Set up an email box

Connect your mailbox and you can read, reply to and send email without leaving Couchwork. Your email stays on your mail provider. Couchwork keeps a private copy so it's fast and searchable.

Connect a mailbox

1. Click Email in the left-hand bar.
2. Click Connect a mailbox. (If you already have one, use the mailbox list at the top left and choose + Connect another mailbox….)
3. Choose your Provider from the list: Gmail / Google Workspace, Outlook / Microsoft 365, iCloud Mail, Yahoo Mail, Fastmail, or Other. The server settings fill themselves in.
4. Give it a Name you'll recognise, for example Work email, and a Sender name, which is what customers see, for example Jo at Acme.
5. Enter your Email address and Password.
6. Click Test connection. You should see two ticks: Incoming mail works and Outgoing mail works.
7. Click Connect. Couchwork starts fetching your mail, which can take a minute or two for a big inbox.

Get the right password

• Gmail / Google Workspace: your normal password won't work. In your Google Account go to Security → 2-Step Verification → App passwords, create one, and paste that in. (2-Step Verification has to be switched on first.)
• iCloud: create an app-specific password at appleid.apple.com.
• Yahoo: create an app password in your Yahoo account security page.
• Fastmail: create an app password under Settings → Privacy & Security.
• Outlook / Microsoft 365: many organisations have switched off password sign-in for this. If the test fails, ask whoever looks after your Microsoft 365.

Other email providers

Choose Other and fill in the incoming (IMAP) and outgoing (SMTP) server details from your email provider's help pages, including the port numbers. Leave SSL/TLS ticked unless they tell you otherwise. The username is usually your full email address.

A shared mailbox for the team (admins)

For an address like sales@ or support@ that several people use, choose Shared mailbox at the top of the window instead of *My own mailbox*. Then choose Who can use this mailbox: everyone, or only certain people. Everyone you choose sees the same conversations.

Optional: let the AI help sort your inbox

In the same window, under AI assistance, you can tick Check new mail for spam (it only marks suspicious mail, it never moves it) and Flag priority mail (marks mail that probably needs a reply soon). If you tick these, the sender, subject and start of each new email are sent to your AI provider to be judged. So only turn them on if you're comfortable with that.

Using it

• Click Compose to write a new email, or Reply on any conversation.
• The compose window has an AI box. Describe what you want to say, choose a tone (Professional, Friendly, Brief or Formal), and it fills in the email. You read and edit it before anything is sent.
• Use Link to lead on a conversation to show it on a lead in your pipeline, so replies appear there too (Add a lead by hand).
• Drag conversations onto folders to file them, and use the funnel icon to set up mail rules that file new mail automatically.

Changing or removing it later

Click Settings under the mailbox name at the top left of the Email page to change the details, or Disconnect to remove it. Disconnecting only removes Couchwork's copy. Your mail stays on your mail server.