⚠️ This legacy behavior applies to Front companies with a start date before Aug 16, 2023. See this article for the latest sync behavior.
Overview
When you connect a Gmail individual inbox or shared inbox to Front, you will have the option to import your history and Front will maintain a two-way sync of statuses with Gmail whenever possible. The cases where status syncing will stop are explained here, which is to be expected since Front and Gmail have different features, and thus why you are using Front. Continue reading to understand the details of how history import and syncing work between Front and Gmail.
For the same information on Office 365 channels, see here. Note that SMTP forwarding channels will not have history import and syncing.
Gmail history import
History import | Shared inbox | Individual inbox |
| Optionally import 50K most recent messages upon adding inbox | Optionally import 50K most recent messages upon adding inbox |
| Conversations archived by default and found in the Archived tab of shared inbox. | Conversation read/unread and open/archived status mirrored in Front. |
Individual inboxes | Status in Gmail | Status in Front |
| Read in Inbox | Read in Inbox |
| Unread in Inbox | Unread in Inbox |
| Open in Inbox | Open in Inbox |
| Archived in All Mail | Archived in Inbox |
| Snoozed in Inbox | Archived in Inbox |
Folders | Location in Gmail | Location in Front |
| Inbox | Inbox |
| Drafts | Does not import or sync |
| Trash folder | Trash tab in Inbox |
| Spam folder | Spam tab in Inbox |
| Sent folder | Does not import to Front Sent folder, but does import with inbox history (Open and Archived tabs) |
| Starred folder | Starred folder |
| Label (alongside Inbox label) | Inbox |
| Label (without Inbox label) | Skips individual Inbox; shared tag for shared inboxes |
Gmail sync
Action in Front | Sync | Effect in Gmail |
Email is read or unread | ✅ | Email is read or unread* |
New message received in Inbox | ✅ | New message received in Inbox |
Email is sent | ✅ | Email appears in Sent |
New draft is started | ❌ | Does not sync |
Email is trashed | ✅ | Email moves to Trash |
Email is permanently deleted | ❌ | Does not sync |
Email is archived | ✅ | Email moves to All Mail |
Email is unarchived | ✅ | Email moves to Inbox |
Email is marked as spam | ✅ | Email moves to Spam |
Email is unmarked as spam | ✅ | Email moves to Inbox |
Email is snoozed | ✅ | Email moves to All Mail |
Snooze expires | ✅ | Email moves to Inbox |
Star or Tag is added or removed | ✅ | Label is added or removed |
Tag is created | ✅ | Tag is created after first use in Front |
Tag is deleted | ❌ | Does not sync |
Move conversation | ❌ | Move will break status sync |
Assign and comment | ❌ | Does not sync |
Delete inbox | ❌ | Does not sync |
Mass archive inbox | ✅ | Emails move to All Mail |
*See the FAQ Why isn't the read status syncing? for exceptions.
FAQ
How do Gmail labels sync to Front exactly?
See this article for details about how Gmail labels become Front tags.
Why isn't the read status syncing?
Read status will only sync for individual (personal) Gmail channels, and for shared conversations when marked as read by the assignee. We use this behavior for shared inbox conversations since many teammates may read a conversation before the assignee, and we wait to sync read status until the teammate handling the conversation reads it.
How long does it take for an import to complete?
Import times vary based on the inbox’s number of messages, message contents, and attachments. It may take up to 72 hours to finish an import.
What order is my history imported?
Messages are imported from newest to oldest.
Anything else I should know?
See this FAQ section for common questions that apply to both the Gmail and Office 365 import and sync.