Channels
Email: mailbox connection, threading and attachments
How the agent works in the shared mailboxes your customers already write to, keeps each thread as one issue, and reads the documents customers attach.
On this page
Your customers already write to addresses like claims@, reservations@ and customercare@, and those inboxes fill faster than a team can clear them. The agent works inside those mailboxes. It reads each incoming email, understands the issue, looks up what it needs in your systems, and replies in the same thread from your own address, or holds a draft for your team to approve. The shared inbox stops being a backlog, and every email is written to the same customer record as the customer's calls and messages.
What the agent does with each email
For every email that arrives in a mailbox it monitors, the agent works out what the customer wants, identifies them from their email address and any reference they quote, and checks the history of the thread. Then it takes one of three routes, according to the rules you set:
| Route | When | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Reply in the thread | The request is within the agent's limits | A guest asks for an invoice for last week's stay, and the agent replies with the invoice attached |
| Draft for your team to approve | The category is one you have chosen to review before sending | A buyer disputes a service charge, and a reply is prepared for the customer care team to check. See Drafts for human review |
| Hand to your team | The email needs a person | A policyholder's email mentions a serious injury, and the thread goes to a claims handler with a brief |
Connecting your mailbox
The agent connects to the mail system your business already uses: Microsoft Exchange, which your team uses through Microsoft Outlook, or Google Workspace, which your team uses through Gmail. The connection is a standard mailbox connection, configured during implementation for the mailboxes you choose.
Your mail stays in your mail system. Customers write to the same addresses, the agent's replies are sent from those addresses, and they appear in the mailbox alongside your team's replies. Your team can keep working in the same mailbox, and can see what the agent has sent.
The technical detail
| Item | How it works |
|---|---|
| Mail systems | Microsoft Exchange and Google Workspace |
| How access is granted | Your mail administrator authorises the connection in your mail system, using OAuth (the standard way to grant an application limited access without sharing a password), for the mailboxes you name. Your administrator can review or withdraw the access there |
| Which mailboxes | Only the mailboxes you choose, such as shared or group mailboxes. Other mailboxes in your organisation are not connected |
| Encryption in transit | Every connection between your mail system and the deployment uses TLS (Transport Layer Security) version 1.2 or higher |
| Where the email is processed | In your chosen region. All processing for your deployment runs in the region you choose, unless you explicitly choose a language model provider outside it |
| Where the mailbox is held | In your mail system, under your agreement with your mail provider, as today |
One thread, one issue
An email thread can run for weeks, pick up replies from several people, and be forwarded along the way. The agent tracks each thread as a single conversation, and treats it as one issue until it is resolved. Nothing is answered twice, and nothing is lost in a forward chain.
When a customer replies to an earlier email, the agent reads the whole thread before answering. When the same customer writes again in a new thread about the same matter, the new email is linked to the open issue in their customer record. See Issues and threading.
Signatures, copied recipients and forwarding
Replies follow your email conventions. The sender name, signature and any legal footer are set with you, in each language you use, so a reply from the agent looks like a reply from your team.
How the agent treats people copied on an email, and emails forwarded into the mailbox by colleagues, is agreed with you during implementation. For example, a broker copied on a policyholder's email can stay copied on the reply, and an email a colleague forwards from their own inbox is linked to the customer it is about, not to your colleague.
Attachments
Customers attach what they have: a bank statement, a signed contract, a photo of a damaged car, a hotel receipt. The agent opens and reads attachments in common document and image formats, and uses what they contain to answer. Attachment reading is configured during implementation.
| Attachment | What the agent does |
|---|---|
| A document requested for a process | Checks it is the right document and complete, and attaches it to the right record in your systems |
| A document with a question about it | Reads it and answers the question from your systems and approved material |
| A photo | Reads what it shows and files it against the right record |
Images and documents are read by a model running in your chosen region. Attachments are stored in your deployment only with your permission, for the period you set, and personal information in stored content is redacted according to the settings you choose. See Personal information redaction.
In practice
Wadi Assurance, an insurer in Dubai, connects its motor claims mailbox.
- A broker emails the claims mailbox on behalf of Leila, a policyholder, with the police report and a garage estimate attached, and copies Leila.
- The agent finds the open claim from the claim reference in the subject line, reads both attachments, and confirms they are the documents the claim needs.
- It attaches both to the claim in the claims system and replies in the same thread, to the broker with Leila still copied, confirming receipt and listing the one document still outstanding: a copy of her driving licence.
- Two days later, Leila replies to the same thread with the licence. The agent attaches it and confirms the claim file is complete.
- The claims handler opens the claim to three documents, already filed, and a thread that reads as one conversation in Leila's customer record.
What your team controls
- Which mailboxes the agent monitors, and which emails it answers, drafts or hands over.
- The sender name, signature and footer on replies, in each language.
- How copied recipients and forwarded emails are handled.
- Where attachments are filed in your systems.
- How long emails and attachments are kept in your deployment, and the redaction settings applied.
- Access to the mailbox connection, held by your mail administrator.
Related
- Email: drafts for human reviewChannels
- Microsoft OutlookIntegrations · Email and calendars
- GmailIntegrations · Email and calendars
- Issues and threadingCustomer record
- Hosting and data residencySecurity and data protection
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