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Prepare Your Google Account for Lightning Sync
The IT pro or Google administrator at your company can prepare your Google G Suite account to communicate with Salesforce. Google admins complete these steps by logging in to your company’s Google developer console, Google Cloud Platform, and the Google Admin console.
Required Editions
| Available to sync records from: Salesforce Classic, Lightning Experience, and the Salesforce mobile app |
| Available to set up from: Salesforce Classic and Lightning Experience |
| Available in: Professional, Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions with Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Lightning Platform |
| User Permissions Needed | |
|---|---|
| To prepare your G Suite account to communicate with Salesforce: | The Owner role on your company’s G Suite account, which gives you administrative permissions |
Starting in Winter ‘21, Lightning Sync isn’t available to new Salesforce customers. Use Einstein Activity Capture to sync events, contacts, and emails between your connected account and Salesforce.
If you have Lightning Sync, use the migration tool to move to Einstein Activity Capture before Lightning Sync retires in April 2027.
If you use Lightning Sync with Microsoft Office 365 and Exchange Web Service (EWS) as your authentication method, complete your migration by August 2026 to avoid service disruption. In October 2026, Microsoft retires EWS for Microsoft 365 and replaces it with Microsoft Graph API. After migrating to Einstein Activity Capture, upgrade to the Microsoft Graph authentication method. See Upgrade Microsoft Office 365 Authentication Method to Microsoft Graph in Einstein Activity Capture.
This change affects all orgs except those using Government Cloud.
For more support, refer to Google developer documentation.
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Log in to Google Cloud Platform (also known as Google Developer console). Create a
Google project that is only intended for your Lightning Sync configuration.
Note When you’re completing setup steps, make sure the Lightning Sync project is always selected on your dashboard. Otherwise, you change settings on your Google account that are unrelated to Lightning Sync. -
Enable APIs for contacts, events, or both.
- Go to the APIs & Services Dashboard, and make sure that your Lightning Sync project is selected. To set up reps to sync events, search for Google Calendar™ API and enable it.
- Return to the APIs & Services Dashboard. Make sure that your Lightning Sync project is selected. To set up reps to sync contacts, search for Google People API and enable it.
Note Starting in Spring ’22, Lightning Sync syncs contacts using Google People API, and no longer uses legacy Google Contacts API. For customers who used Lightning Sync for Google before Spring ’22, verify which API Services are enabled, and enable Google People API if needed. See Google Contacts API Retirement: Details for Einstein Activity Capture and Lightning Sync Users. -
Create a service account for your Lightning Sync project.
- Return to the APIs & Services Dashboard. Make sure that your Lightning Sync project is selected. Create credentials for a service account with the role Project Owner and the key type JSON. A JSON private key for your service account is saved to your computer.
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Save the key securely and share it with your Salesforce admin. (But only your
Salesforce admin.) Your admin needs the key to complete Lightning Sync setup in
Salesforce. To download your key again later, do so from the APIs & Services
Dashboard.
Important People in possession of your private JSON key have access to your company’s Google account. Therefore, only share the key with team members who need it, and share it via secure pathways. For example, emailing your private key isn’t a good idea.
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Go to the IAM & Admin Dashboard and locate the service account for your
Lightning Sync project. Copy the client ID (also known the as OAuth 2 Client ID or
Unique ID). Keep your Client ID safe but handy, because you need it for the next
step.
Important Like your private key, keep the client ID for your Lightning Sync service account private and secure.
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Enable domain-wide delegation and give read-write authorization for contacts, events,
or both.
- Go to the Google Admin console, navigate to the API controls page, and click Manage Domain-Wide Delegation.
- From the domain-wide delegation page, add an API client. In the Add a New Client window, paste the client ID that you copied from step 3. Then provide the scope of read-write access that you want your service account to have. To let users sync contacts, add the scopes https://www.googleapis.com/auth/contacts. To let users sync events, add https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar.
Note Starting in Spring ’22, Lightning Sync syncs contacts using Google People API, and no longer uses legacy Google Contacts API. For customers who used Lightning Sync for Google before Spring ’22, verify the scopes that you have set for read-write access, and update them if needed. See Google Contacts API Retirement: Details for Einstein Activity Capture and Lightning Sync Users.
When you’re finished, Salesforce admins can use the private key that you generated to set up Lightning Sync in Salesforce.
