Connect Gmail Contacts to QBO – Step by Step

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You now can connect Gmail contacts to QBO. What? Wait. Yes.  Did you know you could do that? 

How did you miss it? Well, have you ever looked right at something, only to later go back later and say, “How did I miss that?”

That's exactly what happened to me. 

While entering a bill I needed to add a new vendor, and BOOM, there it was – the "Connect Gmail Contacts.” I really can’t say if my mind looked past this connection, because I either didn’t know what it was there, or I just woke up feeling adventurous. Anyhow, I went for it and was relieved just how easy it is to link "only" desired contacts. 

How does it work?

First, what comes into QBO contacts is only what you select. This is important, because not all Gmail contacts need to be synced to QBO. For example, while working on the bill, I only wanted to add the desired vendor name. I chose link Google Contacts, entered my Gmail password and was able to see a list of all Gmail contacts. 

And I still have control of what is synced.

I was nervous at first because I didn’t want to sync all 999,000 gazillion contact names, and then live to regret the sync. But instead, I was pleasantly surprised. Only the selected name was synced.       

This sync is possible from any Invoice, Sales Receipt and Check and Bill, which means you can choose the contact name to be a vendor or customer. Here's an example below of a Bill. 

From the Vendor Menu choose Add New > Connect your Gmail Account. 

A window prompt will request Gmail account name and password:   

Next, you will be asked to “Allow” the usage of Gmail for QBO:     

Relax; your vendors have not changed. The Vendor Display is only what's currently in QBO, but if you wish to view all Gmail Contacts, you can select the link to separately display all Gmail contacts.    

Another Option is to Search All QBO and Gmail contacts by typing in the desired name.   

Choose the Gmail contact you wish to add and Save:   

Now when I look at my vendor list I can see the Gmail contact I chose to add to QBO:    

When I view the contact information I can see all vendor details have been added since they already existed in Gmail. 

What’s nice about this QuickTip is you only have to link the Gmail account once. From now on you can select existing names from within multiple types of transactions, which eliminates redundant data entry without creating a messy import.