Use cases → Admin and governance
Synchronise contacts across all Workspace users
Push or update contact lists for every user in the domain to maintain consistent, up-to-date address books.
| Who it is for | IT admins needing to push shared contacts or manage address books for all staff. |
|---|---|
| APIs | Admin SDK |
| Typical scopes | admin.directory.user, admin.directory.user.readonly |
The problem
Users often end up with outdated or incomplete contacts, especially after org changes or mergers. Manual updates don’t scale and often miss users, leading to communication breakdowns.
How it works
- Enumerate all active users with the Admin SDK.
- Impersonate each user using domain-wide delegation.
- Push or update contacts for each user, handling batch writes where possible.
- Log and retry any failed synchronisations, noting API rate and quota limits.
What changes
All users’ contact lists are kept current, reducing confusion and ensuring everyone can reach colleagues and key external partners.
Questions people ask
Can this update external contacts as well?
Yes, but you must ensure external entries are formatted correctly, or updates will be rejected without a clear error message.
How often should synchronisation run?
Daily or weekly is typical; more frequent runs risk hitting API quotas and amplifying propagation delays.
Want this built?
This is a pattern we run in production. We will set up the delegation and build this on top of it — $500 per hour, most of it working the same day.
Talk to us Or read the setup guideRelated use cases
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