Retriever Cloud for Google

Note: If you'd prefer a video walkthrough of Retriever Cloud for Google, you'll find that at the bottom of this post.

In order to begin syncing your Activity and Contact data between Redtail CRM and Google, you'll first need to establish the link between the two programs. To do so:

From within Redtail CRM, go to your Manage Integrations area:

manage_your_integrations.png

Then, scroll down until you see Retriever Cloud, click its Actions cog and choose "Settings":

click_rc_settings.png

You'll then see the below:

RC_settings_modal.jpg

Let's take a look at your available settings options here.

NOTE: Any setting changes will require you to disable and re-enable the sync, so just make sure you're choosing your settings accordingly.

  • Sync Contacts? Check off this option if you want to include Contacts as a part of your sync with Google. You'll then be able to click inside the box beneath that option to see a list of your Tag Groups in Redtail CRM and from this list you'll need to select the Tag Group you want to sync to Google. Please note: You do not want to share the same Tag Group with other users who will also be using the integration. This can cause duplications of Contact Card information.
  • Sync Activities? Check off this option if you want to include Activities as a part of your sync with Google. You'll then be able to click inside the box beneath that option to see a list of your Activity Types in Redtail CRM and from this list you can select any number of those Activity Types you want to sync to Google. Please note: Activities will be made in the CRM as your default Activity Type that is set in Preferences.
  • Sync Completed? Check off this option if you want to include Completed Activities as a part of your sync with Google.
  • Sync deletions into Redtail? Check off this option if you want deletions made in Google to sync over to Redtail.
  • Set an Activity Reminder? Choosing a time increment here will allow you to sync activities to Google with your selected reminder time (in minutes). If you leave this at "0", reminders won't be set or the calendar default will prevail.
  • Enable Google Sync button. Click to enable the sync process.

You'll then be redirected to Google to enter in your credentials and signify your agreement to allow Retriever Cloud the access it needs. After completing these steps, you'll be redirected back to the CRM and a message should appear at the top of Manage Integrations that indicates you've successfully enabled the integration.

NOTE: if you later change your Google password, you will need to re-authenticate the connection between Google and Redtail to reestablish this connection (go through the steps above again), as it will no longer work when the password has been changed.

Now that the integration is enabled, you'll see a Redtail Calendar and a Redtail Contacts folder appear in your Google program on the web, and Contacts and Activities will begin to sync between the two systems. You can create and update Contacts and Activities in both Redtail CRM and in Google, and updated contacts/activities and newly created contacts/activities will sync in both directions.

Let's take a more detailed look below at what you can expect in regard to both the Activities Sync and the Contact Sync.

Activities Sync

Newly created and existing activities in Redtail that the user is an attendee of are synced. Only existing open activities within the range of (today - 1 year) to (today + 1 year) are synced during the initial sync.

One caveat concerns repeating activities with overlapping occurrences - these will not sync. For example, an activity that repeats weekly but has a duration of two weeks will not sync.

During the initial sync, we create a calendar named "Redtail" in Google. All activities from Redtail are synced to this calendar, and we only sync activities from Google that are created in this calendar. Any existing activities in the user's default Google calendar, or other non-Redtail calendars, are not synced.

Retriever Cloud respects activity permissions defined in Redtail. If a user is an attendee of an activity but does not have permission to view it, the activity is still synced to Google but with most fields hidden.

At this time Retriever does not provide a way for a user to sync multiple users' calendars from Redtail to their Google account. As a workaround, users can share their calendars within Google to other Google users in the Settings and Sharing Options for that calendar in the Calendar List on the left side of the page. Do note though: if you share your Google calendar with another user in Google, but you have activities from Redtail that are private to you, they may be visible through the Google share to any user you share your Google calendar with since Google doesn't support activity privacy. In other words, if your firm utilizes activity privacy settings within Redtail, you wouldn't want to share your Google calendar if you are using Retriever Cloud to sync to Google.

Differences from Retriever for Tailwag (R4T)

Activities in Redtail with a type of task do not sync to Google's Tasks interface. All activity types in Redtail sync to the Redtail folder in Google's Calendar.

Time Zone

Retriever Cloud requires users to have the same time zone configured in Redtail and Google. Different time zones across the services will cause unexpected behavior when syncing.

 

Operations

Operation Sync Direction
Create Redtail <--> Google
Update Redtail <--> Google
Delete Redtail <--> Google

 

Activity Field Mapping

Redtail Field Sync Direction Google
Field		 Notes
Subject  <--> Title If the user is an attendee but does not have access to the activity then the Subject will be set to "Private Activity" in Google
All Day? <--> All day  
Start Date <--> Start  
Start Time <--> Start  
End Date <--> End  
End Time <--> End  
Attendees   --> Body Does not sync if the user does not have permission to view the activity.
Location <--> Display name Does not sync if the user does not have permission to view the activity.    
Importance <--> Importance Does not sync if the user does not have permission to view the activity.
Description <--> Body Does not sync if the user does not have permission to view the activity.
Repeats <--> Repeat  
Note: a yearly or monthly Activity that repeats on multiple ordinals will not, unfortunately, come over from Redtail into Google. For example: An Activity that occurs on the first and third Mondays of July will not come over in the sync.
Daily and weekly Activities are not affected by this.

 

Contact Sync

When a user sets up Retriever Cloud, they select a tag group to determine which contacts to sync. Existing contacts in the the tag group and new contacts added to the tag group are synced.

During the initial sync, we create a folder named "Redtail" in Google. All contacts from Redtail are synced to this folder, and we only sync contacts from Google created in this folder. Note: contacts won’t sync from Google to Redtail until after the initial sync has completed. Any existing contacts in the user's default Google contact folder, or other non-Redtail folders, are not synced.

When a contact is removed from the tag group configured for Retriever, it is deleted from the user's Google account.

Incoming contacts to Redtail from Retriever are automatically added to the user's Retriever tag group.

Multiple users should not select the same tag group to sync. It can lead to duplicate Contact Card entries. Another reason is when a user creates a contact in Google, Retriever will sync that Contact to Redtail as well as to any other users' Google accounts that have the same tag group configured.

Retriever Cloud respects contact permissions defined in Redtail. If two users have the same tag group configured, but only one of the users has access to a contact, then the user without access will not have the contact synced to their Google account.

Differences from Retriever for Tailwag (R4T)

Fields that no longer sync:

  • Gender
  • Assistant's Name and Phone Number

Operations

Operation Sync Direction Notes
Create Redtail <--> Google  
Update Redtail <--> Google If the contact being updated has been deleted from Google then we recreate the contact in Google.
Delete Redtail <--> Google  
 

Contact Field Mapping

Redtail
Field

Sync 
Direction

Google
Field

 Notes
Salutation <--> Title

Title is not verified when creating/updating a contact in Google.
If the Google title is not a valid Redtail salutation, it will not sync.
Retriever Cloud will do its best to convert common variations of
a title such as Mr., Mr, Mister, mr., mr, and mister.

Valid examples: Dr. or Doctor or Pfc or Professor

Invalid examples: Madam or Sir or Venerable
First <--> First name

 
Middle <--> Middle name  
Last <--> Last name Last name is required in Redtail but not in Google. If a contact
is created in Google without a last name, the last name will be
set to RC:NOT_PROVIDED in Redtail.
Suffix <--> Suffix

Suffix is not verified when creating/updating a contact in Google.
If the Google suffix is not a valid Redtail suffix, it will not sync.
Retriever Cloud will do its best to convert common variations of
a title such as Second, II and ii.

Valid Examples: Third or III or Junior or Jr.

Invalid Examples: Sixth or VI
Nickname <--> Nickname

 
Job Title <--> Job Title  
Employer <--> Company When creating a new contact in Google, if the Google company
name exactly matches the name of a business contact in Redtail,
then the new contact will be linked to the existing employer in
Redtail. Otherwise, a new business contact will be created and
linked to the new contact.
Date of Birth <--> Birthday  
Spouse Name   --> Significant Other  
Important Information   --> Notes The Notes field in Google will only sync once to Important
Information in Redtail when the contact is first created.
Updates to the Notes field in Google will not sync to Redtail
because Redtail allows markup (bold/italic text, bulleted lists,
etc.) and Google does not. However, updates to Important
Information in Redtail will always sync to Google. When
syncing from Redtail to Google we strip all markup from
Important Information and sync only plain text.
Home Address <--> Home address  
Home Email   --> Home Email

Email address is not verified when creating/updating in Google.
If an invalid character sequence is caught in Retriever Cloud,
the email address will default to rc_invalid@email.com on
creation/update into Redtail. Email needs to be a sequence
of characters separated by an '@' symbol, followed by
another sequence of characters separated by a '.' then followed
by another sequence of characters.

Example: asdf@qwer.com or iama10inmybook@winner.winning 
or test-user@redtail.com.

If there are multiple emails of the same type (Home/Work/Other)
then the email marked as primary will be synced over. If none are primary, then the most recently created email will be synced. 

Emails will only sync once from Google --> Redtail when the
contact is first created in Google. Future updates to the email
fields after creating will not sync from Google --> Redtail.
Updates to the emails in Redtail will always sync from
Redtail --> Google.
Work Email   --> Work Email

See above Note.
Other Email   --> Other Email

See above Note.
Home Phone <--> Home Phone

If there are multiple phones of the same type (Home/Work/Mobile)
then the phone marked as primary will be synced over. If none are primary, then the most recently created phone will be synced.
Work Phone <--> Work Phone

See above Note.
Mobile Phone <--> Mobile Phone

See above Note.
Work URL <--> Website

 
 

Disabling the Integration

In order to disable the integration, go back to your settings for Retriever Cloud and click the "Disable" button for Google:

dis_da_goog_sync.jpg

When disabling the integration, all current Google Redtail folders should be removed automatically. After disabling Retriever Cloud, we do recommend that you check for those Redtail folders in Google, as in rare instances, the folders may not have been removed and you may need to remove them manually. If you don't remove them in those cases, and set the integration up again, NEW Redtail folders named Redtail, but this time with timestamps appended, will be created in your Google Contacts and Calendar.

 

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