Switch from an email integration to email forwardingUpdated 5 hours ago

The Gmail and Outlook365 integrations allow brands on the Basic or Pro helpdesk plan who send fewer than 500 emails each day to quickly connect an email address to Gorgias, and send and reply to customer emails. If you’ve noticed persistent email delivery issues, or your operations have grown beyond 500 emails per day, we recommend switching to automatic email forwarding to ensure emails sent from Gorgias always reach your customers.

Requirements

• All Helpdesk plans (Basic, Pro, Advanced or Enterprise) can use automatic email forwarding to connect their email address to Gorgias
• Only Admins can set up email forwarding
• Admin access to your email provider is required to set up automatic forwarding and verify your domain. Invite your email administrator or IT to Gorgias

Switch to email forwarding

To switch from the email integration to email forwarding, you’ll need to delete your existing integration, then set up forwarding. Deleting the integration will not delete any email tickets already in Gorgias.

Step 1: Delete the existing integration

1. From your helpdesk, click the Settings icon in the bottom-left corner.
2. In the sidebar, locate Channels, then select Email.
3. Select an email address from the list, then click Delete Integration.
4. Click Confirm.
   
   

Step 2: Re-add the email to Gorgias

1. From your helpdesk, click the Settings icon in the bottom-left corner.
2. In the sidebar, locate Channels, then select Email.
3. Click Add New Email in the top-right corner, then select Email forwarding.
4. Enter the email address and Email display name.
5. Click Next, and copy the forwarding address provided by Gorgias.
   
   

Step 3: Set up forwarding in your email provider

1. In a new tab, sign-in to your email inbox.
2. Enable automatic forwarding in your email settings, pasting the address you copied from Gorgias into the forwarding address field in your email settings.
3. Return to Gorgias, check the box next to I confirm that I have set up email forwarding, then click Next. Gorgias will send a test email to verify that the forwarding loop is set up correctly.

If you aren’t sure how to configure email forwarding, we recommend reaching out to your email service provider for support, or referring to their documentation. We’ve listed instructions from some common email providers below:

• Microsoft 365 (make sure automatic forwarding is enabled in your anti-spam outbound policy)
• Outlook
• Gmail
• iCloud
• GoDaddy
• Zoho
  
  

Step 4: Verify your domain

To complete the setup, follow the steps to verify your domain.

Verifying your domain is required to reduce bounce rates, prevent emails from landing in recipients' Spam folders, and ensure your email address is recognized as safe by your customers' email providers. You won't be able to send and receive email in Gorgias with email forwarding until you've verified your domain.

Step 5: Run an email import (optional)

You can run an email import to ensure that emails you received during the switch are added to Gorgias. Here’s how:

1. From your helpdesk, click the Settings icon in the bottom-left corner.
2. In the menu, locate Advanced, then select Email Import.
3. Click Import Email.
4. Under Email, click the dropdown menu, then search for and select the email address.
5. Select your email provider.
6. Under Import timeframe, click the dropdown menu to open the calendar picker, then select from the predefined timeframes, or enter a custom date range.
7. Click Authenticate And Import, then sign in to the email account you’ve specified.
   
   

Why switch?

The Gmail and Outlook integrations are built on Google and Microsoft’s email policies. This means that email sent using these integrations is subject to:

• Rate limits
  Due to rate limits implemented by Google and Microsoft, the Gmail and Outlook integrations can only send and read a certain number of messages per minute or hour. These rate limits are designed to prevent the email system from being overloaded, but can sometimes result in issues between Gorgias and your email provider, like emails from your customers not appearing in Gorgias, or your emails failing to send.
• Inbox capacity restrictions (receiving limits)
  When you connect your email to Gorgias using the integration, you receive a copy of each email in your provider’s inbox, as well as in Gorgias. If you don’t regularly monitor your Gmail or Outlook Inbox, you might reach your storage limit, and be prevented from receiving additional email.
• Outbox capacity restrictions (sending limits)
  Similar to storage limits on your inbox, your email provider may have a storage limit for sent mail. When you connect your email to Gorgias using the integration, a copy of each outgoing email is saved in your email provider’s outbox, as well as in Gorgias. When this storage limit is reached, you might be prevented from sending additional email.

Switching to automatic email forwarding ensures that your replies always reach customers, incoming emails instantly appear in Gorgias, and you can send and receive email in Gorgias without using your inbox and outbox storage.