Email Channel for Synkra Chat

Email Channel for Synkra Chat

Connect the email address your customers already use to Synkra Chat. Every incoming message becomes a conversation in your inbox. You reply from Synkra as normal, and the customer receives it as a regular email.

No mailbox passwords. No OAuth prompts. No forwarding rules to remember. Setup takes about two minutes.

Why Use the Email Channel

If your business already has a support address like support@yourcompany.co.za, the email channel lets you keep it while getting all the benefits of Synkra Chat:

• One inbox for everything. Email, website widget, and eventually WhatsApp and SMS conversations all appear in the same place.
• Threading that works. Customer replies stay grouped under the original conversation, not scattered as separate emails.
• Full history. Every message, attachment, and reply is searchable and auditable from a single view.
• Works with the AI features. Reply suggestions, conversation summaries, and the AI Agent all work on email conversations just like any other channel.
• No credentials to store. We never ask for your mailbox password or Microsoft or Google account access.

How It Works

Synkra Chat uses email forwarding. You set up a rule in your existing mailbox that forwards customer emails to a Synkra address. Synkra receives the email, identifies the customer and the thread, and creates a conversation.

The customer never sees the Synkra address. They keep emailing your normal business address. Only the forwarding rule knows about the Synkra address on the back end.

What Synkra receives

When an email arrives at your business address and forwards to Synkra:

• The sender’s email becomes or updates a contact record
• The subject becomes or matches the conversation title
• The body becomes the message content
• Attachments are downloaded and stored alongside the message
• The email headers (Message-ID, In-Reply-To, References) preserve the thread so replies stay together

What Synkra does not do

• We do not read your other emails. Only what you choose to forward.
• We do not store your mailbox password. Ever.
• We do not request access to your Google or Microsoft account.
• We do not reply on your behalf without your approval. Every message goes through the reply box.

Setting Up Your Email Channel

You need two things before you start:

1. A business email address that already receives customer mail
2. Admin access to that mailbox so you can add a forwarding rule

If both are true, you can connect your inbox in about five minutes.

Step 1: Create the Email Inbox in Synkra

1. Open Synkra Chat and go to Settings, then Inboxes.
2. Click Add Inbox.
3. Pick Email from the channel list.
4. Pick Forward from my existing email.
5. Enter a name for the inbox, for example “Support”.
6. Enter the business email address your customers use, for example support@yourcompany.co.za.
7. Click Create Email Channel.

Synkra generates a unique forwarding address for this inbox. It looks something like this:

0ddb963f6656f49b5ce7b439fde92146@inbound.synkra.co.za

Copy the address. You will need it in Step 2.

Step 2: Set Up Forwarding in Your Mailbox

Pick your provider below and follow the steps. Each one takes about a minute.

Gmail

1. Open Gmail in a browser and click the gear icon, then See all settings.
2. Go to the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
3. Click Add a forwarding address.
4. Paste the Synkra forwarding address shown above and click Next.
5. Google shows a confirmation dialog. Click Proceed, then OK.
6. Google sends a verification email. See Step 3 for what to do with it.
7. Once verified, look for the forwarding section in Gmail settings and choose Forward a copy of incoming mail to the Synkra address.
8. Click Save Changes.

Microsoft 365 and Outlook

1. Sign in to Outlook on the web at outlook.office.com.
2. Click the gear icon, then View all Outlook settings.
3. Go to Mail, then Forwarding.
4. Turn on Enable forwarding and paste the Synkra forwarding address.
5. Optionally tick Keep a copy of forwarded messages.
6. Click Save.
7. Microsoft may send a verification email. See Step 3 for what to do with it.

Other Providers

The exact wording varies, but the process is the same everywhere:

1. Open the settings of the mailbox that receives your customer emails.
2. Find the forwarding or auto-forward option. This often lives under Rules, Filters, or Forwarding.
3. Add the Synkra address as a forwarding destination.
4. Save the rule.
5. If your provider sends a verification email, follow Step 3.

Step 3: Complete the Verification

Most mailbox providers send a verification email when you add a new forwarding address. This is a security check by the provider, not by Synkra.

The verification email is addressed to the Synkra forwarding address, so it arrives as a new conversation in your Synkra inbox. Here is what to do:

1. Open Synkra Chat and look for a new conversation. The sender is usually something like forwarding-noreply@google.com or no-reply@microsoft.com.
2. Open the conversation and read the email.
3. Copy the confirmation link inside the email.
4. Open the link in a new browser tab.
5. On the provider’s confirmation page, click the confirm button.
6. Return to Synkra. Your email channel is now live.

If you do not see the verification email in your Synkra conversations within a few minutes, check your mailbox provider’s forwarding settings. Some providers hide the verification step until you save the setting first.

Step 4: Test It

Send a test email from a different address to your business email. Within about thirty seconds it should appear as a new conversation in Synkra Chat.

If it does not appear:

• Confirm the forwarding rule is enabled and saved
• Confirm the verification step is complete (some providers show a “Pending” status until you confirm)
• Check the spam folder of your business mailbox in case the test email was filtered

Managing Your Email Channel

Once set up, the email channel works quietly in the background. You can manage it from Settings, then Inboxes, then click your email inbox.

Seeing the Forwarding Address

The Configuration tab shows the Synkra forwarding address. You do not normally need to use this address. It is stored there in case you need to redo the forwarding rule later.

Verification Status

If your provider sends a verification email that has not been confirmed yet, an amber banner appears at the top of the Configuration tab telling you what to do. The banner disappears automatically once the verification is complete.

Disabling Forwarding

To stop receiving emails into Synkra, remove the forwarding rule from your mailbox provider. Emails sent to your business address will then stay in your mailbox as normal.

How Email Affects Your Notification Email Allowance

Emails through your email channel count against the same shared pool as notification emails (transcripts) and outbound replies from Synkra. Every email in or out costs one credit.

This means:

• One credit for every customer email you receive
• One credit for every reply you send back to a customer
• One credit for every conversation transcript that Synkra emails on resolve

Your plan includes a monthly allowance for this pool, and you can buy top-ups at any time from Settings, then Billing.

See Credits and add-ons for how your allowance works.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to give Synkra my email password?

No. Synkra never asks for mailbox credentials. Forwarding happens entirely on the provider’s side using their standard forwarding feature.

Can I use my existing email address without changing anything?

Yes. Your customers keep emailing the same address. The forwarding rule is invisible to them.

What happens if I stop forwarding?

Your email channel goes quiet. Synkra stops receiving new emails for that inbox. Existing conversations stay in Synkra. Your mailbox resumes normal operation.

Can I forward from more than one email address to the same Synkra inbox?

Not yet. Each email address needs its own inbox in Synkra. If your business uses support@ and info@, create two inboxes.

Do replies from Synkra arrive as emails to the customer?

Yes. When you reply from Synkra, the customer receives a normal email. It looks like a reply to their original message, with proper threading.

What if a customer replies to a transcript email?

Their reply comes back into Synkra as a new message on the same conversation. The conversation reopens if it was resolved.

How do I know Synkra received my forwarding verification?

You will see an amber banner at the top of the inbox Configuration tab until you complete the provider’s confirmation step. Once you click the confirmation link in the verification email, the banner disappears.

Can I see which customers emailed me before I set up Synkra?

No. Synkra only sees emails forwarded from the point the rule was set up. Anything before that stays in your mailbox.

Does the email channel support attachments?

Yes. Incoming attachments are downloaded and stored alongside the conversation. Outgoing replies support standard attachment types.

Can I set up different email addresses for different teams?

Yes. Create a separate inbox for each team, for example Sales and Support. Each gets its own forwarding address.

What happens during a Synkra outage?

Emails sent to your business address continue to arrive in your mailbox. When Synkra comes back online, forwarded copies resume arriving in the inbox. You can find any missed emails in your mailbox and reply from there if needed.

Is my email content private?

Yes. Only emails you forward reach Synkra. Each account’s data is isolated from other accounts. See the privacy policy for details.

Can I import old email conversations?

Not automatically. You can forward specific old emails into the inbox if you want them in Synkra, but there is no bulk import tool.

Related Articles

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• The AI Agent
• Share your inbox with a QR code or link
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