> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ravenna.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Email support

> Point an existing shared inbox at a Ravenna channel: enable inbound email, forward from Google or Microsoft, configure outbound replies, and handle guests.

Most teams already have a `it@` or `people@` inbox that nobody enjoys owning. This playbook points it at Ravenna without changing the address anyone has memorized, so email becomes just another way requests reach the same channel, agent, and workflows.

<Info icon="list-check">
  **Prerequisites:** a channel that is already receiving requests, from the [Day one](/guides/day-one/overview) track. Email is a setting on a channel, not a separate thing to build.
</Info>

## 1. Enable inbound email on the channel

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open channel settings">
    Select the channel in the sidebar and click **Settings**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Go to Email">
    Click **Email** in the left navigation. The tab splits into **Inbound**, which controls what becomes a ticket, and **Outbound**, which controls what Ravenna sends.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Turn on inbound email">
    Under **Inbound**, in the **Receiving email** card, enable **Allow inbound emails to be sent to this channel**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Copy the channel address">
    Ravenna generates a unique address in the form `PREFIX+CHANNEL_ID@mail.ravenna.ai`. This is the address you forward to. You are not asking anyone to use it directly.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## 2. Forward your real inbox to it

Keep `it@yourcompany.com` as the address people use, and forward it to the Ravenna address.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Forward from Google" icon="mail" href="/integrations/email/forward-from-google" horizontal>
    Gmail and Google Workspace.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Forward from Microsoft" icon="mail" href="/integrations/email/forward-from-microsoft" horizontal>
    Outlook and Microsoft 365.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

<Callout icon="link" color="#6B7280">Learn more about [configuring forwarding](/integrations/email/configure-forwarding) for other providers</Callout>

## 3. Understand what happens to an incoming email

When mail arrives at the channel address, Ravenna extracts the sender, subject, and body, checks whether it belongs to an existing ticket thread, and creates a new ticket if it does not. Senders outside your organization become guest users automatically, and CC recipients are added as followers.

The resulting ticket inherits the channel's configuration, which is the whole point: the same agent, the same forms, the same workflows. You do not build an email pipeline, you attach a doorway to the desk you already have.

<Callout icon="link" color="#6B7280">Learn more about [email-to-ticket conversion](/integrations/email/overview#how-email-to-ticket-conversion-works)</Callout>

## 4. Turn on agent auto-respond

An agent will not answer an email ticket unless you tell it to. Enable **Auto-respond to email** on the agent, and set a response delay if context tends to arrive in follow-up messages. Delays run from immediate to five minutes.

If the agent cannot give a definitive answer, the ticket is tagged `ai-unresolved` for a human to pick up, which makes a useful view.

<Callout icon="link" color="#6B7280">Learn more about [auto-respond](/documentation/automate/agents/customize#auto-respond)</Callout>

## 5. Configure outbound before you go live

Two outbound settings prevent the two classic email failures.

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Blocked recipients, to stop reply loops" defaultOpen>
    If another ticketing system or an auto-responder is on the other end, two systems can generate mail at each other indefinitely. Under **Outbound** > **Blocked recipients**, add the offending addresses or domains as chips.

    Domain entries match subdomains too, so `vendor-helpdesk.com` also blocks `tickets@mail.vendor-helpdesk.com`. If every recipient on an email is blocked, Ravenna skips sending it rather than delivering to nobody.

    This only affects outbound mail. Blocked users still see updates in Ravenna and Slack, and inbound from those addresses is unaffected.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Mask internal agent emails, on by default">
    Workspace members are stripped from the To and CC of outbound replies, so your team's personal addresses do not leak to external recipients.

    The requester is always kept, even when they are a workspace member opening their own ticket, and genuinely external participants are always kept.

    Leave this on unless you have a specific reason not to.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

<Callout icon="link" color="#6B7280">Learn more about [outbound email configuration](/integrations/email/overview#outbound-email-configuration)</Callout>

## 6. Decide who is allowed to create tickets

Under **Inbound**, the **Blocked senders** and **Allow list** cards control which addresses can create tickets. Both take addresses or domains as chips, normalized to lowercase.

* If email is only for internal staff who forgot about Slack, restrict it to your own domains.
* If you support contractors, vendors, or customers, leave it open and enable guest users.

Guest users created this way get a Ravenna record, email notifications about their own tickets, and the ability to reply by email. They cannot sign in, use Slack, see other people's tickets, or read private notes.

<Callout icon="link" color="#6B7280">Learn more about [security and filtering](/integrations/email/overview#security-and-filtering) and [guest users](/integrations/email/overview#guest-users)</Callout>

## 7. Test it properly

Send four emails before you announce anything:

* One from an internal address, and confirm the ticket has the right requester
* One from an external address, and confirm a guest user is created
* One reply to an existing ticket, and confirm it threads instead of creating a duplicate
* One with a CC, and confirm the CC becomes a follower

Then reply from Ravenna and check what actually lands in the requester's inbox, including who appears in the To and CC lines.

## Where teams get this wrong

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Retiring the old address">
    Forward it. People have it saved, in documents, and on printed signage.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Forgetting auto-respond">
    Without it, email tickets sit untouched while Slack tickets get instant AI answers.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="No blocked recipients">
    The first vendor auto-responder loop is memorable.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Not testing the reply path">
    Threading and recipient masking are exactly the things you want to discover in a test.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="SLAs and business hours" icon="timer" href="/guides/playbooks/slas-and-business-hours" horizontal>
    Email requesters have no idea you are offline. Set expectations.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Launch the Portal" icon="globe" href="/guides/playbooks/launch-the-portal" horizontal>
    A better front door for people who keep emailing.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>


## Related topics

- [Public vs private support](/guides/best-practices/public-vs-private-channels.md)
- [Set up your first channel](/guides/day-one/set-up-first-channel.md)
- [Expenses and invoices](/guides/playbooks/finance/expenses-and-invoices.md)
- [Launch the Portal](/guides/playbooks/launch-the-portal.md)
- [Product Updates](/changelog/2025.md)