An email inbox in ActiveManage is a configured mailbox that the platform polls (or that pushes via webhook) to receive inbound messages. Inboxes power features like inbound support tickets, “reply by email”, and bounce processing — anywhere the system needs to read mail rather than send it.
Supported Connection Types
- IMAP: Standard mailbox protocol. Works with any provider that exposes IMAP — Gmail, Fastmail, hosted Exchange, Zoho, IceWarp.
- Microsoft Graph: Modern OAuth-based connection for Microsoft 365 mailboxes. Required if Basic Auth has been disabled by your tenant administrator.
- Gmail API: Google's OAuth API for Workspace and personal Gmail. Higher quotas and faster than IMAP polling.
- POP3 (legacy): Single-client protocol that downloads and deletes. Use only if your provider doesn't offer anything else.
Step-by-Step Setup
- Navigate to Architect Panel → Email Inboxes and click Add Inbox.
- Enter a friendly display name (e.g. “Support inbox”). This is what staff see in dropdowns.
- Choose the protocol. For Graph/Gmail you'll be redirected to consent — for IMAP, fill in hostname, port and credentials.
- Pick the folder to poll (typically INBOX). You can also tick subfolders if your routing rules drop mail elsewhere.
- Choose a polling interval — typically 1 minute for high-traffic support inboxes, 15 minutes for low-volume operational ones.
- Click Test Connection. The platform fetches the most recent five messages without ingesting them.
- Save and enable.
Example Inbox Configurations
- support@yourcompany.com — IMAP, 60-second polling, all incoming becomes a support ticket.
- bounces@yourcompany.com — IMAP, 5-minute polling, parsed by the bounce handler to flag bad recipients.
- noreply@yourcompany.com — Graph, 24-hour polling, used purely to receive and discard delivery receipts.
Warning: Never reuse a personal mailbox for inbox automation. The platform processes and may delete messages according to your rules. Always use a dedicated address.