Two Way Sync w/Google Calendar

By default when you sync the google calendar with The Customer Factor (https://www.thecustomerfactor.com/myaccount.php?action=google#google_section) it is a one way sync which means you schedule jobs and create invoices in The Customer Factor and then the data syncs over to google. But some users need the benefit of two way syncing which allows you to schedule appointments directly in google and have that data sync to The Customer Factor. So the good news is that it can be done. An email to our office (click the "contact" link at top right) requesting two way syncing is the best way to request this. Make sure to include your username.

So if you do have two way google calendar syncing set up with your account there are some things to be aware of. Data needs to be put into google in a certain way or it will sync over to CF incorrectly. Google has different fields then CF does, so CF needs to understand what the data is in order to know where to put it. For some of you reading this you may be wanting 2 way syncing just so you can edit appts in google and have those edits sync back to CF. But if you're actually doing any sort of scheduling in google then it's important to read everything below.

Here we go:

When adding a commercial customer in Google Calendar, you need to insert "(C)" after the company name in the title field like "ZZZ Company (C)" for example. So anything syncing with a "(C)" after it is commercial and w/o the "(C)" is considered residential.

For the location, make sure you put a "-" after the street number/name. This ensures that the info ends up in the "address" field in CF and also that the city, state, and zip code info gets inserted into those respective fields:

For the description, please type in the work being done (job type) followed by a "-". Then you can insert a price with $ if you know it. if not, you can leave it blank. You can also insert "Assigned to" info if there is any. So below shows a "Gutter Cleaning" job at $400 and it's assigned to Jim Turner. Again, pls note the "-" after the job type. Also note that the "Assigned to" text has to be exact. So it can't be "Assign" or "Assigned". It has to be "Assigned to".

Below the job type, price, assignment info (if any), you can insert the phone information exactly as shown in this screenshot:

If there is only a single Home phone number then you can eliminate the "(Home)" descriptor and just insert the phone number. If you have a cell phone and you don't know what name to insert for that cell phone number just use "(Cell)" to the right of the phone number. The Customer Factor will then know it's a cell phone.

And lastly, you have to make sure the proper calendar is selected. The Customer Factor only recognizes 4 calendars: Customers, Prospects, Personal, and Tasks (C). So if you schedule an appt and keep the calendar set to your default Google Calendar, then it'll never sync to The Customer Factor. CF does not see your default google calendar.

And that's it! Once you click "save" above the appt will sync over to The Customer Factor software and app. It takes about 10 minutes for an appt to sync from google to CF.

Once you do the above a few times you'll never need to reference this article again. It'll be like second nature to you if you're regularly scheduling appts in google. See you in the next article!

Regards,