Using Google Drive actions in action flows

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<div class="p">
By connecting the
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8855513857306" target="_blank">action builder</a>
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.
<div class="note note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> The
steps associated with external systems in action flows are referred to
collectively
as <em class="ph i">external actions</em>.
</div>
</div>
<div class="p">
This article contains the following topics:
<ul class="ul" id="topic_f2p_gzq_33c__ul_ysp_sn4_zgc">
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_fcs_gtn_g3c">Connecting Google Drive to action builder</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_z1q_htn_g3c">Using Google Drive actions in action flows</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_y2s_4sn_g3c">Recipe: Looking up the sales playbook in Google Drive when a Zendesk ticket is identified as a lead</a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_fcs_gtn_g3c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Connecting Google Drive to action builder</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
Before you can include external actions in your action flows, you must
connect the
action builder to the external system.
</p>
<div class="p">
When connecting to external systems for use in action flows, the following
best practices are recommended:
<ul class="ul" id="topic_fcs_gtn_g3c__d8e13">
<li class="li">
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.
</li>
<li class="li">
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.
</li>
<li class="li">
When managing credentials for API key-based tools, such as OpenAI,
it's best to store keys in a secure vault or credential manager.
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="p">
<strong class="ph b">To connect action builder to Google Drive</strong>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_fcs_gtn_g3c__ol_psh_lk4_zgc">
<li class="li">
<span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4581766374554#topic_hfg_dyz_1hb" target="_blank">Admin Center</a>, click <img class="image" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ac_apps_integrations_icon.png">
<strong class="ph b">Apps and integrations</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Actions &gt; Action
flows</strong>.</span>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8855601898266" target="_blank">Create</a>
or
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9052312956570" target="_blank">edit</a>
an action flow.
</li>
<li class="li">Open the step sidebar.</li>
<li class="li">
Under <strong class="ph b">External actions</strong>, click
<strong class="ph b">Google Drive</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
Click <strong class="ph b">Connect</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
Follow Google's prompts to authenticate and complete the connection.
<p class="p">
You'll
log into a Google Workspace or Google Drive account, and
admin approval
might be required in managed environments.
</p>
<p class="p">
The following scope is
required for the account you authenticate with:
<code class="ph codeph">https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file</code>.
</p>
<div class="note note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> 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.
</div>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p class="p">
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.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_z1q_htn_g3c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Using Google Drive actions in action flows</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Google Drive action steps can be used to send new emails.</p>
<div class="p">
The following Google Drive actions are available:
<ul class="ul" id="topic_z1q_htn_g3c__ul_jby_q44_zgc">
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_fy1_1wn_g3c">Search file</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_vt4_j1r_33c">Search folder</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_u1t_v1r_33c">Create folder</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_pp3_cbr_33c">Create file</a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested2" id="topic_fy1_1wn_g3c">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title4">Searching for files in Google Drive</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
Use the <em class="ph i">Search file</em> action to find a file based
on the file's name and
other file metadata.
</p>
<p class="p">This action has the following inputs and outputs:</p>
<div class="p">
<div class="tablenoborder">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="table" frame="border" id="topic_fy1_1wn_g3c__table_gy1_1wn_g3c" rules="all" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;" summary="">
<colgroup>
<col>
<col>
</colgroup>
<thead class="thead" style="text-align: left;">
<tr class="row">
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d52e213" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;"> </th>
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d52e215" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Variables</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e213" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Inputs</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e215" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">
Required: <code class="ph codeph">File name</code>
<p class="p">
Optional:
<code class="ph codeph">Match type</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">Additional
filters</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">Parent folder ID</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">File type</code>
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e213" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Output</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e215" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">
File metadata, including
<code class="ph codeph">original file
name</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">ID</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">Owner</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">type</code>, and
<code class="ph codeph">Modified timestamp</code>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested2" id="topic_vt4_j1r_33c">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title5">Searching for folders in Google Drive</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
Use the <em class="ph i">Search folder</em> action to find a folder
based on the folder's name
and other metadata.
</p>
<p class="p">This action has the following inputs and outputs:</p>
<div class="p">
<div class="tablenoborder">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="table" frame="border" id="topic_vt4_j1r_33c__table_wt4_j1r_33c" rules="all" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;" summary="">
<colgroup>
<col>
<col>
</colgroup>
<thead class="thead" style="text-align: left;">
<tr class="row">
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d52e306" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;"> </th>
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d52e308" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Variables</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e306" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Inputs</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e308" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">
Required: <code class="ph codeph">File name</code>
<p class="p">
Optional:
<code class="ph codeph">Match type</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">Additional
filters</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">Parent folder
ID</code>
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e306" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Output</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e308" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">
File metadata, including
<code class="ph codeph">original file
name</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">ID</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">Owner</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">type</code>, and
<code class="ph codeph">Modified timestamp</code>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title6" class="topic nested2" id="topic_u1t_v1r_33c">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title6">Creating a folder in Google Drive</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
Use the <em class="ph i">Create folder</em> action to create a new
folder in Google Drive.
</p>
<p class="p">This action has the following inputs and outputs:</p>
<div class="p">
<div class="tablenoborder">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="table" frame="border" id="topic_u1t_v1r_33c__table_v1t_v1r_33c" rules="all" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;" summary="">
<colgroup>
<col>
<col>
</colgroup>
<thead class="thead" style="text-align: left;">
<tr class="row">
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d52e396" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;"> </th>
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d52e398" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Variables</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e396" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Inputs</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e398" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">
Required: <code class="ph codeph">Folder name</code>
<p class="p">
Optional:
<code class="ph codeph">Parent folder ID</code>
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e396" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Output</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e398" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">File metadata</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title7" class="topic nested2" id="topic_pp3_cbr_33c">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title7">Creating a file in Google Drive</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
Use the <em class="ph i">Create file</em> action to create a file
in Google Drive.
</p>
<p class="p">This action has the following inputs and outputs:</p>
<div class="p">
<div class="tablenoborder">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="table" frame="border" id="topic_pp3_cbr_33c__table_qp3_cbr_33c" rules="all" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;" summary="">
<colgroup>
<col>
<col>
</colgroup>
<thead class="thead" style="text-align: left;">
<tr class="row">
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d52e466" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;"> </th>
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d52e468" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Variables</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e466" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Inputs</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e468" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">
Required: <code class="ph codeph">File name</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">File
content</code>
<p class="p">
Optional: <code class="ph codeph">File type</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">Parent folder ID</code>
</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e466" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Output</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e468" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">File metadata</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title8" class="topic nested1" id="topic_y2s_4sn_g3c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title8">
Recipe: Looking up the sales playbook in Google Drive when a Zendesk ticket
is identified as a lead
</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
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.
</p>
<div class="p">
Such an action flow would consist of the following steps:
<ol class="ol" id="topic_y2s_4sn_g3c__ol_t2n_bxq_chc">
<li class="li">
Add an action flow trigger with the following details:
<ol class="ol" id="topic_y2s_4sn_g3c__ol_l2n_nwq_chc" type="a">
<li class="li">
Click <strong class="ph b">Add trigger</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
In the step sidebar, under <strong class="ph b">Zendesk</strong>,
click
<strong class="ph b">Tickets</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
Click <strong class="ph b">Lifecycle</strong> and select
<strong class="ph b">Ticket is tagged</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
Click <strong class="ph b">Add condition</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
Under <strong class="ph b">Variable</strong>, click
<strong class="ph b">Ticket tags changed</strong> and
select
<strong class="ph b">Tags (added)</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
Set the <strong class="ph b">Operator</strong> to
<strong class="ph b">Contains at least 1 of</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
Under <strong class="ph b">Value</strong>, enter
<strong class="ph b">sales_lead</strong>.
</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li class="li">
Add a step to look up ticket details:
<ol class="ol" id="topic_y2s_4sn_g3c__ol_u1q_wcx_chc" type="a">
<li class="li">
In the action builder, beneath the action flow trigger,
click the
<strong class="ph b">Add step</strong> icon (<img class="image" id="topic_y2s_4sn_g3c__image_ls5_1xr_1hc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/icon_action_flows_add.png" width="16">).
</li>
<li class="li">
In the step sidebar, under
<strong class="ph b">Zendesk actions</strong>, click
<strong class="ph b">Look up
ticket</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
Under <strong class="ph b">Ticket ID</strong>, click
into the field and then click
<strong class="ph b">Select a variable instead</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
Within the variable menu, select
<strong class="ph b">Ticket is tagged</strong> as the
step
that output the variable you want to use, and then select
<strong class="ph b">Ticket
ID</strong>.
</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li class="li">
Add a step to look up user details about the ticket requester:
<ol class="ol" id="topic_y2s_4sn_g3c__ol_zjp_qdx_chc" type="a">
<li class="li">
In the action builder, click the
<strong class="ph b">Add step</strong> icon (<img class="image" id="topic_y2s_4sn_g3c__image_ox3_rdx_chc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/icon_action_flows_add.png" width="16">).
</li>
<li class="li">
In the step sidebar, under
<strong class="ph b">Zendesk actions</strong>, click
<strong class="ph b">Look up
user</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
Under <strong class="ph b">User ID type</strong>, select
<strong class="ph b">Zendesk user ID</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
For <strong class="ph b">User ID</strong>, click
<strong class="ph b">Add variable</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
Within the variable menu, select
<strong class="ph b">Look up ticket</strong> as the step
that outputs the variable you want to use, and then select
<strong class="ph b">Requester ID</strong>.
</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li class="li">
Add a step to lookup details about the ticket requester's organization:
<ol class="ol" id="topic_y2s_4sn_g3c__ol_wxc_k2x_chc" type="a">
<li class="li">
In the action builder, click the
<strong class="ph b">Add step</strong> icon (<img class="image" id="topic_y2s_4sn_g3c__image_xxc_k2x_chc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/icon_action_flows_add.png" width="16">).
</li>
<li class="li">
In the step sidebar, under
<strong class="ph b">Zendesk actions</strong>, click
<strong class="ph b">Look up
organization</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
Under <strong class="ph b">Organization ID type</strong>,
select
<strong class="ph b">Zendesk organization
ID</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
For <strong class="ph b">Organization ID</strong>, click
<strong class="ph b">Add variable</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
Within the variable menu, select
<strong class="ph b">Look up user</strong> as the step
that outputs the variable you want to use, and then select
<strong class="ph b">Organization ID</strong>.
</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li class="li">
Add a step that searches Google Drive for the relevant sales
playbook
file:
<ol class="ol" id="topic_y2s_4sn_g3c__ol_ebj_5br_33c" type="a">
<li class="li">
In the action builder, click the
<strong class="ph b">Add step</strong> icon (<img class="image" id="topic_y2s_4sn_g3c__image_fbj_5br_33c" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/icon_action_flows_add.png" width="16">).
</li>
<li class="li">
In the step sidebar, under
<strong class="ph b">External actions</strong>, click
<strong class="ph b">Search
file</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
Under <strong class="ph b">File name</strong>, enter
<strong class="ph b">sales_playbook_<code class="ph codeph">location</code>_.pdf</strong>,
where
<strong class="ph b"><code class="ph codeph">location</code></strong>
is a variable:
<p class="p">
Click
<strong class="ph b">Add variable</strong>. Within
the variable menu, select
<strong class="ph b">Look up ticket</strong> as the
step that outputs the variable
you want to use, and then select
<strong class="ph b">Location</strong>.
</p>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li class="li">
Add a step that sends an email based on the information you collected
for
the ticket, user, and organization:
<ol class="ol" id="topic_y2s_4sn_g3c__ol_wfl_lxf_dhc" type="a">
<li class="li">
In the action builder, click the
<strong class="ph b">Add step</strong> icon (<img class="image" id="topic_y2s_4sn_g3c__image_ixj_mxf_dhc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/icon_action_flows_add.png" width="16">).
</li>
<li class="li">
In the step sidebar, under
<strong class="ph b">External actions</strong>, click
<strong class="ph b">Gmail</strong> and then select
<strong class="ph b">Send email</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
Under <strong class="ph b">Recipient's email</strong>,
enter the Inside sales team
distribution list. For example,
<strong class="ph b">sales@yourcompany.com</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
Under <strong class="ph b">Subject</strong>, enter
<strong class="ph b">Ticket <em class="ph i">Ticket ID</em> Identified as
Lead</strong>,
where <em class="ph i">Ticket ID</em> is a variable.
<p class="p">
Click
<strong class="ph b">Add
variable</strong>,
select <strong class="ph b">Look up ticket</strong>,
and select
<strong class="ph b">Ticket ID</strong>, to insert
the <em class="ph i">Ticket ID</em> variable
into the subject.
</p>
</li>
<li class="li">
Under <strong class="ph b">Body</strong>, 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:
<pre class="pre codeblock wysiwyg-code-block"><code>Hi Sales Team,

Ticket <em class="ph i">Ticket ID</em> has been identified as a lead. Can you please follow up with <em class="ph i">User Name</em> as soon as possible?

User contact information:
- Email: <em class="ph i">User Email</em>
- Phone: <em class="ph i">User Phone</em>
- Locale and timezone: <em class="ph i">User Locale</em> - <em class="ph i">User IANA timezone</em>
- Sales playbook: <em class="ph i">file link</em>

Here's more context on the ticket:
- Ticket subject: <em class="ph i">Ticket Subject</em>
- Ticket description: <em class="ph i">Ticket Description</em>
- Last ticket update: <em class="ph i">Ticket's Latest agent update</em></code></pre>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li class="li">
Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
Click <strong class="ph b">Test</strong> to
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9052312956570#topic_uyj_qsw_3fc" target="_blank">test the action flow</a>.
</li>
<li class="li">
Click the options menu (<img class="image" id="topic_y2s_4sn_g3c__image_lg5_yjx_chc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/options-menu-icon-small.png">)
and select <strong class="ph b">Activate</strong> to begin
automatically emailing links to the appropriate sales playbook
when Zendesk
tickets are identified as sales leads.
</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
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