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GHL Outlook Two-Way Sync Setup Guide

Go High Level

Before You Begin

This guide walks you through connecting your Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft 365 email to your GoHighLevel (GHL) account using the built-in two-way email sync feature. Once connected, emails you send from GHL will appear in your Outlook Sent folder, and emails received from your existing CRM contacts will sync back into GHL automatically.

GHL uses a feature called Lead Connector to establish this connection. Lead Connector authenticates with Microsoft using OAuth, which is a secure authorization method that lets GHL access your mailbox without storing your email password. Your login credentials are never stored by GHL.

What you will do Connect your Outlook or Microsoft 365 account to GHL, enable the required Labs setting, verify the connection, and resolve admin approval issues if your organization requires them.
Time to complete 10 to 20 minutes (longer if IT admin approval is required)

What You Will Need

  • A Microsoft 365, Outlook.com, live.com, or Hotmail email account
  • Your Microsoft email login credentials
  • An active GHL sub-account with access to Settings
  • If your organization uses Microsoft 365 with managed IT: your IT administrator may need to approve the Lead Connector app before you can connect (see Part 3 of this guide)

Important: Outlook two-way sync must be set up from within a GHL sub-account, not at the agency dashboard level. Log in to your sub-account directly, or use the "Login As" feature from the agency view to access the correct sub-account before starting this guide.

Check Which Microsoft Account Is Active in Your Browser

GHL will connect whichever Microsoft account is currently signed into your browser. If your browser is signed into an admin or shared account instead of your own, the wrong mailbox will be connected. Before clicking Connect, confirm you are signed into the correct Microsoft account. If in doubt, open a private or incognito browser window and sign in with your own credentials before proceeding.

Third-Party Platform Notice: GoHighLevel and Microsoft 365 are third-party platforms that Sulus.ai does not own, operate, or control. The steps in this guide are accurate as of March 2026, but these platforms may update their interfaces or features at any time without notice. If what you see in your account differs from this guide, refer to the platform's official documentation for the most current information.

Part 1 of 3: Connecting Outlook to GHL

Step 1: Navigate to Email Sync Settings

  1. Log in to your GHL sub-account.
  2. In the left sidebar, click Settings.
  3. Click on My Profile.
  4. Scroll down until you see the section labeled Email (2-way sync).

Step 2: Connect Your Outlook Account

  1. In the Email (2-way sync) section, select Outlook as your email provider.
  2. Click Connect. Your browser will redirect to a Microsoft sign-in page.
  3. Sign in with the Microsoft account for the mailbox you want to connect. This should be your own email address, not a shared or admin account.
  4. Microsoft will display a permissions screen showing what Lead Connector is requesting access to. Review the permissions and click Accept.

About These Permissions:

Lead Connector requests permission to read and send email on your behalf and to access your mailbox settings. These permissions are required for two-way sync to function. GHL does not store your Microsoft password, and the OAuth token can be revoked at any time from either GHL or your Microsoft account settings. If you see a "Need admin approval" screen instead of the permissions page, skip ahead to Part 3 of this guide.

Step 3: Enable Outlook 2-Way Sync in Labs

Required Step: Unlike Gmail, Outlook two-way sync requires an additional Labs setting to be enabled. Without this step, only emails you initiate from GHL will sync. Inbound emails from contacts and the BCC contact creation feature will not work.

  1. In the left sidebar, click Settings.
  2. Click on Labs.
  3. Find the option labeled Outlook 2-way Sync and toggle it on.

Step 4: Verify the Connection

  1. Navigate back to Settings > My Profile and scroll to the Email (2-way sync) section.
  2. Confirm that your Outlook email address appears with a connected status.
  3. To test the connection, open any contact record in GHL, click the Email tab, and send a test email. Check your Outlook Sent folder to confirm the email appears there as well.

Connection Verification Checklist

Item Done?
Your Outlook email address appears in the Email (2-way sync) section of Settings > My Profile [ ]
Outlook 2-way Sync is toggled on in Settings > Labs [ ]
A test email sent from a GHL contact record appears in your Outlook Sent folder [ ]
A reply sent from Outlook to a GHL contact appears in the GHL Conversations tab for that contact [ ]

Part 1 Complete: Your Outlook account is connected, Labs is enabled, and your sync is active. Continue to Part 2 to understand how the sync works. If you saw a "Need admin approval" screen during Step 2, skip to Part 3 first.

Part 2 of 3: How Two-Way Sync Works

Understanding what syncs and what does not will help you use this feature confidently and avoid surprises. This section covers all sync scenarios and important limits specific to Outlook.

Outbound Emails: GHL to Outlook

When you send an individual email to a contact from within GHL, that email is sent through your connected Outlook account. The sent email will appear in your Outlook Sent folder. All subsequent replies within that email thread will sync between both platforms automatically.

Inbound Emails: Outlook to GHL

If a contact who already exists in your CRM sends an email to your connected Outlook address, that email will automatically appear in the Conversations tab for that contact in GHL. This requires the Outlook 2-way Sync Labs setting to be enabled (see Part 1, Step 3).

Creating New Contacts via BCC

If you are emailing someone from Outlook who is not yet a contact in GHL, you can add them automatically by including your BCC Address in the Cc or Bcc field of your email. Your BCC Address is provided in your GHL settings under My Profile after the Labs setting is enabled.

This will automatically create the contact in GHL and begin syncing the conversation. Going forward, any emails received from that contact will sync automatically.

Attachment Limits

Outlook two-way sync supports attachments up to 3 MB. Emails with attachments larger than 3 MB will not sync between Outlook and GHL.

Supported attachment file types:

JPG, JPEG, PNG, MP4, MPEG, ZIP, RAR, PDF, DOC, DOCX, TXT

What Does Not Sync

Two-way sync covers individual one-to-one emails only. The following types of emails are not sent or synced through your Outlook connection.

Email Type How It Is Sent
Bulk email campaigns Sent through your sub-account email provider (LC Email, Mailgun, or SMTP)
Workflow and automation emails Sent through your sub-account email provider, not through Outlook
Emails from other GHL users Intentionally excluded from sync for privacy reasons
Emails from before the integration was connected Cannot be synced retroactively; only new emails going forward will sync

Part 2 Complete: You now understand how the sync works and what its limits are. Continue to Part 3 only if you encountered a "Need admin approval" screen during setup. If your connection is already working, you can skip Part 3.

Part 3 of 3: Resolving the "Need Admin Approval" Error

If your organization uses Microsoft 365 with managed IT policies, you may see a "Need admin approval" or "Approval Required" screen instead of the permissions page when attempting to connect. This is the most common blocker for connecting Outlook in business environments.

This happens because your Microsoft 365 administrator has restricted users from granting third-party apps access to organizational data. It is a standard security policy and does not indicate a problem with GHL or your account.

Note: The steps in this section need to be completed by your IT administrator, not by you. Share this section with your IT team and ask them to complete either Option A or Option B below. Once they have finished, you can return to Part 1 and complete the connection.

Option A: Grant Admin Consent for Lead Connector (Recommended)

This is the cleanest approach. It approves the Lead Connector app one time for your entire organization, allowing any user to connect their own mailbox going forward without needing further admin involvement.

  1. Your IT admin signs in to the Microsoft Entra admin center at entra.microsoft.com as a Global Administrator or Cloud Application Administrator.
  2. In the left menu, navigate to Identity > Applications > Enterprise applications.
  3. Search for Lead Connector or LeadConnector in the application list. If it does not appear, one user needs to attempt the connection in GHL first so the app registers in the tenant.
  4. Click on the Lead Connector application, then click Permissions in the left sidebar.
  5. Click the Grant admin consent button. Review the permissions and confirm.
  6. Once admin consent is granted, individual users can return to GHL and complete the connection from Part 1 without encountering the approval error again.

Option B: Allow Users to Consent to Apps Themselves

This approach changes the tenant-wide policy so that users can approve third-party apps without admin intervention each time. This is less restrictive than Option A and may not be appropriate for all organizations. Your IT administrator should assess which option fits your security requirements.

  1. Your IT admin signs in to the Microsoft Entra admin center at entra.microsoft.com.
  2. Navigate to Identity > Applications > Enterprise applications > Consent and permissions > User consent settings.
  3. Under "User consent for applications," select Allow user consent for apps (or the appropriate risk-based option for your organization).
  4. Click Save.
  5. Users can now complete the Outlook connection in GHL without needing admin approval.

Admin Consent Only Needs to Happen Once: If your admin uses Option A, they only need to approve Lead Connector one time. After that, every user in the organization can connect their own mailbox individually without further admin involvement.

Part 3 Complete: Once your IT admin has completed either option above, return to Part 1 and complete the connection from Step 2 onwards. The approval screen will no longer appear.

Managing Your Connection

All connection management options are found in the same place: Settings > My Profile > Email (2-way sync).

Updating Your Connected Email

If you need to switch which Outlook account is connected, click Update Email in the Email (2-way sync) section. This lets you connect a different account without fully disconnecting first.

New outbound emails from GHL will sync with the newly connected address. Ongoing threads tied to the previous address will stop syncing.

Disconnecting Your Email

To stop the sync entirely, click Disconnect in the Email (2-way sync) section. After disconnecting, no new emails will sync between Outlook and GHL.

Previously synced emails will remain in both platforms and are not deleted.

Reauthentication

If you change your Microsoft account password, revoke Lead Connector access from your Microsoft account settings, or if your IT admin revokes consent in Microsoft Entra, GHL will require you to reauthenticate. Go to Settings > My Profile > Email (2-way sync) and reconnect your Outlook account by going through the OAuth sign-in flow again.

Your previously synced emails will not be affected by reauthentication.

Connecting Multiple Mailboxes

If your organization needs more than one user's email connected to GHL, each user must complete the setup process individually from their own GHL user profile. One user connecting their mailbox does not affect any other user's connection.

  1. Each user logs in to GHL with their own credentials.
  2. Each user navigates to Settings > My Profile > Email (2-way sync).
  3. Each user clicks Connect and signs in with their own Microsoft account.

Each connection is independent and tied to that specific user's GHL profile.

Troubleshooting

If something does not look right, use the solutions below. If your issue is not listed here, contact a Sulus.ai representative for assistance. For questions specific to GoHighLevel, GHL's official support documentation is available at help.gohighlevel.com. For Microsoft 365 admin center questions, refer to Microsoft's Entra documentation at learn.microsoft.com.

I see a "Need admin approval" screen when trying to connect.

Your Microsoft 365 organization requires admin consent for third-party apps. See Part 3 of this guide for detailed instructions. Your IT administrator will need to approve the Lead Connector app in the Microsoft Entra admin center before you can complete the connection.

The wrong Outlook account was connected.

This happens when your browser was signed into a different Microsoft account during the OAuth flow. Go to Settings > My Profile > Email (2-way sync) and click Disconnect. Then open a private or incognito browser window, sign in to the correct Microsoft account, navigate back to GHL, and reconnect.

Emails sent from GHL are not appearing in my Outlook Sent folder.

Confirm that the two-way sync connection is active in Settings > My Profile. Also confirm that Outlook 2-way Sync is toggled on in Settings > Labs. If both are configured correctly and emails still do not sync, try disconnecting and reconnecting the email.

Inbound emails from contacts are not syncing into GHL.

Inbound sync requires the Outlook 2-way Sync Labs setting to be enabled. Without it, only emails you initiate from GHL will sync. Go to Settings > Labs and confirm the toggle is on. Also note that emails from contacts who are also GHL sub-account users are intentionally excluded from sync.

Attachments are not syncing.

Outlook two-way sync supports attachments up to 3 MB only. If your attachment is larger than 3 MB, the email will not sync. Supported file types are JPG, JPEG, PNG, MP4, MPEG, ZIP, RAR, PDF, DOC, DOCX, and TXT. Attachments outside these types may also prevent sync.

The connection dropped or stopped syncing.

OAuth tokens can expire or be revoked. If you changed your Microsoft password, updated your account security settings, or if your IT admin revoked consent for Lead Connector in Microsoft Entra, you will need to reauthenticate. Go to Settings > My Profile > Email (2-way sync) and reconnect your account.

I use an on-premise Exchange server, not Microsoft 365.

GHL's Outlook integration only supports Microsoft 365, Outlook.com, live.com, and Hotmail accounts. On-premise Exchange servers and Outlook Desktop (not synced to the cloud) are not supported. If your email is hosted on an on-premise server, you may need to explore SMTP integration instead. GHL's official documentation covers SMTP setup at help.gohighlevel.com. Contact a Sulus.ai representative to discuss your options.

I do not see the My Profile tab in Settings.

The My Profile tab only appears when you are logged in to a GHL sub-account, not the agency dashboard. Make sure you are inside the correct sub-account. If you are at the agency level, use the "Login As" feature to access the sub-account, then return to Settings.

A Note on GHL Support

Your GoHighLevel account is included with your active Sulus.ai plan. Dedicated GHL platform support is not included as a standard service, but a Sulus.ai representative can walk you through available options if you need additional assistance with your GHL configuration.