Folk and Gmail: what syncs, what doesn't, and how to set it up
Folk's native Gmail connection imports contacts, emails and calendar events in real time and sends mail through your Google account. Contacts sync one way, and the Gmail sender cannot run sequences.
- Connector
- Native, built by Folk, free to connect; you authorize a Google account in Folk settings. The folkX Chrome extension is a separate install from the Chrome Web Store
- Sync direction
- Mostly Gmail → Folk; sent mail goes Folk → Gmail; Google Contacts never receives edits
- Setup time
- A few steps in Settings; Folk gives no time estimate, and the 3-year history import runs after you connect
- Availability
- Standard and Premium plans, which Folk's help article describes; personal @gmail.com or Google Workspace accounts. Other plans are not covered in the pages read
- Our rating
- 4 out of 5. Real-time email, calendar and contact import; the Gmail sender can't run sequences, and Standard shows only 30 interactions per contact.
| What | Direction | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts | Gmail → Folk | Folk imports Google contacts and "Other contacts", in real time. Every person you have interacted with at least once becomes a contact. |
| Emails | Gmail → Folk | Subject, date, participants and content, pinned to the matching contact profile in real time. Unread and archived messages, mailing lists, and emails with more than 20 recipients are skipped. |
| Calendar events | Gmail → Folk | Name, date, participants and content from Google Calendar. Recurring events, events with more than 20 attendees and events more than 1 month ahead are skipped. Folk shows at most 5 future interactions. |
| Companies | Derived | Folk creates companies automatically from the domain names it detects in your contacts. |
| Sent emails | Folk → Gmail | Requires a Gmail sender. Messages sent from Folk appear in your Gmail Sent folder. Limits: 125 emails per day on @gmail.com, 500 on Google Workspace. |
| Replies to sent emails | Gmail → Folk | Folk tracks replies when the sending account is also synced in Settings → Accounts. It does not track opens, clicks or bounces for Gmail-sent mail. |
| Contact capture from a thread | Gmail → Folk | Manual. In the folkX extension you click the Folk icon on a thread. Folk reads names, email, company, job title and phone for direct recipients. |
| Message templates | Two-way | folkX shows your Folk templates in the Gmail compose window. A template created in Gmail through folkX also appears in the Folk workspace. |
Setting it up
- In Folk, open Settings → Accounts and click Connect a Google account. You can connect several accounts.
- On the Google permission page, tick every box. Folk needs them to import contacts and interactions.
- Choose how to share interactions. They are private by default. Pick Subject only or Full access per Google account.
- Optional, for sending: open Settings → Senders, click New Sender, choose Gmail sender and accept "Send on your behalf".
- Optional, for working inside Gmail: install the folkX extension from the Chrome Web Store and pin it to the toolbar.
- Before sending at volume, read Folk's deliverability and Google account ban guidance. Warm the mailbox up over 2 to 4 weeks.
Where the integration stops
- Contacts sync one way. Folk imports Google contacts, but edits made in Folk do not reach Google Contacts.
- Standard shows 30 interactions per contact. Folk imports the last 3 years on first connect. Standard shows the last 30 of them per contact, and Premium shows the full history.
- The Gmail sender cannot run sequences. Sequences need a custom sender. Switching means deleting all current senders and the domain, then adding the new sender from scratch.
- Gmail-sent mail has sending caps and thin analytics. The caps are 125 per day on @gmail.com and 500 on Google Workspace. Folk reports replies only.
- Some mail never arrives. Unread and archived messages, mailing lists, and emails with more than 20 recipients are not imported. Check this before you rely on the timeline as a full record.
- Outlook-domain mailboxes cannot use the Gmail sender. Folk's help article sends them to a custom sender.
Folk's Gmail connection reads your mailbox and calendar and builds the CRM from them. It suits small teams that want contacts, companies and conversation history without manual entry. Folk builds and maintains it, and you connect it from Settings.
Teams most often miss that sending is a separate step with its own limits. A Gmail sender cannot run sequences, and switching to a sender that can means deleting your existing senders. The Standard plan also shows fewer interactions per contact than Premium. Plan prices are on the Folk pricing page; the vendor profile is at /vendors/folk.
Connecting a Google account imports contacts, not just mail
One authorization does three jobs. Folk imports your Google contacts, your emails and your calendar events. It creates companies from domain names.
Every person you have interacted with at least once becomes a contact. Folk's help article updated on 2 September 2026 lists what it skips: unread and archived messages, mailing lists, recurring events, and emails or events with more than 20 recipients or attendees. A mailbox full of threads can therefore look thinner in Folk than in Gmail.
The sync runs one way for contacts. Folk imports from Google Contacts and does not write edits back.
Standard shows 30 interactions, Premium shows all of them
On first connect, Folk imports the last 3 years of interactions. What you see afterward depends on your plan. Standard shows the last 30 interactions per contact within that window. Premium shows the full history, including WhatsApp and manually logged interactions.
Interactions are private by default. The owner of each Google account chooses to share subject lines, event names and participants, or the full email body. Owners and admins can check who has shared. Folk also documents settings to hide internal interactions and block domains or addresses. That is worth configuring before the whole team connects.
The Gmail sender sends, but it does not run sequences
Sending needs its own sender: Settings → Senders → Gmail sender. If you accept every Google permission, the same connection also syncs contacts and interactions.
Mail sent from Folk lands in your Gmail Sent folder. The caps are 125 per day on a personal account and 500 on Google Workspace. Folk tracks replies when the account is also synced. It does not track opens, clicks or bounces. You cannot send sequences from a Gmail sender, and you cannot run a Gmail sender and a custom sender side by side.
If outreach volume matters, pick the sender type before you build lists around it. The Chrome extension, folkX, covers the manual work in Gmail: capturing contacts from a thread, adding notes and reminders, and inserting templates. For wider Gmail context see Gmail on WeekCRM.