step that outputs the variable
you want to use, and then select
Location.





Add a step that sends an email based on the information you collected
for
the ticket, user, and organization:


In the action builder, click the
Add step icon ( ).


In the step sidebar, under
External actions, click
Gmail and then select
Send email.


Under Recipient's email,
enter the Inside sales team
distribution list. For example,
sales@yourcompany.com.


Under Subject, enter
Ticket Ticket ID Identified as
Lead,
where Ticket ID is a variable.

Click
Add
variable,
select Look up ticket,
and select
Ticket ID, to insert
the Ticket ID variable
into the subject.



Under Body, enter the message
you want to send to the Inside
sales team for new prospects. Include relevant ticket
and user
information as variables from the Look up ticket and
Look up user
steps, respectively, to streamline their ability to follow
up. In
the following example, all variables are
italicized:
Hi Sales Team,

Ticket Ticket ID has been identified as a lead. Can you please follow up with User Name as soon as possible?

User contact information:
- Email: User Email
- Phone: User Phone
- Locale and timezone: User Locale - User IANA timezone
- Sales playbook: file link

Here's more context on the ticket:
- Ticket subject: Ticket Subject
- Ticket description: Ticket Description
- Last ticket update: Ticket's Latest agent update




Click Save.


Click Test to
test the action flow.


Click the options menu ( )
and select Activate to begin
automatically emailing links to the appropriate sales playbook
when Zendesk
tickets are identified as sales leads.




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