If you're juggling Salesforce and Google Sheets, you know the drill: exporting contacts, cleaning up CSVs, copying and pasting—then realizing your data’s already out of date. This guide is for anyone who’s tired of doing things twice and wants a reliable, mostly hands-off way to keep Salesforce contacts synced to Google Sheets. We’ll use Bardeen, an automation tool that bridges apps without needing to write code or mess around with APIs.
You don’t need to be a Salesforce admin or a spreadsheet wizard, but you’ll get the most out of this guide if you have access to a Salesforce account and a Google Sheets account. I’ll walk you through, step by step, and point out what actually works, what’s clunky, and what to skip.
Why bother syncing Salesforce and Google Sheets?
Let’s be honest: Salesforce is great for teams, but sometimes you just want to slice and dice your contacts in a spreadsheet. Maybe you want to:
- Share a list with someone who doesn’t have Salesforce access
- Run custom reports or pivot tables you can’t build in Salesforce
- Use Google Sheets as a lightweight backup or to integrate with other tools
Manual exports get old fast. And unless you love repetitive work, automating the sync saves you time (and sanity).
What you’ll need
Before we dive in, make sure you have:
- A Salesforce account with permission to view contacts. If you can’t see the Contacts tab in Salesforce, you’ll need to ask your admin.
- A Google account (Gmail or Google Workspace) to access Google Sheets.
- A Bardeen account. The free plan is fine for getting started.
- The Bardeen browser extension installed (it doesn’t work without it).
- A fresh Google Sheet ready for your contacts.
Pro tip: You don’t need fancy Salesforce permissions, but if your org has tight security, you might have to ask for API access.
Step 1: Install and set up Bardeen
First things first: head to Bardeen and create an account. Once you’re in, you’ll need to install the Bardeen browser extension (it works with Chrome and compatible browsers). The extension is what actually runs your automations.
- Sign up at Bardeen.
- Install the extension—follow the prompts, or find it in the Chrome Web Store.
- Pin the extension so it’s easy to access. (Trust me, you’ll want it handy.)
Reality check: Bardeen is extension-based, so if you’re on a locked-down corporate laptop or using Safari, you’re out of luck.
Step 2: Connect Salesforce and Google Sheets to Bardeen
To automate anything, Bardeen needs access to both Salesforce and Google Sheets. Don’t worry—it uses OAuth, so you’re not handing over passwords.
- Open the Bardeen extension.
- Click on the ⚙️ (settings) or "Integrations" tab.
- Find Salesforce and click “Connect.” Log in with your Salesforce credentials. You may need admin approval if your org has strict policies.
- Find Google Sheets and connect your Google account.
Heads up: If you run into connection errors with Salesforce, it’s usually because of API restrictions or two-factor authentication. Check with your admin if you get stuck.
Step 3: Decide what you want to sync
Not all contacts are created equal. Do you want:
- All contacts from Salesforce?
- Only contacts from a certain view or filter?
- Specific fields (e.g., name, email, phone), or everything?
The more selective you are, the cleaner your sheet will be. Figure this out before building the automation. If you just pull everything, expect a messy spreadsheet.
Step 4: Create your Google Sheet
Set up a new Google Sheet to receive your Salesforce contacts.
- Name your sheet something obvious, like “Salesforce Contacts Sync.”
- Add column headers that match the Salesforce fields you want (e.g., First Name, Last Name, Email, Company, Phone).
- Leave the rest blank—Bardeen will fill it in.
You can technically let Bardeen create the headers, but I recommend setting them yourself to avoid mismatches or ugly formatting.
Step 5: Build your automation in Bardeen
Now for the fun part: setting up the actual sync. In Bardeen, automations are called “playbooks.” You’ll create a playbook that:
- Pulls contacts from Salesforce,
- Writes them to your Google Sheet.
Here’s how:
- Open the Bardeen extension and go to “Playbooks.”
- Click “Create Playbook.”
- For the first step, select Salesforce → Get Contacts (or “Find Records” if you want to use a specific filter or view).
- Set filters as needed (e.g., only contacts from a certain account).
- Choose the fields you want (map them to your sheet columns).
- For the next step, add Google Sheets → Add rows to sheet.
- Select your target spreadsheet.
- Map the Salesforce fields to the right columns.
- Save your playbook. Name it something you’ll remember, like “Sync SF Contacts to Sheets.”
Pro tip: Test your playbook with a small batch first (like just 10 contacts) to avoid flooding your sheet with junk.
Step 6: Run (and automate) your sync
You can run your playbook manually from the Bardeen extension. But the real magic is in scheduling it to run automatically.
- Manual run: Click the playbook in Bardeen, watch it go.
- Scheduled run: Set up a schedule (daily, weekly, etc.) so your sheet always has fresh data.
Reality check: Bardeen scheduling is pretty reliable, but it’s not perfect. If your browser is closed or your computer’s asleep, nothing will run. This isn’t a “set it and forget it” cloud automation—it needs your browser open.
Step 7: Handle duplicates and updates
Here’s where most guides gloss over the details: what happens when you run the sync again? Do you get duplicate contacts, or does it update existing ones?
- Out of the box, Bardeen will just keep adding new rows for every sync. That means duplicates—lots of them.
- If you want updates (not just appends), you’ll need to get clever:
- Use a unique identifier (like Salesforce Contact ID) in your sheet.
- Set up your playbook to look for existing IDs and update those rows instead of adding new ones.
Warning: This gets fiddly fast. Bardeen isn’t a full ETL tool, so don’t expect perfect two-way sync. If you need bulletproof deduplication, you’ll have to do some manual sheet cleanup or look at more advanced tools.
Step 8: Troubleshooting common problems
Let’s be real—something will break at some point. Here’s how to handle the usual suspects:
- Integration errors: Usually permissions or expired logins. Reconnect the integration in Bardeen.
- Missing contacts: Check your Salesforce filters. If you set up a view, make sure it includes all the contacts you want.
- Weird formatting in Sheets: Double check your column mapping. Bardeen sometimes mismatches fields if headers aren’t exact.
- Automation didn’t run: Your browser was probably closed, or the extension was disabled.
Pro tip: Test often, and don’t be afraid to delete and start over if your first few runs are messy.
What Bardeen does well (and where it falls short)
Works well:
- Simple, no-code setup—no need to fiddle with Salesforce APIs.
- Good for small/medium lists and one-way syncs.
- Fast to set up and easy to tweak.
Doesn’t work so well:
- No true two-way sync. It’s add or overwrite, not merge.
- Needs your browser open. Not ideal for always-on automation.
- Struggles with really large Salesforce datasets (thousands of contacts).
Ignore this: Overly complex playbooks with tons of logic. If you find yourself stacking 10+ steps or writing formulas to clean up every run, you’re better off looking at more robust tools or even just exporting/importing manually.
Keep it simple and iterate
Syncing Salesforce contacts with Google Sheets shouldn’t be a massive project. Start with the basics: get your contacts into Sheets, run the automation, and tweak as you go. Don’t overthink it—if you hit the limits of Bardeen, you’ll know. But for most teams who just want a live-ish contact list outside Salesforce, this setup gets the job done with minimal hassle.
Got it working? Good. Now go do literally anything else—because you’ve got better things to do than babysit data.