Gmail in chat
Sign in with your own Gmail account, then ask Centrus to search and read that mailbox, or to send, draft, archive, mark as read, or move a message to the trash.
Checked against the app on
What it does
Gmail connects Centrus chat to the Gmail account you sign in with. Once the card says Connected, you can ask what came in overnight, what someone wrote about a site, or for a thread in full, and Centrus reads that mailbox while you wait. It can also send from your Gmail address, save a draft, archive a message, mark one as read, or move one to the trash.
Connect and manage external services
Request a custom integration tailored to your specific needs. Our team will work with you to create a bespoke solution.
We can build custom integrations for:
- Third-party services and platforms
- In-house systems and databases
- Workflow automation tools
Configure your organisation's Simpro connection. Other users can then Enable it for chat.
- List the diary with schedules (Date)
- Look up jobs raised (DateIssued)
- Create and update jobs, quotes and vendor orders
Connect your Google Calendar to access meetings and schedule events through Centrus.
- Ask “What meetings do I have this week?”
- Schedule events naturally through chat
- Get calendar summaries and free/busy times
- Secure OAuth2 connection
Connect your Gmail account to send and read emails through Centrus.
- Send emails from your Gmail address
- Search and read your emails
- Create drafts and manage threads
- Secure OAuth2 connection
Connect Google Docs to create and format professional documents through Centrus.
- Ask “Create a document for the weekly report”
- Generate formatted documents with headings and styling
- Produce professional reports, proposals, and notes
- Secure OAuth2 connection
Connect Google Sheets to create and manage spreadsheets through Centrus.
- Ask “Create a spreadsheet for tracking tasks”
- Generate professional spreadsheets with data and formatting
- Produce data tables, reports, and tracking sheets
- Secure OAuth2 connection
- 1Integrations, in the menu on the left.
- 2The Gmail card. It reads Not Connected until you sign in with Google.
- 3Connect, which sends you to Google to choose the account and allow access.
- 4How to Use, with examples for sending, searching, reading, drafts and tidying mail.
Each person signs in with their own Google account. John Martin's Gmail is not available in Sarah Price's chat, and an administrator cannot connect one mailbox for the whole organisation. This card is the chat connection. An agent holds its own Gmail connection on its step: see Gmail in Agent Builder. Meetings are a different card: see Google Calendar in chat.
Before you start
- A Google account you can sign in to. Any Centrus user can click Connect. It is not reserved for administrators, and it is not greyed out for everyone else.
- The Gmail address you want Centrus to use. That is the account you pick on Google's screen. A shared mailbox, such as an info@ or service@ address, is not included unless you sign in as that mailbox.
- Permission for Centrus to use Gmail. Google asks you to allow full Gmail access, described there as reading, composing, sending and permanently deleting all your email, and to see your Google Account email address. The nine chat tools do less than that sentence: they read, send, draft, archive, mark as read and move a message to the trash. They do not permanently delete mail.
Your Google account
Any Centrus user signs in. There is no organisation key to paste, and Connect is not reserved for an administrator.
The mailbox
Centrus uses the Gmail address you pick. A shared inbox is a different sign-in, not a folder inside this one.
What Google asks you to allow
Full Gmail access, plus the email address on the Google account. Centrus stores the sign-in encrypted.
You do not paste a password or an API key into Centrus. Connect opens Google in the same window. Centrus keeps the sign-in it gets back, encrypted, with the Gmail address stored beside it so the card can show who you connected as. Connecting this card does not connect Gmail on an agent, and connecting an agent does not connect this card.
Connect Gmail
- 1Open Integrations from the menu on the left and find the Gmail card. On a wide screen it sits with Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Sheets.
- 2Click Connect. The button stays dull while Centrus asks Google for the sign-in page, then the same window goes to Google.
- 3Choose the Google account. Centrus asks Google to show the account picker and the permission screen, including when you have allowed Gmail before.
- 4Allow the two permissions: Gmail, and your Google Account email address. You have 10 minutes from the moment Centrus opened that page.
Connect your Gmail account to send and read emails through Centrus.
- Send emails from your Gmail address
- Search and read your emails
- Create drafts and manage threads
- Secure OAuth2 connection
Sign in with Google
to continue to Centrus
john.martin@meridianfm.co.uk
Meridian FM
Centrus wants access to your Google Account
- Read, compose, send, and permanently delete all your email from Gmail
- See your primary Google Account email address
- 1Connect on the Gmail card. It opens Google in this window, not a popup.
- 2The Google account Centrus will use. Pick the mailbox you want chat to read and send from.
- 3The Gmail permission Google shows for this connection. It is broader than the nine chat tools.
- 4Allow, which completes the sign-in. Centrus then returns you to Integrations.
When Google accepts it, you land back on Integrations and the card checks the connection. If Gmail answers, the badge turns green and reads Connected, with a green line Connected as: and the address, for example john.martin@meridianfm.co.uk. How to Use stays. Disconnect replaces Connect. Mail you ask Centrus to send goes out from that Gmail address. The How to Use window says it is not sent from centrus.ai.
Connect your Gmail account to send and read emails through Centrus.
- Send emails from your Gmail address
- Search and read your emails
- Create drafts and manage threads
- Secure OAuth2 connection
If the sign-in does not finish, the card stays on Not Connected. Centrus does not show a message for that. The address bar may carry one of these, and the page ignores all of them:
- gmail_error=missing_params: Google sent Centrus back without a completed sign-in. That includes cancelling, or refusing access.
- gmail_error=invalid_state or gmail_error=missing_context: the return from Google did not match the sign-in Centrus started.
- gmail_error=true: the sign-in could not be saved. A common cause is waiting more than 10 minutes on Google's page. The link expires, and you start again from Connect.
- Connect does nothing you can see. The button is disabled while Centrus requests the Google page. If that request fails, the button wakes up again and nothing is shown. Click Connect once more.
Sign in with your own account
There is no Enable button on Gmail, and no line that says the organisation is already connected. The only connected state is your own. After Google sends you back, the card reads Connected and, when the address was saved, Connected as: followed by that address. How to Use and Disconnect sit along the bottom. Sarah Price, looking at the same page, still sees Not Connected until she signs in with her own Google account.
Connect your Gmail account to send and read emails through Centrus.
- Send emails from your Gmail address
- Search and read your emails
- Create drafts and manage threads
- Secure OAuth2 connection
Connect your Gmail account to send and read emails through Centrus.
✓ Connected as: john.martin@meridianfm.co.uk
- Send emails from your Gmail address
- Search and read your emails
- Create drafts and manage threads
- Secure OAuth2 connection
Integrations works the same way in a phone browser, with the cards in a single column. Scroll to Gmail and tap Connect. You sign in once. Gmail is then available in every chat you open, whichever tag you choose. You are not asked to sign in again on each question: Centrus refreshes the saved sign-in when it needs to.
Centrus
Connect and manage external services
Connect your Google Calendar to access meetings and schedule events through Centrus.
- Ask “What meetings do I have this week?”
- Schedule events naturally through chat
- Get calendar summaries and free/busy times
- Secure OAuth2 connection
Connect your Gmail account to send and read emails through Centrus.
- Send emails from your Gmail address
- Search and read your emails
- Create drafts and manage threads
- Secure OAuth2 connection
Connect Google Docs to create and format professional documents through Centrus.
- Ask “Create a document for the weekly report”
- Generate formatted documents with headings and styling
- Produce professional reports, proposals, and notes
- Secure OAuth2 connection
Ask your first questions
Open Chat, start a chat and ask the way you would ask a colleague. Gmail is available in every chat once your card says Connected. How to Use on the card opens How to use Gmail with Centrus, or with the name your organisation has given the assistant. It suggests sending, searching, reading, drafting and tidying, in ordinary sentences.
How to use Gmail with CentrusSend Emails
Ask "Send an email to john@example.com about the project update" or "Email the team about tomorrow's meeting"
Search Your Emails
Say "Show me emails from Sarah this week" or "Find unread emails about the budget"
Read Email Content
"What did John say in his latest email?" or "Summarise my emails from yesterday"
Create Drafts
"Create a draft email thanking the client for their feedback" or "Draft a follow-up email to the team"
Manage Emails
"Archive emails from last month" or "Mark all emails from the newsletter as read"
- “What came in overnight?”
- “Show me unread mail from Priya Shah this week.”
- “What did Dylan Hughes say about the valves for J-10482?”
- “Draft a reply to Priya about Monday at Riverside House. Do not send it.”
John Martin
last message sent: less than a minute ago
What came in overnight?
4 messages arrived since 18:00 on 08/10/2026:
| From | Subject | When |
|---|---|---|
| Priya Shah | Boiler at Riverside House | 09/10/2026 07:42 |
| Dylan Hughes | Valves for J-10482 | 09/10/2026 07:55 |
| Tom Reed | Access at 12 High Street | 08/10/2026 16:18 |
| Liam Carter | Meridian FM weekly | 09/10/2026 06:02 |
Priya's message is still unread. I can open it, or draft a reply and leave it unsent.
While Centrus works, the panel above the answer names each step. A search of messages or of conversations both show as Reading your Gmail inbox. Opening one message or one conversation shows as Reading an email in Gmail. When the answer is ready, the panel folds to Worked with the number of steps. Open it if you want to see what Centrus looked up before it answered.
Carry on in the same chat. “Read Priya's in full” or “Draft a reply, but do not send it” keeps the message you were just talking about. Centrus only sees the address on your card. If you ask about a different mailbox, it should say which address is connected and stop there.
What you can ask
Centrus has 9 Gmail tools in chat, and picks the right ones from what you ask, so you never choose them yourself. Every tool is listed in the reference.
Search the inbox
“What came in overnight?”
“Unread mail from Priya Shah since Monday.”
Read one message
“What did Priya say about the boiler?”
“Who else was on that email?”
Conversations
“Show the thread with Priya about Riverside House.”
“What was agreed in Dylan's valves thread?”
Send
“Email Priya that Dylan is on site Monday at 08:00.”
“Email me a copy.”
Drafts
“Draft a reply to Priya. Do not send it.”
“Save a draft about the access fob.”
Tidy up
“Archive Liam's newsletter.”
“Mark Priya's boiler email as read.”
- Search the inbox. Ask by person, subject, unread, or a date. Centrus turns that into a Gmail search. The tool accepts Gmail's own query words, such as
from:,is:unread,subject:andafter:with the date written year/month/day, for exampleafter:2026/. You can keep asking in plain language. The result is a list: who it is from, the subject, the date, a short snippet, and the ids Centrus needs if you then ask it to open or change that message. The default is 10 messages.10/ 02 - Read one message. Ask what someone said, or for the body of a message already in the chat. Centrus returns who it is from, who it was sent to, the subject, the date, and the plain-text and HTML body. It does not return the files attached to that message.
- Conversations. Ask for the thread, not only the latest note. Listing conversations uses the same search and the same default of 10. The list gives an id and a snippet. The count of messages on that list comes back as 0, so ask Centrus to open the conversation when you need every message in it.
- Send. Ask Centrus to email someone from your Gmail address. Give the recipient, or say “email me” if it should go to the address on your Centrus account. You can name cc and bcc as comma-separated addresses, a subject, and a file already in the chat. If you are answering a message already found in the chat, Centrus can pass that conversation's id so Gmail files the new mail on the same thread. It does not set the reply headers In-Reply-To or References.
- Drafts. Ask for a draft when you want the words saved in Gmail and not sent. A draft has a recipient, a subject and a body, and it can attach a file from the chat. It cannot set cc, bcc, or a conversation. The draft waits in Gmail until someone sends or deletes it there.
- Tidy up. Archive takes a message out of the inbox by removing the inbox label. Mark as read removes the unread label. Move to the trash puts the message in the trash. Each of those works on one message. None of them has an opposite tool in chat: Centrus cannot mark a message unread, put it back in the inbox, or take it out of the trash.
The Worked line is shorter than the tool name. Listing messages and listing conversations both read Reading your Gmail inbox. Opening either one reads Reading an email in Gmail. Sending reads Sending an email via Gmail. A draft reads Drafting an email in Gmail. Mark as read reads Updating an email in Gmail. Archive reads Filing an email in Gmail. Moving a message to the trash reads Deleting an email in Gmail, which is the trash, not a permanent delete.
“Email me”, or “send it to me”, with no other address, uses the email on your Centrus account. That is often the same as the Gmail address on the card, and it is not looked up from Gmail. If the two addresses differ, name the address you want.
John Martin
last message sent: less than a minute ago
Show unread mail from Priya Shah at Northgate Housing since 02/10/2026.
3 unread messages from Priya since 02/10/2026. A search returns 10 at a time and does not say how many more match:
| Subject | When |
|---|---|
| Boiler at Riverside House | 09/10/2026 07:42 |
| Quote for Harbour View Apartments | 03/10/2026 11:05 |
| Access fob for 12 High Street | 05/10/2026 09:20 |
I can open the boiler email.
Making changes
5 of the 9 tools change the mailbox: send, create a draft, move to the trash, mark as read, and archive. The other 4 only read. A send leaves from your Gmail address as soon as the tool runs. A draft is saved and is not sent. Trash, mark as read and archive each change one message, and the panel names that step, such as Sending an email via Gmail or Filing an email in Gmail.
There is no separate approval step. The instructions Centrus is given for a connected Gmail account do not tell it to stop and ask again before it sends, saves a draft, or changes a message. When the request is clear, it does that straight away. It asks you first only when the request itself is unclear. Name the person, the subject and what the email should say, and then check Sent or Drafts in Gmail.
John Martin
last message sent: less than a minute ago
Email Priya Shah at priya.shah@northgatehousing.co.uk that Dylan Hughes will be at Riverside House on Monday 12/10/2026, 08:00 to 10:00, for the boiler service on J-10482.
Sent from john.martin@meridianfm.co.uk. Subject Riverside House, Monday 12/10/2026, to priya.shah@northgatehousing.co.uk. Check Sent in Gmail.
Some of this cannot be taken back from chat:
- Sending delivers the message from your Gmail address. Centrus has no tool to recall it. If you wanted to read it first, ask for a draft.
- A draft stays in Gmail until it is sent or deleted there. Chat cannot add cc or bcc to it, cannot file it on an existing conversation, and cannot delete it.
- Move to the trash puts that one message in the trash. The step is worded Deleting an email in Gmail. Chat cannot restore it. Restore it in Gmail if you still can.
- Archive only removes the inbox label. Mark as read only removes the unread label. Chat cannot put a message back in the inbox or mark it unread.
Several messages are still one tool call each. There is no batch archive, no batch mark as read, and no batch move to the trash. If you ask Centrus to archive four newsletters, it files them one after another, and Worked shows Filing an email in Gmail once per message. It can only change messages it has already found. A search hands back 10 unless you ask for more, and it does not hand back the next page, so “archive all of them” covers the messages in that result, not the rest of the mailbox.
John Martin
last message sent: less than a minute ago
Archive the four Meridian FM weekly emails from this week.
4 messages were archived, each in its own step. Anything past the 10 the search returned was not included.
Files travel with a send or a draft only when they already exist in the chat. Centrus wants the exact filename from the download card, including the extension, up to 20 files and 20 MB altogether. A page preview is refused. The error tells Centrus to attach the download-card file, such as a PDF, not the preview image.
Who can use Gmail
Gmail has no tool-by-tool switches. There is no Gmail Tools tab in Settings, and editing a team does not list Gmail tools to turn off. Whoever has connected their own account can use all 9 tools. Whoever has not, cannot use any of them. Integrations overview explains the tool screens that do exist, which are BigChange Tools and Simpro Tools, for those connections only.
John Martin
Connect your Gmail account to send and read emails through Centrus.
✓ Connected as: john.martin@meridianfm.co.uk
- Send emails from your Gmail address
- Search and read your emails
- Create drafts and manage threads
- Secure OAuth2 connection
Sarah Price
Connect your Gmail account to send and read emails through Centrus.
- Send emails from your Gmail address
- Search and read your emails
- Create drafts and manage threads
- Secure OAuth2 connection
- 1Your connection. Chat reads and sends only from this Gmail address.
- 2Connect on someone else's card. There is no Enable, and no shared organisation mailbox.
The same instructions that skip a confirmation also tell Centrus the limit of the mailbox. Outlook and Gmail see only the connected address. A shared inbox is not that account, and Centrus should name the address that is connected rather than search the wrong one. If Gmail is not connected, it should say so and point you to Integrations.
How to use Gmail with CentrusGmail Capabilities
✓ Send Emails
✓ Search Messages
✓ Read Content
✓ Create Drafts
✓ View Threads
✓ Archive
✓ Mark as Read
✓ Natural Language
Connection Status
Limits
- List length. Searching messages and listing conversations both default to 10. You can ask for more. Centrus does not set a maximum of its own, and the result does not include how many messages matched in total or a way to fetch the next page. Narrow the question by person, subject or date when 10 is not enough, or ask for a larger number.
- Conversation counts. The conversation list reports 0 messages on each row, because that count is not filled in from the list Gmail returns. Open the conversation to read the messages.
- Attachments on a message you are reading. The read tool returns the body and the from, to, subject and date headers. It does not return the attached files. Downloading attachments is on the agent step, described in Gmail in Agent Builder, not in chat.
- Attachments you send or draft. Up to 20 files, and 20 MB altogether. The filename must match the download card in this chat. A preview image is refused.
- Reply on a thread. Send can pass a conversation id so Gmail places the new message on that thread. It does not set In-Reply-To or References. A draft cannot be placed on a thread at all.
- One mailbox. The connected address only. Signing in does not open anyone else's Gmail, and it does not open Google Calendar.
- The Google permission is wider than the tools. The consent screen covers permanently deleting mail. Chat's delete step moves a message to the trash and cannot restore it, and it cannot empty the trash.
- The sign-in link lasts 10 minutes. After that, Google's return is refused and the card stays Not Connected.
- “Email me” uses your Centrus account email, not a second address stored in Gmail.
John Martin
last message sent: less than a minute ago
Unread mail from Priya since Monday.
A Gmail search does not count pages the way a long job or quote search can. The Working line names the step, usually Reading your Gmail inbox, and then folds into Worked when the answer is ready.
Disconnect
Disconnect on the card removes your chat connection only. It runs straight away, without asking you to confirm, and it does not show a notice. The badge returns to Not Connected, the green address line goes, and Connect comes back. Sarah's card does not change. An agent's own Gmail connection is a different sign-in and stays until someone disconnects it on the agent.
Connect your Gmail account to send and read emails through Centrus.
✓ Connected as: john.martin@meridianfm.co.uk
- Send emails from your Gmail address
- Search and read your emails
- Create drafts and manage threads
- Secure OAuth2 connection
Connect your Gmail account to send and read emails through Centrus.
- Send emails from your Gmail address
- Search and read your emails
- Create drafts and manage threads
- Secure OAuth2 connection
- 1Disconnect, which removes your chat connection without asking you to confirm and without a notice.
- 2Connect, to sign in with Google again.
If the badge stays on Connected, the removal did not go through. Click Disconnect again. You can also withdraw Centrus in your Google Account. The card then treats the mailbox as not connected the next time it checks, because Gmail refuses the saved sign-in. Chat can still try the old sign-in until you click Disconnect, so do that as well, then Connect if you want a fresh one.
A new Connect replaces the saved sign-in for your user. It does not reconnect anyone else, and it does not reconnect an agent.
Troubleshooting
- Centrus answers as though Gmail is not connected. Open the card. If it says Not Connected, click Connect and finish on Google. If it already says Connected and chat reports Gmail not connected, click Disconnect and then Connect, so the saved sign-in is written again.
- You returned from Google and the card is still Not Connected. There is no error on the page. Cancel, a refused permission, a mismatched return, or more than 10 minutes on Google's page all end this way. Click Connect and choose Allow without leaving the page.
- Connect seems to do nothing. Wait for the button to wake up, then click it once. If Centrus could not fetch the Google page, it does not tell you. Try again.
- Connected, but no green address. The badge can be green while Connected as: is missing, which happens when the stored address has been cleared. Disconnect and Connect again. The new sign-in stores the address.
- The card says Not Connected, but chat still tries Gmail and then fails. Withdrawing access at Google makes the card's check fail, and it does not delete the stored sign-in. Click Disconnect, then Connect if you still want the mailbox.
- “Email me” went to the wrong place. Centrus used the email on your Centrus account. Name the address in the question.
- A question about a shared inbox comes back empty or talks about your own address. That mailbox is not this connection. Sign in as the shared mailbox if you are allowed to, or ask someone who has connected it.
- A file would not attach. The message Centrus gets is Could not find the filename in this chat, or that the file is a page preview or working file, or Too many attachments above 20, or Attachments are too large (over 20 MB). Use the download-card name, including the extension.
- A send or a draft says a recipient is required. You left the address out, and “email me” was not how you asked. Name the recipient, or say email me.
- You cannot get a message back. Trash, archive and mark as read have no undo in chat. Do that in Gmail.
John Martin
last message sent: less than a minute ago
What did Priya Shah say about the boiler?
I could not read the mailbox. The tool returned Gmail not connected. Open Integrations and, if the card looks connected, click Disconnect and then Connect.
Tools and endpoints reference
There are 9 Gmail tools in chat: 4 read the mailbox and 5 change it. The names below are the plain-English names for those tools. The Worked panel uses the shorter lines in What you can ask. Centrus calls the Gmail API as the signed-in account (me). Where a call names {id}, Centrus uses the message or conversation id from an earlier look-up.
| Tool | What it does | Reads or changes | Endpoint |
|---|---|---|---|
| List messages | Searches the mailbox. Defaults to 10. Returns each message's id, conversation id, snippet, from, subject and date. It does not return a total or the next page. | Reads | GET users.messages.list, then GET users.messages.get |
| Get message | Reads one message in full: from, to, subject, date, and the plain-text and HTML body. It does not return attached files. | Reads | GET users.messages.get |
| List threads | Lists conversations. Defaults to 10. Returns an id and a snippet. The message count on each row comes back as 0. | Reads | GET users.threads.list |
| Get thread | Reads every message in one conversation. | Reads | GET users.threads.get |
| Tool | What it does | Reads or changes | Endpoint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Send email | Sends from the connected Gmail address. Subject is required. Leave the recipient out only for email me, which uses your Centrus account email. Optional cc, bcc, conversation id and attachments from this chat. Does not set In-Reply-To or References. | Changes | POST users.messages.send |
| Create draft | Saves a draft and does not send it. Subject is required. No cc, bcc or conversation id. Attachments from this chat are allowed. | Changes | POST users.drafts.create |
| Tool | What it does | Reads or changes | Endpoint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Move to trash | Moves one message to the trash. The Worked line says Deleting an email in Gmail. Chat cannot restore it. | Changes | POST users.messages.trash |
| Mark as read | Removes the unread label from one message. Chat cannot mark it unread. | Changes | POST users.messages.modify |
| Archive | Removes the inbox label from one message. The message stays in Gmail. Chat cannot put it back in the inbox. | Changes | POST users.messages.modify |