Log Gmail to HubSpot's free CRM automatically, including emails you didn't start
Connect your inbox, set the account's contact email logging rule, tune the Gmail extension, and fill the Never log list, so client emails land on the right contact without logging your accountant or your mum.
Connect Gmail in Settings → General → Email → Connect email account. Then check the setting most guides skip: Settings → Data Management → Objects → Activities → Email Log & Track → Contact email logging rules. Set it to Log all emails from known contacts and save. From then on, emails to and from existing contacts log automatically, even ones a client starts. Install the HubSpot Sales Chrome extension for one-click logging, and add personal and supplier domains to Never log.
Why "it doesn't log incoming emails" happens
HubSpot has two logging rules. Under Log replies only, a reply logs only if it's part of a thread you already logged with the same subject line. A new email from a client that isn't part of such a thread does not log under that rule. Under Log all emails from known contacts, every email to or from an existing contact logs from a connected inbox, including ones sent from your phone. HubSpot's docs now call the second rule the default. Check yours (step 2).
Steps
- Connect your inbox. In HubSpot, click the settings icon → General → Email tab → Connect email account → Connect your inbox. Enter your Gmail address, choose Google, and click Allow. (Gmail accounts in Google's Advanced Protection Program can't connect.)
- Set the logging rule. Settings → under Data Management, click Objects → select Activities → Email Log & Track tab → Contact email logging rules. Choose Log all emails from known contacts and click Save. You need account access permissions. Ask an account administrator to confirm your permissions.
- Only then consider auto-creating contacts. A third option also creates contacts from incoming emails by people not in the CRM. It's handy for a one-person business, but every newsletter and receipt sender becomes a "contact" unless your Never log list is solid. Most small teams should leave it off.
- Install the Chrome extension. Install HubSpot Sales for Chrome. In Gmail, click the sprocket icon → Log and track settings. Turn Log email on if you want new outgoing emails logged by default. In Default Email Associations, decide whether to Create new contacts when you log an email to a new address.
- Fill the Never log list. In the same panel, add your own team's domain, your accountant, family, and your bank under Never log. Use
*@domain.comfor whole domains in HubSpot settings (Settings → General → Email → Never Log). A never-log list holds up to 500 addresses or domains. - Back-fill important threads. For a past email, open it in Gmail and click Log email to HubSpot under the recipient details. Tick the contact, or Create as new Contact, and click Save. Non-inline attachments don't log this way.
- Test it. From a personal address that exists as a contact, send yourself a brand-new email (not a reply). Within a few minutes it should be on that contact's timeline. If it isn't, re-check step 2.
Setup checklist
Done when all of these are true
0 of 6 done. Ticks are saved only in this browser.
What still won't log
- Emails to people who aren't contacts, sent outside HubSpot, under the default rule. Log them by hand, or create the contact first.
- Replies with a changed subject line under Log replies only. They count as a new thread.
- Emails to a Google Group address. Only an individual user's address can be logged.
- Privacy settings on: if you've turned on data privacy settings, emails log only for contacts with a legal basis for processing.
Privacy note: connecting Gmail gives HubSpot access to email headers, subject lines, and bodies, and logged emails are visible to other users in your HubSpot account. HubSpot's connection screen spells this out. Read it before you connect a shared or sensitive inbox.
Everything on this page works on the free CRM.
Sources
- HubSpot KB: Manage contact email logging rules (updated Oct 26, 2026)
- HubSpot KB: Understand reply-only email logging rules (updated Aug 3, 2026)
- HubSpot KB: Connect an individual work email (updated Sep 28, 2026)
- HubSpot KB: Customize HubSpot Sales Chrome extension settings (updated Sep 10, 2026)
- HubSpot KB: Exclude recipients from CRM email logging
- HubSpot KB: Log your sent and received emails to the CRM (updated Aug 3, 2026)
Common checks
Why didn't a new email from a client show up in HubSpot?
If your account is set to Log replies only, a brand-new email that isn't part of a logged thread never logs. Switch the rule to Log all emails from known contacts (step 2), or log that email by hand from Gmail.
Is any of this paid?
HubSpot's articles for connecting an inbox, logging rules, the Chrome extension, and the Never log list all say "All products and plans" (as of Nov 7, 2026), which includes the free CRM.
Will emails from people who aren't contacts yet be logged?
Not with the default rule. Either log the first email by hand with Create as new Contact ticked, or choose the rule that also creates new contacts from incoming emails. If you do that, fill your Never log list first.
Published November 7, 2026. Sources last read November 7, 2026. Send a correction.