# Connecting an email inbox

An **Email** inbox turns the emails customers send to an address such as *support@yourcompany.com* into conversations, and lets your team answer them from Mampu AI.

## 1. Add an Email inbox

Go to **Settings → Inboxes → Add Inbox** and choose **Email**. On **Select your email provider**, pick **Other Providers**; it works with any mailbox, including Gmail and Outlook, through forwarding plus IMAP and SMTP.

![Choosing the email provider](../../.gitbook/assets/guides/email-add-inbox-providers.jpg)

## 2. Name the channel

* **Channel Name**: how the inbox appears in your sidebar.
* **Email**: the address your customers write to.

Click **Create Email Channel**, then pick the agents who will answer and **Add agents**.

## 3. Forward your mail

The last step shows **Forward emails to this address** with an address that belongs to your new inbox. In your mail provider, set up automatic forwarding from your support address to it. From then on every email arrives as a conversation.

## 4. Send replies from your own address

Forwarding alone lets you receive. To reply from your own address, click **Click here to configure IMAP and SMTP settings**, or open the inbox later and go to **Configuration**:

* **IMAP**: tick **Enable IMAP configuration for this inbox** and enter your provider's **Address**, **Port**, **Login** and **Password**, with **Enable SSL** as your provider requires. Click **Update IMAP settings**.
* **SMTP**: tick **Enable SMTP configuration for this inbox** and enter the **Address**, **Port**, **Login**, **Password**, **Domain** and **Encryption** (**SSL/TLS** or **STARTTLS**). Click **Update SMTP settings**. SMTP needs IMAP set up first.

Your mail provider's help pages list its IMAP and SMTP addresses and ports.

## After the inbox is live

On the **Settings** tab, **Sender name** decides what the customer sees in the From line: **Friendly** adds the replying agent's name to your business name, **Professional** uses the business name alone. **Conversation Routing** decides whether a customer's next email reopens their last conversation or starts a new one. See [Inbox settings, tab by tab](/settings/inbox-settings-tabs).

## Related

* [Inboxes and channels](/settings/inboxes-and-channels)
* [Inbox settings, tab by tab](/settings/inbox-settings-tabs)
* [Replying and adding private notes](/conversations/replying-and-private-notes)

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Source: https://help.mampuai.com/settings/connecting-an-email-inbox