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Insightly Sidebar for Gmail Guide

Updated

The Gmail Sidebar brings Insightly into your inbox: view and create contacts and leads, save emails to records, use templates, and compose messages that save automatically.

Insightly Gmail Integration Contact Sidebar — The screenshot shows an Insightly CRM panel open alongside a Gmail email, displaying contact details for the email sender including their name, record ID, organization, and job title. This demonstrates how users can view and access CRM contact information directly within Gmail without switching between applications.

⚠️ You must use the same Google Workspace account you sign in to Insightly with. The Sidebar’s features won’t work from a different Google Workspace account, or for non-Workspace users.

On this page:

What it does

From within Gmail you can view leads and contacts, create leads and contacts, save emails to Insightly, use email templates, and search your CRM.

Installing and signing in

Install

  1. Click the Gmail settings gear icon and select Get Add-ons.
Gmail Settings Menu with Get Add-ons Option — The image shows Gmail’s settings dropdown menu open, with a red arrow pointing to the “Get add-ons” option. This step guides users to the location where they can install the Insightly CRM add-on directly within Gmail.
  1. Search the Google Workspace Marketplace for Insightly and select it.
  2. Click Install and grant the requested permissions.

ℹ️ Google Workspace administrators can restrict add-on installation or install add-ons domain-wide. If installation is blocked, contact your Workspace administrator.

Sign in

The first time you open the Sidebar, click the Insightly icon to the right of your inbox, click Sign In, enter your credentials, and click Log in.

Insightly Gmail Tool Sign-In Screen — This shows the Insightly login panel within Gmail, offering options to either sign in with an existing Insightly account or create a new one. Users would see this when first setting up the Insightly Gmail integration and need to authenticate before using the tool. Insightly CRM Login Page With Credentials — The image shows the Insightly login screen with an email address (jasonrunrun1@mailinator.com) entered in the username field and a password filled in, with the cursor hovering over the yellow “Log in” button. This illustrates how to enter your credentials and access your Insightly account.

Viewing and creating records

Opening an email automatically shows matching records for senders and recipients. An orange icon or profile image means the address matches an Insightly record; a black or grey icon means no match. Click a name to see basic details.

Insightly Gmail Sidebar Contact Recognition — The screenshot shows the Insightly CRM sidebar panel appearing within a Gmail email view, automatically identifying and displaying contact information for the email sender. This demonstrates how Insightly’s Gmail integration can recognize existing contacts and link email conversations to CRM records without leaving your inbox.

When someone has no matching record, you can add them as a contact or lead directly from the Sidebar. You can also create a task, opportunity, lead, project, or event from an email.

Creating a New Contact in Insightly Mobile — The screenshot shows a mobile form in Insightly CRM pre-filled with a contact’s details including name, organization, title, email, and phone number. At the bottom, two action buttons labeled “Create Contact” and “Create Lead” allow the user to save the entry in the appropriate category.

To create a record from an email: open the email, click the Insightly icon on the right side of the Gmail screen, then click the dropdown under Save As and select the record type you want.

Save As Dropdown Menu Options in Insightly — A dropdown menu labeled “Save As” displays five record type options: Task, Opportunity, Lead, Project, and Event. This selector allows users to choose what type of CRM record they want to save an item as, which is relevant when converting or logging information into a specific category.

You’re redirected to Insightly to fill out the record. Click Save to complete it.

The three-dot menu on a contact or lead offers Look up in LinkedIn, which opens a LinkedIn name search in a new tab.

LinkedIn Lookup Option in Insightly Menu — A dropdown menu in Insightly CRM displays three options: “Open In Web,” “Lookup in LinkedIn,” and “Sign Out,” with the LinkedIn option highlighted. This feature allows users to quickly search for a contact’s LinkedIn profile directly from within the CRM, helping to enrich contact information. LinkedIn Search Results for Duplicate Names — A LinkedIn search for “Tony Roma” returns 76 results, including two different people with the same name. This illustrates how CRM contact matching can be challenging when multiple individuals share identical or similar names.

Saving and composing email

Saving works from your inbox or sent folder, with a Quick Save option for one-click saving.

Insightly Quick Save Button Highlighted in Gmail — The screenshot shows the Insightly sidebar in Gmail with the “Quick Save” option highlighted by a red box, indicating it is the recommended action to save an email to the CRM. This visual guide helps users identify which button to click when they want to quickly log an email in Insightly without additional configuration. Reply With Template Option in Insightly Add-on — The Insightly Gmail add-on panel shows three action options, with the “Reply With Template” button highlighted by a red border. This feature allows users to respond to emails using pre-made templates directly from their inbox, streamlining communication within the CRM workflow. Email Reply Options with Template Selection — A mobile Insightly screen shows an incoming email from Kourtney Stuthard with a “2nd Touch” email template selected from a dropdown. The REPLY and REPLY ALL buttons are highlighted in a red box, indicating these are the actions a user clicks to send the templated response.
Compose New Email Option in Insightly Menu — A dropdown menu is shown with options including “Search all records,” “Compose new email,” “Go to Insightly,” and “Get help,” with “Compose new email” highlighted in a red box. This indicates to the reader which menu option to select when they want to create a new email directly from the Insightly Gmail add-on. Insightly Compose Email Panel with Add New — The image shows the Insightly “Compose New Email” panel where users can select an email template and add recipients using the “ADD NEW” button, which is highlighted with a red box. A warning at the bottom reminds users to replace all placeholders before sending the email. Compose New Email Dialog with Recipient Added — This screenshot shows the Insightly email composition screen where a contact named Alanna has been added as a recipient, with the Compose button highlighted in red. The warning at the bottom reminds users to replace all placeholders in the email template before sending.

Using it on mobile

The Sidebar works on Android and iOS, but you must install it from a desktop browser first. Then log in to the Gmail account linked to Insightly, open an email, and scroll to the bottom of the message to find the Sidebar.

Gmail Add-on Actions and Insightly Integration — The screenshot shows Gmail email action buttons (Reply, Reply All, Forward) along with an “Available add-ons” section highlighting the Insightly add-on icon outlined in blue. This is relevant to users learning how to access or identify the Insightly CRM add-on within their Gmail interface.

Removing the Classic Sidebar

The Classic Sidebar was a Chrome extension, removed from chrome://extensions/ using the trash can icon. If it’s misbehaving, disabling conflicting extensions or reinstalling usually resolves it.

Insightly Sidebar Chrome Extension Settings Panel — This image shows the Insightly Sidebar browser extension (version 1.7.10) listed in a browser’s extension management page, with the “Enabled” checkbox checked and an option to allow it in incognito mode. This would help users verify the extension is properly installed and active, or troubleshoot issues by checking whether it is enabled or allowed in incognito browsing.

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