Work with email in the Mailbox

The Mailbox is the place to read, organize and send email from connected business addresses. It keeps email folders and replies together, helping a team handle enquiries without losing track of which address owns the conversation.

For example, an accounts team can review an invoice enquiry in its shared mailbox, check the original attachment and reply from the same business address. Start by reading the existing thread so the response answers the actual request.

Before you start

You need an active email account available to your user and permission to view the Mailbox. Sending requires communication sending access. Saving drafts, managing folders, moving or deleting messages and changing signatures require additional mailbox management access.

Use Connected accounts to configure or repair the account. SMTP handles outgoing email; IMAP brings in mail and folders. Test both independently. A successful sending test does not establish that incoming mail is syncing. The connected accounts guide explains the setup journey.

Read and respond

1. Open Mailbox. Use the Mailbox selector to choose the business address, then select the folder you need. Search the mailbox selector when several addresses are available, and check the displayed account before opening a message.
2. Find and open the message. Check the sender, recipients, subject and conversation before acting. Review attachments using the preview or download controls where available. If the message seems missing, check the selected account, folder, search and ownership filters.
3. Choose Reply, Reply all or Forward deliberately. Reply uses the message's reply-to address when one is supplied. Reply all includes the original sender and other recipients, excluding the sending mailbox. Review the recipients before sharing account or order details.
4. For a new email, select Compose. Check From, add the intended To recipients and use Cc/Bcc when needed. Write a descriptive Subject and a body that explains the next action. Confirm that any inserted signature belongs to the business address you are using.
5. Attach the required files and wait for uploads to finish. Check filenames and recipients together: a correct message with the wrong attachment is still the wrong email. When forwarding, review the available attachment choice rather than assuming original files are included.
6. Select Send only when the message is ready. The confirmation says the message was queued for sending. Wait for processing and review the mailbox before submitting the same email again.

Understand drafts and sending

Save Draft saves written content without sending an email. The current draft form requires at least one valid recipient and a message body, and saving depends on the IMAP Drafts folder being reachable. Keep original attachment files: saved drafts do not preserve uploaded attachments for a later send, so add the required files again when preparing the final message.

Successful SMTP sending creates a copy in Sent. That copy shows the sending step completed; it does not prove that the recipient read the email. If sending fails, the message can be saved in Drafts with an error label. Inspect the error and account connection before trying again, and check Sent first to avoid duplicates.

Keep the mailbox organized

Use flags, read status and labels to make follow-up easier, and assign ownership when another teammate should handle the message. With management access, move messages into an appropriate folder after taking the required action. Moving or deleting mail can affect the connected mailbox, so check the selected messages before a bulk action.

Use Refresh or Full sync when available and watch the syncing notice. If mail still does not appear, check Server and test and Folders and sync on the connected account. If the mailbox itself is absent, ask the workspace owner to check account assignment and mailbox access. Use the Inbox guide for SMS, WhatsApp and social conversations.

Introduce AI drafts with a review routine

Open the connected mailbox in Accounts → Automations and choose an eligible email AI agent when the feature is available. Email automation prepares drafts for the team; it does not automatically send the reply. Save the account choice and test with an address you control.

Review the draft against the original message, especially names, invoice references, recipients and promised actions. Check whether an attachment is needed and add it before sending. An agent can draft a convincing explanation without having access to the business record needed to verify it.

For shared addresses, keep ownership visible so two teammates do not independently send different answers. Read the latest thread and Sent folder before continuing a reply that was prepared earlier.

When moving between email and another channel, carry the useful reference and next action deliberately. A customer's email address and phone number do not by themselves guarantee that separate conversations have been linked into one history. Keep the original thread available until the follow-up is complete.