Overview

Showpad offers multiple ways to share content, including plugins for Gmail and Outlook. A CRM connector extends these capabilities by letting users search CRM contacts, log sharing activity, and receive content recommendations - all without leaving Showpad.

TL;DR

• Out-of-the-box CRM? Use pre-built integrations for Salesforce, MS Dynamics, or SAP Sales Cloud
• Custom CRM? Build a middleware that implements Showpad's webhook endpoints
• How it works? Showpad sends HTTP requests to your endpoints; you return JSON responses

When to use a custom CRM connector

Contact Search	Activity Logging	Content Recommendations	Business Object Linking
Let users search CRM contacts when sharing content.	Log shares and views back to CRM as activities.	Surface relevant content based on CRM context.	Associate shares with opportunities, accounts, or custom objects.

Prerequisites

• Plan: Contact Showpad to enable custom CRM connectors
• Permissions: Administrator access to Showpad's Admin App
• Technical: Ability to host and maintain a middleware service

What you'll learn

• How Showpad communicates with custom CRM connectors via HTTP
• The webhook endpoints your middleware must implement
• Authentication and security requirements
• How to configure your connector in the Admin App

How it works

Showpad connects to your CRM through a middleware layer that you build and host. When a user performs an action in Showpad (like searching for a contact), Showpad sends an HTTP request to your middleware, which translates it into CRM API calls and returns the appropriate response.

Quick look

Here's what your middleware receives when a user searches for contacts, and how to handle it:

cURL

Request from Showpad

POST /v1/recipientsearch HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
x-showpad-signature-v1: FLauBV44UFC2oeY8AHcvGiUaL1Bx+FU5o+6ZM8KBdo0=
x-showpad-signature-timestamp: 1668017345

{
  "showpadInfo": {
    "subdomain": "myorg",
    "username": "user@company.com",
    "crmInstanceId": "dsflkj2349fddd9asdf"
  },
  "query": "john"
}

Your response

{
  "count": 2,
  "items": [
    { "type": "contact", "id": "003abc", "email": "john@acme.com", "name": "John Smith" },
    { "type": "lead", "id": "00Qxyz", "email": "john.doe@example.com", "name": "John Doe" }
  ]
}

JavaScript

Handle the request in Express

const express = require('express');
const crypto = require('crypto');
const app = express();

app.post('/v1/recipientsearch', express.json(), (req, res) => {
  // Verify signature (see Fundamentals for full implementation)
  const { showpadInfo, query } = req.body;

  // Search your CRM for contacts matching the query
  const results = searchCRM(query, showpadInfo.username);

  res.json({
    count: results.length,
    items: results.map((r) => ({
      type: r.type,
      id: r.id,
      email: r.email,
      name: r.name,
    })),
  });
});

Python

Handle the request in Flask

from flask import Flask, request, jsonify

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/v1/recipientsearch', methods=['POST'])
def recipient_search():
    # Verify signature (see Fundamentals for full implementation)
    data = request.get_json()
    showpad_info = data['showpadInfo']
    query = data['query']

    # Search your CRM for contacts matching the query
    results = search_crm(query, showpad_info['username'])

    return jsonify({
        'count': len(results),
        'items': [{'type': r.type, 'id': r.id, 'email': r.email, 'name': r.name} for r in results]
    })

See the Endpoint Reference for all available endpoints and response schemas.

Build your middleware

Your middleware must implement two core components:

Webhook endpoints - Showpad calls these endpoints with JSON payloads when users interact with CRM features. See the Endpoint Reference for the complete specification.

Authentication - Validate incoming requests using the signature key configured in Showpad. See Authorization and Security for implementation details.

Pre-built integrations

For common CRM platforms, Showpad provides out-of-the-box integrations:

Platform	Documentation
Salesforce	Download and install Showpad for Salesforce
MS Dynamics	Guide to integrating Showpad and MS Dynamics
SAP Sales Cloud	Enabling Showpad and SAP Sales Cloud integration

Next steps

• Fundamentals - Understand authentication, payloads, and error handling
• Configuration - Set up your connector in the Admin App
• Endpoint Reference - Complete API specification