9.2Syncing with Google Contacts, Outlook, iCloud and other address books

Keep your Bmator contacts in step with external address books to centralize communication and maintain accurate records across platforms.

Connecting Google Contacts

To connect your Google account, navigate to contacts and choose the sync option from the side menu. The page title is Sync contacts.

1. Select Connect Google Contacts. Google opens and requests permission for Bmator to view and manage your contacts.
2. Leave the permission checkbox ticked and complete the prompt. Your Google password never reaches Bmator.

If the permission is left unticked, the account will not connect, and the page displays a message stating that some permissions were not granted. Select Connect Google Contacts again and ensure the permission remains checked.

If you cancel the authorization or if Google refuses access (such as when a Google Workspace administrator must approve third-party applications first), you return to Sync contacts, which explains why the connection did not complete.

Because Google is still reviewing Bmator, Google may display a warning that it has not verified the app. Select "Advanced" and follow the link to continue to Bmator. If Google instead refuses the sign-in directly on its own page without returning to Bmator, report the issue via Help & Feedback.

When Sync contacts displays that Google Contacts is not available here yet, the current Bmator server environment cannot connect to Google for contacts.

Once authorized, the sign-in is listed in Settings under connected accounts for contact services. Connecting the same Google account again navigates directly to its configuration page rather than creating a duplicate entry. Additional Google accounts can be linked using the same procedure and will appear separately in the list.

Previewing and starting sync

When an account is first connected, no contacts are imported immediately.

1. Under Before anything comes into Bmator, select See what would come in.
2. Review the preview breakdown:
   • New in your contacts: People not currently present in your records.
   • Already known to Bmator: Existing contacts matched by matching email address or an exact name match. These records are linked without duplicating.
   • Skipped: Entries lacking both a name and an email address (such as phone-only contacts).
3. Select any line to view the list of contact names. Reviewing these lists does not save or modify data.
4. Select Start syncing to begin importing contacts.

After starting, Bmator checks the account automatically every hour. Select Sync now at any time to run an immediate check.

Contacts brought into Bmator remain in your personal contacts and are not added to the knowledge searched by Ask Bmator until you save a card or select the option to add them to knowledge. If a contact exists on both sides, any detail present on only one side (such as an extra phone number or job title) is added. If Bmator and Google contain conflicting values for the same detail, the more recently updated value is preserved.

Configuring sync settings

Adjust sync behavior on the account page under Settings:

• When a contact is deleted in {{app}}: Choose Keep it in Bmator and stop syncing it (default) to retain the record in Bmator, or Remove it from my Bmator contacts too. In both cases, the person remains in Bmator alongside their emails, meetings, and notes.
• Direction: Set to Bring into Bmator (default) to allow external updates to enter Bmator while keeping Bmator edits local. Set to Two-way to mirror edits across both services.
• Send the contacts I add in Bmator to this account: Available with Two-way. When enabled, contacts you manually add, import, or extract from mailboxes, scans, or meetings are created in this external account. Contacts automatically created by Bmator when sharing or inviting, as well as contacts added before enabling this option, are not sent. Only one external account can be designated to receive new contacts at a time.
• When I remove a contact in Bmator, delete it in {{app}} too: Available with Two-way (off by default). When active, removing a contact from your Bmator contacts deletes the corresponding contact in Google at the next sync. The person record remains preserved in Bmator.

Select the save option to store your updated configuration.

Approving the first two-way push

When switching an account to Two-way, Bmator does not write to Google until you review and confirm the initial outbound batch.

1. Under Before anything is sent to Google, select See what would be sent.
2. Review the proposed outbound operations:
   • New at Google: New contact entries to be created.
   • Details marked as updated: Local field values not present in Google, as well as your recent Bmator edits.
   • Entries marked as Deleted at {{app}}: Records removed in Bmator when deletion mirroring is enabled.
3. Select Send to Google and confirm. No emails are sent to contacts during this operation.

Until approved, Sync contacts displays the number of pending changes awaiting review. Once confirmed, subsequent syncs run automatically in both directions. If both sides edit the same field simultaneously, the more recent edit is kept. The superseded value is preserved: open the contact to find the alternative value listed, where you can choose the restore option to reinstate it (which queues it to push back to Google on the next sync).

Switching the direction back to Bring into Bmator ceases outbound updates. Switching back to Two-way later will require re-approval before sending.

Labels and contact details

Google contact labels import as sub-labels under an overarching label identified by the account address, displayed after Labels from this account appear under.

• Assigning or removing a label at Google updates the corresponding sub-label in Bmator.
• On a Two-way account, adding or removing these sub-labels in Bmator updates the label at Google. Creating a new sub-label underneath the account label creates a matching label at Google.
• Your independent Bmator labels outside this group are never altered or pushed to Google.

On individual contact screens, the sync details show the connected account name, the last sync timestamp, and an option to view the contact directly in Google Contacts. The main contacts directory also provides a sync column that can be sorted and filtered.

Viewing sync history

Select History on the account page to view previous sync events that applied changes or encountered issues (syncs with no modifications are omitted). Each entry notes the trigger (Started by, such as scheduled runs, manual requests, or approved first pushes) along with counts for Brought in, updates in Bmator, sent items, and records Changed on both sides.

Selecting a specific entry displays the sync details:

• What happened: Detailed records showing whether items were brought in, updated locally, sent, created, deleted remotely, or skipped, along with conflict outcomes and restore possibilities.
• What went wrong: Explanations for any sync failures or skipped operations.

Bmator retains the last 100 sync records. Disconnecting the account removes this log history.

Disconnecting an account

From the account list on Sync contacts, you can disconnect an account using one of two options:

• Disconnect: Halts synchronization immediately. All contacts remain in Bmator, and nothing is deleted in the external service.
• Disconnect and remove its contacts: Halts synchronization and removes contacts that originated solely from that account and were never edited in Bmator. Associated person entities and their historical activity remain intact.

Neither option alters existing data within the remote service. The external sign-in token remains in your connected accounts settings until manually removed.

iCloud and CardDAV address books

To connect an Apple address book, select Connect iCloud Contacts on Sync contacts.

1. Enter your Apple ID email address.
2. Generate an app-specific password by using the provided link to Apple's security portal. Under Sign-In and Security, navigate to App-Specific Passwords, generate a password labeled Bmator, and enter it into Bmator. Never enter your master Apple ID password.

To connect other services supporting CardDAV (such as Fastmail, Nextcloud, Synology, or mailbox.org), select Connect an address book and supply the server address, user name, and account password.

Once signed in, Bmator displays See what would come in. Setup follows the standard sync workflow: previewing, selecting Start syncing, and approving the first push if configuring Two-way sync.

• Address books to sync: Found under Settings, listing all available remote books (all enabled initially).
• The book that receives them: When multiple address books are active and Bmator is set to send new contacts, use this option to designate the destination book.
• iCloud contact groups import as nested labels under the account label. Standard CardDAV categories are imported as Bmator labels.
• Unsupported fields (such as instant-messaging handles or custom properties) are preserved unaltered whenever Bmator pushes updates.
• If a password expires or is revoked, the account page shows The address book refused the password. Enter the replacement credentials and select Save the new password to verify and reconnect.

Outlook and Microsoft 365

Under Outlook and Microsoft 365 on Sync contacts, select Connect Outlook Contacts. This supports personal accounts (Outlook.com, Hotmail) and Microsoft 365 work accounts. For corporate accounts, an administrator may need to grant tenant approval. Your Microsoft password is never shared with Bmator.

After authentication, the account opens to See what would come in:

• Contact folders to sync: Under Settings, select which folders to sync. Only the primary folder is enabled by default. A contact moved between two synced folders maintains its connection.
• The folder that receives them: Selects the target folder for new Bmator contacts when syncing multiple folders.
• Outlook categories become labels nested beneath the account label.
• Outlook supports a maximum of three email addresses, one mobile number, two work numbers, two home numbers, three postal addresses (home, work, other), one web page, a spouse, children, a manager, an assistant, and a single birthday date. Any additional contact data not accommodated by Outlook is retained in Bmator only and marked as such on the contact card.
• Photos are not exchanged with Outlook.

To revoke Bmator access completely, disconnect the integration in Bmator and remove Bmator from your authorized Microsoft account applications.

Sync limitations

• Contacts are never deleted from Google unless the specific deletion mirroring option is enabled.
• Google synchronization connects the entire contact library of the account; selecting individual contact sub-groups to sync is not supported.
• Contact photos are not synchronized with Outlook.