Connect your support mailbox to Zaags

Setup guide for the business owner or IT admin · last updated September 2026 · about 10 minutes

Let the Zaags Assistant answer a support address such as support@yourcompany.com, grounded in your CRM or store (Salesforce, HubSpot or WooCommerce), threaded like a normal reply, and handed to your team whenever a human should answer. Email is the simplest channel to set up; the only real decision is which mailbox.

0What you need

A mailbox on a provider that allows IMAP and SMTP with an app password: Google Workspace / Gmail, and almost every web-hosting mailbox (cPanel, Plesk, OVH, IONOS, Infomaniak…). Microsoft 365 / Outlook.com mailboxes cannot be connected directly, use Option B.
Admin access to that mailbox (to create an app password) and, for Option B, to its forwarding rules.
Your Zaags account with the 🤝 ZaagsForce Assistant tool open and your CRM or store (Salesforce, HubSpot or WooCommerce) already connected.

1Pick a dedicated mailbox

The assistant answers everything that lands in the mailbox you connect

So connect a dedicated support address, never a person's mailbox, never an address that also receives invoices, newsletters or internal mail. If your support address is shared with other uses today, create a new one (for example help@ or assistant@) and publish it, or use forwarding (Option B) so only customer emails reach the assistant.

Turn off any vacation / auto-responder on that mailbox, two robots answering each other is the one thing we cannot fully prevent on your side.
If the address is a group or alias (several people receive it), decide who still reads it: once the assistant answers, your team receives the hand-overs through Zaags alerts (and your CRM, if it records them), not by reading the mailbox.

2Option A, connect it directly (recommended)

Google Workspace / Gmail

Sign in to the support mailbox. Make sure 2-Step Verification is on (Google Account → Security), app passwords require it.
Google Account → Security → App passwords → name it Zaags Assistant → copy the 16-character password.
In Zaags: 🤝 ZaagsForce Assistant → 3 · Channels → Email → Connect a mailbox → choose Google, enter the address and the app password. Server details are filled in for you (imap.gmail.com:993, smtp.gmail.com:465).

A hosting-provider mailbox (cPanel, Plesk, OVH…)

In your hosting panel, open the mailbox and note the IMAP host and port (usually mail.yourdomain.com, port 993, SSL) and the SMTP host and port (465 SSL or 587 STARTTLS). Use the mailbox password or, if your provider offers them, an app-specific password.
In Zaags: Connect a mailbox → Other (IMAP/SMTP), enter address, password, and the four server fields. Zaags tests both connections and shows the result.

Replies are sent from the same mailbox through its own SMTP server, so they carry your domain's normal SPF/DKIM signatures nothing to configure for deliverability.

3Option B, forward to a mailbox Zaags reads

Use this when your support address is on Microsoft 365, or when you want to keep the existing address and mailbox exactly as they are.

Create a new mailbox on a supported provider (for example assistant@yourdomain.com on Google Workspace or your web host). Connect it in Zaags as in Option A.
On the existing address (e.g. support@), add an auto-forward rule to the new mailbox. Microsoft 365: Exchange admin → Mailboxes → Mail flow → Email forwarding (or a transport rule); keep a copy if you want the old inbox to stay readable.
In the Zaags channel card, set Reply as to the original address. This works when the new mailbox's provider is allowed to send as that address, for Google Workspace, add it under Gmail Settings → Accounts → Send mail as; otherwise replies come from assistant@ with the original address in copy, which is also fine.

4If you use Salesforce Email-to-Case

One address, one robot

If support@ already feeds Email-to-Case, do not also connect it to Zaags: every email would open a Case in Salesforce and get an assistant reply, and the two would fight over the thread. Choose one of these:

Let the assistant own the address. Point Email-to-Case at a different address (or switch it off for this one). The assistant opens a Case itself with the full thread and a draft, exactly when a human is needed, so nothing is lost and your queue only gets what needs people.
Keep Email-to-Case, give the assistant its own address. Publish help@ for the assistant and keep support@ for the human queue. Customers who write to help@ and need a person still end up in a Case.

5How the assistant behaves

Threading. Replies go out as normal replies (same subject with “Re:”, proper reply headers), so mail clients show one conversation. A customer answering the reply continues the same thread in Zaags, and in the CRM case or ticket, if one was opened.
Disclosure. The first reply in a thread says it comes from the AI assistant of your business and that a person will step in when needed, required by law in the EU and not editable beyond your business name. You can add your own signature under it.
Who is this? The sender's address is matched to your CRM contacts (or store customers), but an email address is a hint, not proof. Before the assistant shares anything from a customer's record it verifies them: a one-time code sent to the phone on file (or a check you define, such as case or order number + postcode). You choose the required level per type of data in Settings; details such as addresses or amounts always require verification, and nobody can ever ask about anyone else's record.
Loop safety, built in. The assistant ignores bounces, out-of-office replies, newsletters and anything marked automatic; never replies to the same sender twice within ten minutes; and marks its own mail as automated so other systems do not reply to it.
Attachments (PDF, images) are read only if you enable “read attachments”; they stay in Zaags and are linked from the case or ticket, never uploaded to your CRM or store.
Hand-over. Same as every channel: the assistant tells the customer a colleague will follow up, stops, and alerts your team (Zaags, email, Telegram/Slack if linked, and a Salesforce Case or HubSpot ticket) with the thread, the customer's CRM details and a drafted reply. Your colleague answers from the link; the reply is sent from your support address.
Business hours and languages follow the settings you chose for the assistant; outside hours the customer gets an honest “we'll reply on day” and the alert is marked after-hours.

6Test it

From a personal address, email the support address a question your Knowledge answers; then a question it does not; then “please have someone call me”.
Expect: a grounded reply within a minute or two; an honest “I don't have that, shall I pass you to the team?”; and a hand-over that arrives as an alert with a reply link (and as a Case in Salesforce or a ticket in HubSpot).
Reply from the alert link and check the email arrives in the same thread, from your support address.

7Switching it off

Pause the channel in Zaags, mail keeps arriving in the mailbox, your team is alerted, nothing is answered automatically.
Disconnect the mailbox in Zaags credentials are deleted immediately.
From your side, delete the app password (Google: Security → App passwords) or change the mailbox password. Zaags stops on its next check and shows the channel as needing attention.

8Troubleshooting

You see	Cause	Fix
“Authentication failed” on connect	Normal password used where an app password is required; 2-Step Verification off; IMAP disabled	Create an app password (section 2); enable IMAP in the mailbox settings if your provider has that switch
Microsoft 365 will not connect	Microsoft no longer allows password sign-in for IMAP	Use Option B (forwarding)
The assistant did not answer an email	It looked automatic (bounce, newsletter, “do not reply”), the sender wrote twice within ten minutes, or the mailbox is paused / out of conversations	Check the thread in Zaags → Conversations; the reason is shown on the thread
Replies land in the customer's spam	Sending from a provider not authorised for your domain (Option B without “send as”)	Add the address under “Send mail as”, or let replies come from the connected mailbox
Two replies to the same email	Email-to-Case and the assistant both watch the address, or a vacation responder is on	Section 4; switch the responder off
Old emails were answered after connecting	Unread mail was already in the inbox	Zaags only answers mail that arrives after connection; mark the backlog read before connecting to be safe

9Questions

Does Zaags read my whole mailbox? Only the connected support mailbox, and only new mail in its inbox. Nothing else on your domain.

Where do the emails go? Same as every channel, see Where your data lives: the archive is in your own Drive or Supabase (and in your CRM for hand-overs, with Salesforce or HubSpot); Zaags keeps a working copy only briefly.

Can I have several mailboxes? Yes, one per brand or language, each with its own channel card. Email channels are included in the base plan.

Need help? Write to contact [at] zaags.app with a screenshot of the channel card.