Using Gmail action in action flows

<div class="article-banners">
<div id="docs-wmp-link">
<a href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5411234991258-plan" rel="noopener" target="_blank">What's my plan?</a>
</div>
<div class="article-banner" id="suite_all">
<table style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<strong>All Suites</strong>
</td>
<td>Team, Growth, Professional, Enterprise, or Enterprise Plus</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<div class="article-banner" id="support_all">
<table style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<strong>Support</strong>
</td>
<td>Team, Professional, or Enterprise</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
<div class="body">
<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 Gmail, 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_qgt_sqn_g3c__ul_ysp_sn4_zgc">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_fcs_gtn_g3c">Connecting Gmail to action builder</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_z1q_htn_g3c">Using Gmail actions in action flows</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_y2s_4sn_g3c">Recipe: Sending emails to your Inside Sales team 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 Gmail 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 Gmail</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">Gmail</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Connect</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Follow Gmail's prompts to authenticate and complete the connection.<p class="p">You'll
log into a Google Workspace or Gmail 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/gmail.send</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
Gmail.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_z1q_htn_g3c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Using Gmail actions in action flows</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Gmail action steps can be used to send new emails.</p>
<div class="p">The following Gmail 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">Sending emails in Gmail</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">Sending emails in Gmail</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Use the <em class="ph i">Send email</em> action to send a new email.</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="d52e198" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;"> </th>
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d52e200" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Variables</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e198" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Inputs</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e200" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Required: <code class="ph codeph">Recipient's email</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">Subject</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">Body</code><p class="p">Optional: <code class="ph codeph">BCC
emails</code>, <code class="ph codeph">CC
emails</code></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e198" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Output</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e200" style="text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">
<code class="ph codeph">threadID</code>, <code class="ph codeph">ID</code>,
<code class="ph codeph">labelIds</code>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested1" id="topic_y2s_4sn_g3c">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title5">Recipe: Sending emails to your Inside Sales team 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
send notification emails to the Inside 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 outputs 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 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>
- Notes: <em class="ph i">User Notes</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 sending
emails to the sales team when Zendesk tickets are identified as sales
leads.</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div><script id="docs-schema-markup" type="application/ld+json">{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "TechArticle",
"@id": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10327942889242",
"url": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10327942889242-Using-Gmail-action-in-action-flows",
"headline": "Using Gmail action in action flows",
"description": "You can connect Gmail to an action builder to automate sending emails within action flows based on ticket triggers and user information in your support system.",
"articleSection": "Extending Zendesk",
"datePublished": "2026-02-19T04:29:36+00:00",
"dateModified": "2026-02-22T19:23:06+00:00",
"inLanguage": "en-US",
"mainEntityOfPage": {
"@type": "WebPage",
"@id": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10327942889242"
},
"author": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Zendesk",
"@id": "https://www.zendesk.com"
},
"publisher": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Zendesk",
"@id": "https://www.zendesk.com"
},
"isPartOf": {
"@type": "WebSite",
"name": "Zendesk Help",
"@id": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/"
},
"about": {
"@type": "SoftwareApplication",
"name": "Zendesk",
"@id": "https://www.zendesk.com"
}
}</script>