Table of contents
Gmail Activity
Gmail activity in WorkSights provides visibility into outgoing email work without accessing message content. Because Google does not expose email events through the Workspace Admin API, WorkSights supports email signals through a secure forwarding rule that sends only header-level metadata for sent messages.
For setup steps, see Gmail Forwarding.
What WorkSights Receives
WorkSights ingests header metadata only for outgoing emails. This includes sender and recipient addresses, To/CC/BCC fields, subject line, timestamp, and an indicator for whether the email included an attachment. Message bodies, attachments, drafts, incoming email, and labels are never received.
How Gmail Activity Appears
Email activity appears as small red entries on the user's daily timeline. Each entry represents one outgoing email. The subject line is shown as the event title. Duration defaults to five minutes, WorkSights's standard estimate for outbound communication.
Only emails sent after the forwarding rule is enabled appear in WorkSights.
Data Notes
Gmail activity is only available when the forwarding rule is configured by a Google Workspace administrator. WorkSights receives outbound messages only. Header metadata is forwarded via Google's Content Compliance framework and processed securely by WorkSights. Activity appears only for users who are active in WorkSights and included in the forwarding configuration.
Troubleshooting
If Gmail activity is not appearing as expected:
- Confirm the Gmail forwarding rule has been configured in the Google Admin Console. Activity will not appear without it.
- Check that the affected user is included in the forwarding configuration.
- Only outgoing emails appear. Incoming email is never processed.
- Forwarding applies only to messages sent after the rule was enabled. Historical email is not backfilled.
- For persistent issues, contact support via the in-app chat.