FreshBooks announces integration with Google’s G Suite cloud platform

If you’re a G Suite user who wishes Google Inc.’s cloud platform would let you file invoices as easily as it helps you collaborate with your colleagues, or a FreshBooks user who wishes you could access the popular cloud-based invoicing program from any device, you’re in luck.

Toronto-based FreshBooks has announced a new integration with G Suite (formerly Google Apps For Work) that allows FreshBooks customers to log into their accounts directly from their G Suite dashboard, invoice their Google contacts, and quickly view not only recent invoices, but Gmail correspondence on client profile pages.

In a statement, FreshBooks co-founder and CEO Mike McDerment said the company was pleased to be collaborating with Google, noting that since launching its new platform in September FreshBooks has been adding new partners to its ecosystem more quickly than ever.

To take advantage of the integration, FreshBooks users must have a G Suite account, which they can now sign up for directly in FreshBooks, and should ensure they are using the same email address for both G Suite and FreshBooks. Once both accounts are created users need only follow these steps to log into FreshBooks from G Suite:

1. Visit the G Suite Marketplace and look for the FreshBooks listing under the ‘Accounting & Finance’ category.
2. From the listing page, click on the blue ‘Install App’ button at the top right and enter the name of your G Suite hosted domain.
3. If you aren’t logged into your G Suite account already, you’ll be asked for your username and password.
4. Next you’ll be taken to the FreshBooks on G Suite signup page. Click on, “Already have a FreshBooks account? Click here to connect it to G Suite.”
5. Log into your FreshBooks account.
6. Go back to your G Suite dashboard, and next to FreshBooks, click first on Enable Service, then Enable FreshBooks.

Once the integration is complete, typing a client’s name into a FreshBooks invoice will call up a user’s Google contacts list, while selecting a contact will automatically create a new client profile page in FreshBooks.

FreshBooks client pages will also now show Gmail correspondence alongside invoicing updates.

G Suite is available to FreshBooks customers for $5 per user, per month, and can be billed as part of a customer’s monthly FreshBooks subscription.