#Email

#What it is

The Email channel lets Threadline send email through your own mail server (for example Gmail, Google Workspace, SendGrid, Mailgun, Amazon SES or any SMTP server). You use it for email campaigns (newsletters, offers, announcements), the Send an email automation step, and test messages.

It is mainly for sending, and it can also receive: if you give Threadline the mailbox login (IMAP), customer replies appear in your Inbox like any other conversation, and your team (or the AI) can answer from there. Without the mailbox login, replies stay in the from address's own mailbox.

#The problem it solves

Not every customer is on WhatsApp. Emails are good for long messages, receipts, newsletters and anything that should be kept. Sending them from your own address, with your own sender name, means they look like they come from you and land in your customers' inboxes, not from an unknown platform. And Threadline takes care of the legal and technical parts that are easy to get wrong: the unsubscribe link, your postal address, bounce handling.

#How it works

1. You connect your mail server (host, port, login) or choose a preset.
2. You write an email in the campaign wizard, or add a Send an email step to an automation.
3. Threadline sends it through your server, adds the footer, and records opens, clicks, bounces and unsubscribes.
4. If you connected the mailbox, Threadline checks it about once a minute and shows new customer mail in the Inbox.

#1. Connecting an email channel

1. Go to Channels, Connect a channel and choose Email.

2. Give it a Name.

3. Pick your Mail server preset. It fills in the usual host, port and encryption, and shows a short guide:

   • Gmail / Google Workspace. Turn on 2-Step Verification, create an App password under Google Account, Security, and use it as the password. The username is your full Gmail address. Gmail limits how many emails you can send a day, so it suits small lists. To show replies in the Inbox you also need an App password and IMAP access, see Switch IMAP on in your mailbox.
   • SendGrid, Mailgun, Amazon SES. Use the SMTP login those services give you (often "apikey" as the username and the key as the password).
   • Another SMTP server. Enter everything yourself.
   • Threadline's own mail server. Shown only if the person who runs your Threadline installation allows workspaces to send through it. You then give just a from name.

4. Fill in SMTP host, Port, Encryption (TLS usually 587, SSL usually 465, or None), Username and Password or API key.

5. From address (must be an address your provider lets you send from) and From name (the sender name people see, like your business name).

6. Click Connect.

7. Show customer replies in the Inbox (optional). Tick the box. For Gmail / Google Workspace there is nothing more to fill in: Threadline reads imap.gmail.com with the same login and App password you entered above (see Switch IMAP on in your mailbox if the login is refused). For Another SMTP server an IMAP host field appears (often mail.yourdomain.com), with port 993 and SSL already chosen. If your mailbox uses a different login, click My mailbox uses a different login and enter it. SendGrid, Mailgun and Amazon SES only send, so the box is not offered for them. Leave it unticked to only send.

Then use Check the connection in the channel's menu to verify the login, and the Send a test message box to send yourself an email.

#Switch IMAP on in your mailbox

Threadline can only read replies if your mailbox allows IMAP. Many mailboxes have it off by default.

Gmail / Google Workspace

1. Open Gmail, then Settings (the gear) and See all settings.
2. Open the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab and look at the IMAP access section.
3. Personal Gmail: there is usually no on/off switch any more. Google keeps IMAP available, and the section only shows delete and folder-size options. You can leave all of them as they are. Threadline only reads your mail and never deletes or moves it, so none of those options affect it.
4. If you do see a Status line with Enable IMAP, choose Enable IMAP and click Save Changes at the bottom.
5. Use an App password as the password: turn on 2-Step Verification under Google Account, Security, then create an App password. Your normal Google password does not work.

If you use Google Workspace and "Check the connection" says the login was refused, your administrator may have switched IMAP off for the domain, or may not allow App passwords. They can enable it in the Admin console, under Apps, Google Workspace, Gmail, End User Access.

Another mail server (your own domain or hosting)

1. Find the IMAP host in your hosting or mail provider's help pages. It is often mail.yourdomain.com. It can differ from the SMTP host.
2. Use port 993 with SSL, unless your provider says otherwise.
3. Use the mailbox's full address as the username. If it has its own password, tick My mailbox uses a different login in the form and enter it.
4. Make sure the mailbox is a real one with its own storage. Forwarding-only addresses and sending-only accounts cannot be read.

After saving, use Check the connection in the channel's menu. It tells you right away if the mailbox cannot be read, and why.

#Before you send to a big list

Good deliverability is mostly about your sender reputation:

• Send from a dedicated sending domain (for example mail.yourbusiness.com) with SPF, DKIM and DMARC records set up at your domain host. Your provider (SendGrid, Mailgun, SES) shows exactly what to add.
• Warm up a new domain. Start with a small segment and grow the size over a few days. A sudden large send from a new domain often lands in spam.
• Only email people who agreed to email. A high bounce or complaint rate can get your mail account suspended.
• Send a test to yourself first, and check it in Gmail and Outlook.

#Replies in the Inbox

When the mailbox is connected:

• Threadline reads the inbox about once a minute (it runs from the same cron job as everything else, see Owner, Cron & Health). It only reads; it never deletes or moves your mail.
• The first time it only notes where your mailbox ends. Old mail is not imported, only mail that arrives after you connect.
• Each new message from a customer opens or continues a conversation with that person. Only the new text is kept, not the quoted earlier mail.
• Replying from the Inbox sends a normal email from your address as "Re: subject", in the same thread in your customer's mail app. It has no unsubscribe footer, because it is a one-to-one answer, not a campaign.
• The channel page shows when the mailbox was last checked, and any error (a wrong password, IMAP switched off).
• Skipped on purpose: automatic replies ("out of office"), bounce notices, mail from no-reply addresses and mail sent from the channel's own address, so Threadline never answers a robot or itself.
• Like WhatsApp and SMS, if an assistant is set on the channel, the AI answers email too. Leave the assistant empty if you want only people to reply.
• Replies count toward your plan's emails per month.

#Starting an email yourself

Click New in the Inbox, then Or a new email address (or search an existing contact), choose the email channel, write a subject and a message, and send. The person's reply comes back to the same conversation.

You cannot email someone from here who unsubscribed or whose address bounced.

#2. Your business address

Before you can launch an email campaign, add your business postal address under Settings, Workspace. Laws such as CAN-SPAM and GDPR require it in marketing emails, so Threadline puts it in every footer and will not launch without it.

#3. Email campaigns

Create them in Broadcast. The email step of the wizard gives you:

• a subject, with Improve subject (three alternatives);
• a Visual editor and an HTML editor;
• a gallery of ten ready-made designs (Onboarding, Marketing, Content, Retention, Events);
• merge tags: {{contact.name}}, {{contact.first_name}}, {{contact.email}}, {{contact.phone}};
• Write with AI (a brief and a tone give you a draft to edit; nothing is saved or sent for you);
• a safe live preview;
• tracking tick-boxes: Track opens and Track clicks.

#The footer you cannot remove

Every campaign email ends with:

• why the person received it;
• your postal address;
• an Unsubscribe link;
• hidden headers that make Gmail and Outlook show their own "Unsubscribe" button.

One click on the link opts that person out of email. It does not affect their consent on WhatsApp or SMS.

#Tracking, in plain words

• Opens are counted when the email's tiny invisible image loads. Some mail apps block it (you miss an open) and some load it automatically (you count one that was not really opened). Treat opens as an estimate.
• Clicks are counted when someone follows a link, because links go through a safe redirect first.

You choose both per campaign. A note in the editor explains this to you.

#Bounces

A bounce is when a mail server says an address does not exist. Threadline marks that recipient Bounced, remembers it, and skips it in every future campaign so your sender reputation is not harmed. A temporary problem (full mailbox, server busy) never marks an address as bad.

#4. The "Send an email" automation step

In an automation, Send an email picks one of your email channels, a subject and a short message (merge tokens work). It adds the same footer and unsubscribe link. It is skipped (not failed) if the person has no email address, has not agreed to email, or has unsubscribed.

#5. Plan limits

Your plan may limit emails per month. When it is used up, further emails are marked Failed with the reason until next month. See Plans and Billing.

#Common questions

My campaign stays "queued" and nothing is sent. Sending runs in the background, with a speed limit. If it never starts, the background worker is not running. Tell the person who runs your Threadline installation to check the cron job (Owner, Cron & Health). See Troubleshooting.

My emails land in spam. Use a proper sending service (SendGrid, Mailgun, SES) with your domain set up (SPF and DKIM) rather than a personal Gmail for big lists. Keep your list clean, use a real from name and avoid shouting subject lines.

Launch is refused. Add your business address under Settings, Workspace, and make sure the subject and body are filled in.

Why did nothing arrive for some people? Open the campaign report. Each person shows Sent, Bounced or a failure sentence from the mail server.

Can customers reply to a campaign email? Yes. They reply to your From address. If you connected the mailbox, the reply also shows up in the Inbox within about a minute. If not, it only arrives in your normal mailbox.

A reply never appears in the Inbox. Check the channel page: it shows the last time the mailbox was read and any error. The usual causes are IMAP switched off for the account (Google Workspace administrators can do this), a wrong App password, or the cron job not running. Mail that arrived before you connected the mailbox is not imported.

Why did an email not appear? Automatic replies and mail from no-reply addresses are skipped on purpose.

What does Verify do? It opens and closes a connection to your mail server to check the login, without sending anything.