Using Google Drive actions in action flows



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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 Gmail'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.



