ContactsFlow™ for Gmail™ vs Mail Merge with Attachments

ContactsFlow™(formerly Shared Contacts for Gmail™) is an AI-powered contact management solution for Google Workspace™ that lets teams share, manage, and sync Google Contacts™ across their entire organization instantly and at scale. Create a single source of truth for your contacts, automate contact updates, and ensure everyone has access to accurate, up-to-date information across Gmail™, Google Contacts™, Calendar™, mobile devices, and integrated business tools.Whether you’re in HR, IT, Sales, or Marketing, this powerful contact-sharing tool helps unify your company’s address book, streamline communication, and make contact management simple and efficient. ✅ What You Can Do with ContactsFlow™ App -Unify Google™ LDAP Directories Across Domains Combine the LDAP directories of multiple Google Workspace™ domains in just one click. All employees regardless of which domain they belong to can access and sync the latest contact info of their colleagues across Gmail™, Calendar™, Drive™, mobile devices, and all connected apps. -Access Your Company Directory from Any Device Instantly sync your company’s Google™ LDAP directory to your phone and communication apps. No more scrambling to find a colleague’s number while on the go, all contact details are accessible anytime, anywhere, even on iPhone, Android, and Google Pixel devices. -Create a Shared Address Book for Your Teams Keep your entire team updated with the latest lead details, client information, or vendor contacts. As statuses or roles change, ContactsFlow™ ensures everyone sees the latest updates automatically — no more double-entry or outdated information. -Make External Collaboration Simple Easily share Google Contacts™ with agencies, contractors, or freelancers — even if they’re outside your domain. Give them instant access to only the contacts they need, with permission controls for added security. Key Features of ContactsFlow™ ✅Share your Google Contacts™ with anyone, inside or outside your organization Easily share contact labels with teammates, departments, or even Gmail™ users outside your domain. Enable real-time collaboration with external partners, contractors, or agencies by giving them access to the contacts they need. ✅Centralize your company-wide contacts in one place Build a unified address book that includes all internal and external contacts. Keep everyone on your team aligned with access to the most accurate, updated contact information. ✅Instantly sync Google Contacts™ across all devices and apps Contacts automatically sync to iPhones, Android devices, tablets, Google Contacts™, Gmail™, Calendar™, Drive™, and more. No need for manual exports or third-party tools — syncing happens automatically in real time. ✅Integrate with the tools your team already uses Connect ContactsFlow™ with CRM and thousands of other apps. Use Zapier or our Public API to automate workflows and contact updates across your business stack. ✅Manage and sync your Google™ LDAP Directory across all platforms Keep your company directory synced with users’ mobile phones, Google apps, and IP phone systems. Let employees edit and manage their own profiles — no IT request needed. ✅Hidden Fields to hide sensitive contact fields from unauthorized users Control visibility by restricting access to specific fields like personal phone numbers or internal notes. Enforce privacy policies and ensure data protection compliance. ✅Custom Fields to personalize your contact cards Set custom fields like “Customer ID,” “Plan Type,” “Onboarding Date,” “Birthday” or anything your team needs You can define custom contact fields using free text input or dropdown menus with preset options Then when your contacts are created or updated by your users or the AI, custom fields can be filled out manually or selected from predefined dropdown menus Structure contacts based on your workflow or industry - set custom fields like “Customer Type,” “Sales Region,” or “Project Name” to organize your contacts in a way that fits your industry — whether you’re in sales, education, healthcare, or real estate. This makes your contact lists more useful and easier to manage Improve searchability and categorization of shared contacts - categories like "Millennials”, “Buyer Priority,” “Renewal Due,” or “Favourite colour - Blue” so your team can quickly find the right contacts. This improves search results and helps everyone stay organized. ✅Use powerful search and filter tools to find any contact fast Search by name, company, title, tags, or custom fields. Filter contacts by team, location, client type, or any other relevant criteria. ✅Share your Google™ LDAP Directory with anyone using Gmail™ or Google Workspace™ Grant access to users or groups from other domains who need visibility into your organization’s directory. Make collaboration seamless across multi-domain or multi-company environments. ✅Assign access permissions to every user Choose from “View Only,” “Can Edit,” “Can Share,” or “Can Delete” for each shared contact list. Control who can do what with your organization’s contacts. ✅Add internal comments and tag teammates Leave notes or context directly on contact profiles. Use @mentions to notify colleagues about updates or next steps — right from the contact card. ✅Create unlimited contact lists and categories Organize contacts by project, department, region, or client type. No restrictions on how many contact groups you can create or share. ✅Enjoy unlimited sharing capacity Share with as many users, groups, and collaborators as needed — no limits. Perfect for growing teams or organizations with complex structures. ✅Restore deleted contacts with no time limit Roll back accidental deletions with our unlimited restore feature. Keep your team’s contact database safe from human error or sync issues. Why choose ContactsFlow™ (formerly Shared Contacts for Gmail™)? ContactsFlow™ (formerly Shared Contacts for Gmail™) is one of the top-rated solutions for sharing and managing Google Contacts™ across your team or organization. Whether you’re using Gmail™ or Google Workspace™ (formerly G Suite), you can easily create and share contact labels (also known as contact groups) with internal and external users including free Gmail™ accounts. It’s trusted by thousands of teams as a better alternative to tools like Shared Contacts Manager, ContactBook, CoContacts, Shared Groups, Voyzu, and others. Contacts are auto-captured from emails, calls, forms, and files. With just a few clicks, you can assign flexible permissions like View Only, Can Edit, Can Share, or Can Delete. You don’t need to leave Gmail™ — you can view, edit, and share contacts directly from your inbox or Google™ Contacts. Contacts sync everywhere and no more duplicate entry or update work needed. Every member of your team gets the right contact instantly, with full context and notes. The app also supports contact backups, making it easy to restore lost data and keep your contact database secure and up to date across all devices. Designed for easy contact management, ContactsFlow™ (formerly Shared Contacts for Gmail™) makes contact sharing effortless for businesses of any size. Install it in seconds and start collaborating instantly. Try it for free and see how it transforms the way your team shares and manages contacts, without complex setups or high costs. Start sharing smarter. Let AI do the busywork. 🔗 Visit www.contactsflow.ai for support, pricing, FAQs, and integrations. 🔍 F.A.Q 1. How does the Contacts AI Auto-Updater work inside Gmail™? It scans your incoming emails for contact info like names, emails, phone numbers, and job titles. When it finds new or updated data, it automatically updates or creates the contact directly inside Gmail™—no copy-pasting needed. 2. Can Gmail™ automatically create contacts from email signatures? Yes. The AI detects signatures in emails and auto-creates a contact card with details like name, phone number, and company, which you can edit or share instantly. 3. What happens when a contact changes their phone number or job title? The AI Auto-Updater detects changes in email signatures or headers and updates the contact across your Google Contacts™, Gmail™, and synced devices automatically. 4. Can I stop duplicate contacts in Google Contacts™ with this tool? Yes. The AI identifies duplicate entries and merges or updates them, helping you maintain a clean, accurate Google Contacts™ database. 5. Can I share contact labels with my team in Google Workspace™? Absolutely. You can share any Google Contacts™ label with users or Google Groups™ and manage permissions like View Only, Can Edit, or Can Share. 6. How do I update Google Contacts™ without leaving Gmail™? The Gmail™ add-on allows you to view, edit, and share contact cards directly from your Gmail™ sidebar—no need to switch tabs or open Google Contacts™. 7. Does this Gmail™ add-on work on mobile Gmail™ apps? Yes. It works on both Gmail™ for desktop and Gmail™ mobile apps. Contacts created or updated via the add-on sync across all your devices, including iPhones and Android. 8. Can I sync contacts between Google Workspace™ and my CRM? Yes. The add-on supports contact synchronization from external CRM systems through our API or automation workflows. 9. How do I share contacts between departments or Google Groups™? Create a Shared Contact Label and share it with specific users or entire Google Groups™. Everyone gets synced access in real time. 10. How can I use Gmail™ to manage client or vendor contact lists? Use the add-on to tag contacts (e.g., “Clients” or “Vendors”) and manage shared access, notes, and updates without leaving Gmail™. 11. Does this Gmail™ add-on use AI to manage contacts? Yes. The AI automatically detects contact data in emails and updates or creates contacts in your Google account without manual input. 12. Can AI update contacts automatically from Gmail™ threads? Yes. It detects contact changes, like new emails or phone numbers, and updates your shared contact lists instantly. 13. What kind of information can the AI extract from emails? The AI extracts names, job titles, phone numbers, email addresses, company names, and more—from email signatures and message bodies. 14. Can AI add notes to contacts based on email conversations? Yes. It summarizes key points from your email threads (e.g., "Requested demo," "Interested in upgrade") and adds them to the contact’s notes. 15. Is the contact data updated in real-time across all Google™ apps? Yes. Updates are synced instantly across Gmail™, Google Contacts™, Calendar™, Drive™, and mobile devices. 16. Can I control who sees which contacts in my organization? Yes. You can assign permission levels (View Only, Can Edit, Can Share, Can Delete) to control who sees and manages each contact. 17. Is it possible to hide private fields like notes or phone numbers? Absolutely. Admins can choose to hide sensitive fields like personal numbers or notes from specific users or groups. 18. How do I assign contact sharing permissions in Google Contacts™? From the ContactsFlow™ Dashboard or Gmail™ sidebar, assign permissions per user or group when sharing a label. 19. Is this tool secure for enterprise use? Yes. It’s GDPR-compliant, secure, and used by enterprise customers worldwide to manage contact data across teams. 20. Can I restrict access to certain contact fields per user role? Yes. You can control field-level visibility so only authorized users can view or edit sensitive information. 21. What are Shared Contact Lists and how do they work? Shared Contact Lists are Google Contacts™ labels that you can share with your team. When a contact is added or updated in the label, all users get real-time access. 22. Can I add custom fields to Google Contacts™? Yes. You can create and manage custom fields like “Customer ID” or “Contract End Date” to better organize your contacts. 23. Does this tool support backup and recovery of deleted contacts? Yes. You have unlimited backups and can restore any deleted contact, even months later. 24. Can I filter contacts by role, region, or status in Gmail™? Yes. Use advanced search filters on custom fields, job titles, company names, and more. 25. How do I tag teammates or leave internal notes on contact cards? You can add notes directly from Gmail™ and mention teammates using @tags, which sends them notifications. 26. Can I import contacts from my ERP or Active Directory into Google Contacts™? Yes. You can sync contacts from ERPs or Active Directory into ContactsFlow™, then share and manage them across Google Workspace™. 27. How do I sync contacts between multiple Google Workspace™ domains? You can set up directory synchronization between different domains, so all users share a unified address book. 28. Can this add-on make my contacts visible in other communication or productivity apps? Yes. Once contacts are synced with Google Contacts™, they automatically appear in any application that uses your device’s contact list. 29. Do I need to install anything on mobile devices to sync contacts? No. Once the app is installed and contacts are shared, they sync automatically to mobile devices without extra installation. There is also a mobile app, where you can create AI powered contacts by scanning a business card or with voice notes/audio or manually.

Send personalized emails with Mail Merge for Gmail™. Each email is unique and tailored to your recipient, so everyone receives your intended message as if it were sent solely to them. The built-in email tracking lets you know when people have read your email message. The mail merge addon is developed by Google Developer Expert and Google Cloud Champion. You can use Gmail™ Mail Merge for sending mass emails easily. Whether you're sending holiday greetings, event invites, school assignments, press releases, or email newsletters, Mail Merge has got you covered. You can even schedule birthday messages in advance or reach existing customers with upcoming store offers. Mail Merge works with Gmail™ and Google Workspace™ accounts. You can send merged emails immediately or use the built-in scheduler and send emails at a later date and time. Create email templates inside Gmail™ or use the built-in visual HTML editor to create rich text emails using HTML and CSS. Gmail™ now supports media CSS queries in addition to inline CSS styles, making it easy to create beautiful emails. Mail Merge even supports email aliases, so you can send emails on behalf of someone else, like your office secretary. Mail Merge is actively used by organizations worldwide to send email updates to their remote employees during the COVID-19 crisis. With Mail Merge, you can quickly and easily send personalized messages to your contacts, no matter where they are. ## Mail Merge Features ➩ One-click importing of Google Contacts™ for sending personalized emails ➩ Import contacts from Hubspot, Salesforce, Google Contacts, Mailchimp, PayPal, Stripe customers, Typeform responses, and more. ➩ Insert different file attachments for each email recipient. ➩ Included emojis and animated GIF images in the message body and emoji in the subject ➩ Skip sending emails to rows that are hidden in the sheet or filtered. ➩ Upload files from your computer or select existing documents from your Google Drive™ ➩ Send merged emails immediately or schedule messages for sending later. ➩ Automatically CC or BCC every email message to your CRM or any other email address. ➩ Send emails on behalf of any other email address that is configured as an alias in Gmail™. ➩ Write your messages in plain text, rich HTML, or use an existing Gmail™ draft as an email template. ➩ No Mail Merge branding included in email footer ➩ Rich text formatting of spreadsheet cells preserved in emails ➩ Automatically create drafts in Gmail™ from Mail Merge ➩ Track your email opens (read receipts) and clicks on links ➩ Add an unsubscribe link to your email campaigns, view unsubscribes report ➩ The email bounced reports show messages that were not delivered ➩ Give your contacts an option to unsubscribe from your mail list ➩ Embed QR Code and Barcode images in email messages ➩ Send a test email to verify your Mail Merge campaign setting before sending the email blast to all recipients ➩ Set the Mail Merge Status column to SKIP if you would like to skip merging certain rows in the current batch. The email subject line and the message body can be personalized for each recipient. Email messages can also be CC'ed or BCC'ed to one or more people. You can include different attachments from Google Drive™ for each person and the email messages can be either in plain text or include rich-text (HTML) formatting. You can write the emails in HTML directly inside the Google Spreadsheet™ or you can create a draft message inside your Gmail™ account and use that as a template for Mail Merge. The Mail Merge program includes optional tracking -it adds a 1x1 tracking image to the message body and if the recipient has enabled image downloads in their email client, the open activity is recorded. Mail Merge can import Google Contacts™ into the sheet so you don't have to manually type the email addresses of your contacts. If a person has multiple email addresses, the Merge app gets the primary email address and if not available, it gets the Work email or the Home email. Each message you send out has the same information but certain parts of the email are unique and each person in the mailing list is addressed individually. ## How many emails can I send per day? All Mail Merge users can send 25 email recipients per day. You can upgrade to Premium Edition https://digitalinspiration.com/buy?sku=GA01 to increase your daily email quota to up to 1500 email recipients per day. Go to the Google Sheets™ > Extensions > Mail Merge with Attachments > Show Email Quota to know your daily email quota that will be available after you upgrade to Mail Merge Premium. The quota is: Mail Merge for Gmail™ Accounts - 400 Mail Merge for Google Workspace™ accounts - 1500 Google™ will automatically reset your daily quota around 1 PM PST. ## Attachment Size Limits For email drafts, the maximum attachment size limit is 15 MB. For email messages, the maximum file attachment size is 15 MB for Google Workspace™ and Gmail™ accounts. If you need to insert bigger files with your Gmail™ messages, you should upload the file to Google Drive™, create a shared link and insert that link into your email message body. ## Date and Time Formatting If you have columns in your Google Spreadsheet™ that contain date and time, you should format the column as text (right-click the entire column, go to Format -> Number -> Plain Text). Alternatively, use the =TEXT() formula to display the date and time in the desired format. For the scheduled date column, format it as date and time as described in this tutorial: https://digitalinspiration.com/docs/mail-merge/schedule-emails ## Mail Merge Resources and Tutorials ➩ YouTube video tutorial: http://youtu.be/F07Py7sraDg ➩ HTML Emails in Gmail™: https://youtu.be/ZSSqsEVsChc ➩ Mail Merge Tutorials: https://digitalinspiration.com/docs/mail-merge ➩ Email Sending Limit: https://digitalinspiration.com/docs/mail-merge/email-quota ➩ Email Open Reports https://digitalinspiration.com/docs/mail-merge/email-open-tracking ➩ Send emails from a different address https://digitalinspiration.com/docs/mail-merge/email-alias ➩ Upgrade to Mail Merge Premium: https://digitalinspiration.com/buy?sku=GA01 ## Release Notes 12-Feb-2025 - Import contacts from Hubspot, Salesforce, Google Contacts, Mailchimp, PayPal, Stripe customers and more. 22-June-2024 - Uploaded image are now served from Google Cloud CDN for improved performance. 08-May-2023 - Support Google Drive™ chips in Google Sheets™ for sending attachments with Mail merge. 26-Feb-2021 - Improved documentation, new checkout process for Mail Merge Premium 25-Jan-2021 - Bug fixes, migration to standard GCP 12-Sep-2020 - Embed dynamic QR Codes and Barcodes images in email messages using the QRCODE and BARCODE functions. The daily email limit for free users is changed to 25. 30-Aug-2020 - Rich formatting of spreadsheet cells is retained in email messages. The HYPERLINK formulas of Google Sheets™ are transformed into HTML hyperlinks in email messages. Requires Mail Merge subscription. 25-Aug-2020 - Added support for rich text fields and multi-line cell values. If a merged cell in the spreadsheet contains hyperlinks, bold or italic text, and font colors, the formatting is now applied in the message body of emails as well. Also works with Conditional Formatting in Google Sheets™. 13-May-2020 - Added option to resubscribe email addresses that have unsubscribed from Mail Merge by accident, Improvements to Google File Picker™ to disallow large files that cannot be sent as Gmail™ attachments 10-May-2020 - Mail Merge 16.0 is a major release with big improvements to email scheduling and email campaign reports. 05-Apr-2020 - Old campaign reports retired, added support for importing MailChimp contacts into Gmail™ mail merge. 17-Feb-2020 - [Major Release] Upgraded to V8 Runtime, Improved Email Tracking, and Campaign Reports, Bug Fixes 10-Sep-2019 - Fixed an issue with importing Google Contacts™ into Google Sheets™ for Mail Merge 06-Sep-2019 - The annual Security Assessment mandated by Google™ has been completed. Mail Merge is now verified and 100% compliant with Google™ API policies. 26-Jan-2019 - Fixed an issue around creating drafts in Gmail™. 15-Nov-2018 - Fixed an issue with certain Gmail™ drafts not showing up in the template list. This issue was related to drafts that were created from existing email messages through forwards or replies. 01-Nov-2018 - Do not send merged emails to rows that are hidden in the Google Sheets™ or filtered by the user. 22-Oct-2018 - Added inline renew and checkout option for easy license renewal. Bug fixes. Added an option to restore the license for new Google Sheets™. 11-Sep-2018 - Format the Scheduled Date column as Date Time to remove incorrect formatting errors. 30-Aug-2018 - Introducing WYSIWYG editor to create beautiful emails visually or code directly in HTML. Include emojis in the email message body and subject lines. Insert one or more attachments from Google Drive™ into your emails with Google File Picker. Visual enhancements. 24-Aug-2018 - Improved checkout workflow, UI enhancements, bug fixes. 17-Aug-2018 - Rolling out a new layout for mail merge configuration window, new option to select Google sheet that contains data for merging. New checkout workflow. 14-Aug-2018 - Welcome onboarding email sent to new users with links to docs and tutorials. 10-Aug-2018 - Improved support for Filters in Google Sheets™. Mail Merge does not send emails to filtered rows. You can include Google Sheets™, Google Docs™, and Google Slides™ in your Mail merge campaigns and they'll be sent as PDF file attachments. 08-Aug-2018 - Insert emojis in Mail Merge subject and email body. Added support for new Gmail™ and Google Workspace™. Email sent via Mail Merge can now be opened directly from the Google Sheets™. MIME message parser enhanced to include attachments and inline images for new Gmail™. 29-March-2018 - Added extra check for invalid email addresses in the sheet that may prevent mail merge from sending emails 15-Jan-18 - Google add-ons may not work if a user is logged into multiple Google Accounts at once. Added check. 14-Nov-17 - The addon may require reauthorization as Google has added new UI scope for addons that embed external JavaScript libraries (like jQuery or Google Analytics) in sidebars and dialogs. 08-Nov-17 - Added option to do a factory reset and de-authorize the addon. 27-Sep-17 - Added support for Google Spreadsheet™ filters. Only the currently visible rows are processed for Mail Merge. 01-Aug-17 - Improved file attachments module, better handling of network connection issues. 05-Jul-17 - Included check for duplicate columns in the Mail Merge sheet. 06-Jun-17 - Bug fixes and minor enhancements. Improved documentation. 09-May-17 - You can now send large HTML emails using the code generated from htmlmail.pro 22-Feb-17 - Improved mechanism for tracking email bounces and undelivered messages after Gmail™ updated the format for mailer-daemon emails. 26-Jan-17 - Removed legacy email campaign reports, open URL tracking 20-Jan-17 - Mail Merge now checks your template variables for any errors before sending emails. Updated documentation at j.mp/MailMergeTutorials. Bug fixes related to click tracking inside Mail Merge. 31-Dec-16 - Final release of 2016. Contact support directly from the Mail merge window. Priority support for premium customers. 17-Dec-16 - View unsubscribes and bounced email messages in a neatly formatted report. 05-Dec-16 - Fix for email addresses that are not treated as aliases in Gmail™. Both plain text emails and HTML emails are now supported. Improved Error logging and debug logs. 28-Nov-16 - Significant update. Track clicks on links, add unsubscribe links to outgoing messages, send emails automatically after the quota is reset, insert files in the email from your computer. Performance enhancements. 07-Nov-16 - Added checks for empty sheet before configuring Mail merge. Fixes for empty lines HTML mail. Added https://htmlmail.pro for creating responsive HTML Mail with Gmail™ Merge. 20-Oct-16 - Mail Merge Open report upgraded to include the full date and time stamp. 08-Sep-16 - Privacy policy included. Become a mail merge expert, read our tips and tutorials at https://digitalinspiration.com/docs/GA01 04-Aug-16 - It is now possible to skip certain rows from merge by setting the status column to SKIP. Test Email messages now include file attachments from Google Drive™ 30-Jul-16 - Enhanced functionality to import Google contacts email addresses into Mail Merge. Added option for one-on-one support for Zoom and Google Meet™. Test Emails now include more debugging information. 20-Jul-16 - Fixed issue related to Document missing. If the spreadsheet template cannot be loaded, Mail Merge creates a blank spreadsheet template with no formatting. 02-Jul-16 - Fixed "Cannot Connect to Gmail™" issue related to Gmail™ Drafts. The Email Tracking report now sorts Mail merge campaigns by send date for quick access. 03-May-16 Added option to restart the email scheduler if the cron job stops for an unknown reason. 7-Apr-16 Google resets emails quota at 2-4 PM PST. Currency, Number, and Date formatting are preserved in outgoing email messages.