Answers to the most common questions about Girderly — how it connects to CompanyCam, JobTread, and QuickBooks, what it can do — including its AI features — and how your data stays private. Still stuck? Our Support team is a click away.
About Girderly
What is Girderly?
Construction decisions happen in email, while the job’s context lives in another tab. Girderly is the intelligent inbox for contractors, and its Smart Inbox closes that gap: open any email and Girderly finds the sender in your job software and shows their contact details, a financial snapshot, and every one of their jobs — and lets you take action (create a job, update a status, add a note, notify a teammate, send a message, etc.) without leaving your inbox. It can even summarize a long email, answer it from your job data, or turn it into to-dos with AI. It works with CompanyCam, JobTread, and QuickBooks Online, and it runs as a Gmail™ add-on and an Outlook add-in.
Who is it for?
Contractors and small businesses that run on CompanyCam, JobTread, or QuickBooks and live in their inbox — owners, project managers, sales, and office staff. Girderly saves you the constant back-and-forth between your inbox and your software, and keeps your software the source of truth.
Is it complicated to set up?
No. Install Girderly from the Google Workspace Marketplace (Gmail) or Microsoft Marketplace (Outlook), open it in your add-ons sidebar, then click Connect for your platform — CompanyCam, JobTread, or QuickBooks — and approve access on its own sign-in screen — no API keys to copy. Setup takes about a minute.
Connecting to JobTread
Which email platforms does Girderly support?
Gmail — yes, available now. Outlook — yes, available now. Apple Mail — not supported. Unlike Gmail and Outlook, Apple Mail has no add-on marketplace or plugin ecosystem for third-party tools, so there’s no way to bring Girderly’s sidebar into it. If you’re on Apple Mail, run Girderly on a Gmail or Outlook account and point your customer, vendor, and lead email there — Girderly surfaces the matching records automatically, without opening your software.
How do I connect Girderly to JobTread?
Open Girderly and click Connect JobTread. A JobTread tab opens — choose your organization, set access to Read and Write, and click Grant Access. Come back to Girderly and start working on your JobTread jobs. That’s it — no API keys to copy or paste.
When I connect, Google asks me to “Grant permission.” Is that normal?
Yes. The first time Girderly reaches JobTread, Google asks you to approve the one permission it uses to connect to an external service. Click Grant permission → Continue — you only do this once. If you’re on a managed work Google account that blocks it, your Google Workspace admin can approve Girderly for everyone (via Admin install from the Marketplace, or by marking it Trusted in the Admin console). This permission only lets Girderly talk to JobTread; it doesn’t give access to the rest of your email.
Do I have to be a JobTread admin to use Girderly?
No. Any JobTread user can connect — you don’t need admin rights. When you connect, you authorize Girderly on JobTread’s own screen and choose the organization and access level you want.
Whose permissions does Girderly use — mine or an admin’s?
Yours. Girderly connects with your own JobTread authorization, so it works as you. You see and do exactly what your JobTread role already lets you — nothing more or less.
Does my connection ever expire?
Rarely. A JobTread connection can lapse after a long stretch with no use (about 90 days); normal use keeps it active. If yours ever stops working, just open Girderly and click Connect JobTread to reconnect in one step.
How do I disconnect?
Open Girderly’s Settings and click Disconnect, or revoke Girderly from your JobTread profile under Grants. Disconnecting erases your stored connection right away, so removing it is entirely in your control.
Permissions & what you can do
Will Girderly let me do things I can’t do in JobTread?
No. Girderly mirrors your JobTread permissions exactly. If your role is view-only, you’ll see the information, but the create and edit buttons simply won’t appear. If your role can create jobs or customers, those actions show up. Girderly will never give you more access than you already have in JobTread.
Why do I see fewer buttons than my coworker?
Because Girderly matches each person’s JobTread role automatically. Someone who can create customers and jobs sees those buttons; someone with view-only access doesn’t. You don’t configure anything — Girderly reads your permissions straight from JobTread.
Can I create customers, vendors, and jobs from my inbox?
If your JobTread role allows it, yes — right from the sidebar, with your company’s required fields built into the form so the record actually saves. If your role doesn’t allow it, those buttons stay hidden. Ask your JobTread Administrator if you think having those features will help your business.
Smart Inbox
What can Girderly’s Smart Inbox do?
Three things, all on the email you have open and each one tap. Summarize an email turns a long message into the key points — the main request, dates, dollar amounts, and any concerns — and saves it as a note on the matching JobTread contact, job, or vendor. Answer from JobTread drafts a reply to the sender, grounded in that job’s live JobTread data — schedule, dates, financials, and selections — for you to review and send. Turn an email into to-dos pulls the action items and creates them as JobTread to-dos, each with a due date, type, and assignee. You review the result before anything is saved.
Is the AI private — where does my email go?
The AI reads only the email you have open, and only when you choose to run Summarize, Answer from JobTread, or Turn into to-dos. The text of that one email is sent to Girderly’s AI provider solely to generate your summary, reply, or to-dos — it isn’t stored on Girderly’s servers or used to train any model, and the rest of your mailbox is never read. See our Privacy Policy for the full details.
Do I have to use the AI?
No — it’s completely optional. The AI actions are extra buttons on the email you have open; ignore them and Girderly works exactly as it always has. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you tap Summarize, Answer from JobTread, or Turn into to-dos yourself.
Privacy & security
Where is my connection stored?
It depends on your email platform. On Gmail, your JobTread connection is stored encrypted (AES-256-GCM) on Girderly’s servers, isolated to your account and used only to call JobTread on your behalf. On Outlook, it’s stored in your own Outlook mailbox (Office roaming settings) — Girderly keeps no copy on its servers. Either way, selecting Disconnect erases it right away, and you can revoke access anytime from your JobTread profile under Grants (on Gmail, Girderly also auto-deletes a connection left unused for about 90 days). Girderly doesn’t cache or share your JobTread contacts, jobs, or financials — those are fetched live and shown only to you.
Does Girderly read my emails?
Only when you ask it to. To match a sender to their JobTread contact, Girderly reads just the sender’s address of the email you have open — never the rest of your mailbox. Two features go further, and only when you choose them: attaching a file to JobTread, and the AI actions (Summarize an email, Answer from JobTread, Turn an email into to-dos), which read the text of that one open email to produce what you asked for. That text is sent to Girderly’s AI provider only to generate the result — it isn’t stored or used for training. See our Privacy Policy for the full details.
What if several people on my team use it?
Each person connects with their own JobTread authorization and sees their own permitted view. Connections should never be shared between JobTread users. Also, our subscription model is per user, so sharing a connection won’t reduce the number of paid seats.
Pricing
What does it cost?
Girderly comes with a free 7-day trial, then simple per-seat pricing — the same on Gmail and Outlook. See our Pricing page for the details.
Still have questions?
Head to our Support page to report an issue — we’ll create a Support Ticket and get back to you, typically within one business day.
Girderly is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Google, Microsoft, CompanyCam, Intuit, or JobTread. Gmail™ is a trademark of Google LLC. Microsoft, Outlook, and Microsoft 365 are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. CompanyCam is a trademark of CompanyCam, Inc. Intuit and QuickBooks are registered trademarks of Intuit Inc. JobTread is a trademark of JobTread Software, LLC.