Google Contacts Sync
Bring the contacts already in your Google account into GetCost as clients, so you can quote and invoice them without typing anyone in twice.
What It Does
If your customers live in your Google account, this copies them into GetCost as clients. They become ordinary clients: you can search them, attach them to estimates, jobs and invoices, and edit them like any other.
Real Clients
Imported contacts are normal clients, not a separate list you have to pick from.
Stays Current
New contacts you add in Google show up in GetCost on their own.
Turning It On
Contacts sync uses the same Google account you connect for email and calendar. One sign-in covers all three.
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Connect your Google account
Go to Settings | Email and add your Gmail address, or open the account you already have. Set Authentication to OAuth2 and click Connect.
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Tick Sync Google Contacts
In the Google Sync section at the bottom of the account, tick Sync Google Contacts.
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Allow contacts access
Google asks you to sign in again to approve reading your contacts. This is a separate permission from email and calendar, so it must be granted on its own. GetCost only ever reads your contacts — it cannot change or delete them.
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Save
Click Save. The first import starts straight away, so your contacts are usually waiting for you by the time you open the Clients screen.
What Gets Imported
| In Google Contacts | In GetCost |
|---|---|
| Name | Client name |
| Client email | |
| Phone numbers | Phone 1, 2 and 3 (the first three) |
| Street address | Address, city, state/province, country, postal code |
Your Edits Are Safe
This is the part worth understanding, because it is the question everyone asks: if you change a client's details in GetCost, the next sync will not undo your change.
The rule
- New client — everything Google has is copied in.
- Client that already exists — only empty fields are filled in. Anything you have already typed is left exactly as it is.
So if you correct a customer's address in GetCost after visiting the property, it stays corrected. And if their Google contact has a phone number your client record is missing, the sync fills it in for you.
Duplicates and Matching
When a contact arrives, GetCost looks for the client it belongs to before creating a new one:
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A contact already imported
Matched exactly, every time, even if you have since renamed the client here.
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Same email address
Matched to that client, as long as only one client uses that email.
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Same name
Matched only when the name belongs to exactly one client. If you have two clients called the same thing, a new client is created instead of guessing.
When It Refreshes
There is no schedule to configure and nothing to run manually. GetCost refreshes your contacts when you open your Clients list, and only if the last refresh is more than a few hours old — so it stays current without pestering Google every time you tap Clients.
Each refresh asks Google only for what changed since last time, which is why it is quick even with a large address book.
What happens to a contact you delete in Google
The client stays in GetCost and is simply unlinked from Google. This is deliberate: that client may have estimates, invoices and job history attached, and removing someone from your phone's address book should never delete your business records. If you want them gone from GetCost too, delete the client here.
Turning It Off
Go to Settings | Email, open the Google account, and untick Sync Google Contacts.
Changed your mind? Clear them all in one go
If you connected Google for your email and did not want your whole address book turning into clients, go to Settings | Advanced and use Clear Imported Contacts. It removes every client that came from your Google contacts and switches the sync off, so they do not come straight back.
- Clients you have actually worked with are kept — anyone you have quoted, invoiced, scheduled, or logged time or mileage for. They are customers now, not address-book entries, and your estimates and invoices would be left pointing at nothing. You are told how many were kept.
- It only affects your own clients, not those of anyone else on your team.
- Nothing changes in your Google account. GetCost only ever reads your contacts and cannot alter them.
If you switch the sync back on later, your contacts are imported again from scratch. The clients that were kept are recognised and updated rather than duplicated, but anything you had edited on a cleared client is gone with it.
Troubleshooting
No contacts appeared
Check the badge next to the account in Settings | Email. If it says Permission needed, contacts access was not granted — open the account and reconnect, keeping every permission selected on the Google screen. If it says Reconnect needed, your Google sign-in expired.
Only some contacts came across
Contacts with neither a name nor an email address are skipped on purpose. Check the entry in Google Contacts has at least one of the two.
A new Google contact has not shown up
Refreshes happen when you open the Clients list, and not more than once every few hours. A contact added in Google minutes ago may not be there yet.