Note: The email channel is a licensable feature of the system.
Below you will find the recommended email-server settings. For information on how email servers and authentication work please visit How do email servers and authentication work.
Before configuring email server settings you will need to set up a storage folder. This cannot be set up as a sub-folder.
Recommended email-server settings for Microsoft #
Note: Only OAuth2 authentication is supported for Microsoft.
In the Administrator Portal, go to Email > Email Servers and configure the parameters for the email server as follows:
| Parameter | Value | ||
| Authentication Type | OAuth2 | ||
| Server Type | IMAP | Host | outlook.office365.com |
| Port | 993 | ||
| TLS | Enabled (ticked) | ||
| Contact Storage Folder | This is the folder which emails (inbound and outbound) will be stored in within the email server, the exact name of the folder from the email server must be entered. You may need to create a new folder to link the IMAP connection to if there is not one available. This can’t be a sub-folder. | ||
| Server Type | SMTP | Host | smtp.office365.com |
| Port | 587 | ||
| TLS | Enabled (ticked) |
Note: Sending emails via SMTP won’t work when trying to send emails on behalf of another email account unless the Microsoft account is configured accordingly. See Sending emails on behalf of another account below.
Recommended email-server settings for Gmail #
Note: At present, only Basic authentication is supported for Gmail.
Do the following:
- Set up an app password in the Gmail account by following the instructions at: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/185833?hl=en-GB
- In the Administrator Portal, go to Email > Email Servers and configure the parameters for the email server as follows:
| Parameter | Value | ||
| Authentication Type | Basic | ||
| Password | The app password | ||
| Server Type | IMAP | Host | imap.gmail.com |
| Short Name | This is a free type text field used to identify where an email is stored when synced. | ||
| Port | 993 | ||
| TLS | Enabled (ticked) | ||
| Contact Storage Folder | This is the folder which emails (inbound and outbound) will be stored in within the email server, the exact name of the folder from the email server must be entered. You may need to create a new folder to link the IMAP connection to if there is not one available. This can’t be a sub-folder. | ||
| Server Type | SMTP | Host | smtp.gmail.com |
| Port | 587 | ||
| TLS | Disabled (unticked)Note: If TLS is disabled (unticked), STARTTLS is used. |
Note: TLS (Transport Layer Security) may also be known as SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). They are the same protocol. TLS is the modern (improved) version of SSL. For these protocols, the session starts encrypted. For STARTTLS, the session starts unencrypted and then is upgraded to being encrypted before any authentication is performed.
Sending emails on behalf of another account #
An email queue can handle incoming emails from several IMAP email servers.
So, for example, it could be that an end user sends an email to the “testA” email account, and the Email Server parameter for the email queue, which determines the SMTP email server from which outbound emails are sent, is configured for email account “testB”.
This can have implications on what the end user sees when they receive a reply from Contact, as Contact would be using a different email account.
For Gmail:
- The end user sends emails to “testA”, but the From: field in the reply from Contact shows “testB”.
For Microsoft Office 365:
- If the IMAP and SMTP servers are for the same account, the end user sends an email to “testA” and the “From” field in the reply from Contact shows “testA”.
- If the IMAP and SMTP servers are for different accounts, the end user sends an email to “testA” and the “From” field in the reply from Contact shows “testB on behalf of testA”.Note: For this to work, extra configuration in the Microsoft Office 365 settings is required. Follow the instructions at:- https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/add-your-other-email-accounts-to-outlook-com-c5224df4-5885-4e79-91ba-523aa743f0ba?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us- https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/add-or-remove-an-email-alias-in-outlook-com-459b1989-356d-40fa-a689-8f285b13f1f2
Note: To send email replies from the same email account to which inbound emails are sent, you must set up an SMTP server for each IMAP server (Email > Email Servers) and specify the same User setting for both. For example, for email account example@test.com, you would set up both an IMAP server and an SMTP server so that, when an email arrives to this email account, the reply (which would use the SMTP server) would also be from example@test.com (i.e. the sender will see the reply from the same email account to which they sent their email). Otherwise, if you only set up one SMTP server (for example, allreplies@test.com) for multiple IMAP servers, when an email arrives to (the IMAP server) example@test.com email account, the reply (which would use the SMTP server) would be from allreplies@test.com.
Parent topic: Email management