Gmail connector FAQs
This page answers frequently asked questions about the Gmail connector in Databricks Lakeflow Connect.
This feature is in Beta. Workspace admins can control access to this feature from the Previews page. See Manage Databricks previews.
General managed connector FAQs
The answers in Managed connector FAQs apply to all managed connectors in Lakeflow Connect. Keep reading for Gmail-specific FAQs.
Connector-specific FAQs
The answers in this section are specific to the Gmail connector.
Which mailbox does the connector read from?
The connector reads from a single mailbox per connection. The service account impersonates the mailbox that you specify with domain-wide delegation and the mailbox connector option (default me). The connector stamps the mailbox value as a mailbox column on every row.
Which tables sync incrementally, and which are full-refresh?
The messages and message_labels tables sync incrementally using the Gmail History API. The profile, labels, labels_details, drafts, and filters tables are full-refresh only and are re-ingested in full on every pipeline run.
How are attachments ingested?
Attachments are contained within the messages table's payload column, at payload.parts[].body.attachmentId. There is no separate attachments table.
How do I ingest more than one mailbox?
Each connection ingests a single mailbox. To ingest multiple mailboxes, create a separate connection and pipeline for each mailbox. You can distinguish mailboxes in your destination tables using the mailbox column.
What happens if the historyId expires?
The connector stores a historyId cursor to fetch incremental changes. If Gmail expires the cursor (the History API returns a 404 because the cursor is older than Gmail's retention window), the connector automatically falls back to a full refresh of the affected table. To avoid this, schedule the pipeline to run at least once every seven days, which keeps the cursor within Gmail's retention window.
Can the connector modify my mailbox?
No. The connector is read-only. It requires the https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.readonly scope and talks only to https://gmail.googleapis.com. It never modifies the source mailbox.