Connect and test your email

Goal

Connect a company mailbox that can receive messages through IMAP and send messages through SMTP.

Prerequisites

• Your plan includes email integration and your role can edit Communications settings.
• You have the mailbox address, password or app password, SMTP host and port, and IMAP host and port.
• IMAP access is enabled by your mailbox provider.

Steps

1. Open Settings > Communications and find Email Accounts.
2. Select Add Email Account.
3. Enter Account name and Email address. Use a name that helps your team identify the mailbox.
4. Enter SMTP host and SMTP port from your mailbox provider. SMTP is used to send mail. The email address is the login; this form does not have a separate username or sender display-name field.
5. For incoming mail, enter IMAP host, IMAP port, and the provider's Use TLS setting. Enter the mailbox password or app password in Password in this form only. IMAP receives mail; without it, Inbox sync and reply threading are unavailable. Never paste a password into Carson or a support message. Do not guess provider settings.
6. Select Add Account.
7. On the saved account, select Test connection. Saving alone does not test the mailbox. This account test verifies SMTP, the sending connection. It does not test IMAP or send a message; verify receiving and delivery in the next steps.
8. If this is the mailbox your team normally uses, make it the default account.
9. Open Inbox and run a refresh or fetch. Confirm that recent mail appears under the correct account.
10. Send a controlled test message to an address you own. Confirm both the success message in 4fleet and delivery in the receiving mailbox.

Expected result

The account is listed as connected, Test Connection succeeds, Inbox can retrieve messages, and a controlled outbound message is delivered from the expected sender.

Troubleshooting

• Authentication fails: use an app password when the provider requires one. A normal sign-in password may be rejected.
• You cannot add, edit or test the account: adding needs Settings create permission; editing and testing need Settings edit permission and access to manage that mailbox. Ask your workspace owner to check your access.
• You need help: ask Carson to guide you one step at a time, or email support@4fleet.io with the error text after removing credentials.
• Sending works but Inbox stays empty: recheck IMAP host, port, TLS, and whether IMAP access is enabled.
• Inbox works but sending fails: recheck SMTP host, port, encryption, and the provider's authenticated-sender rules.
• Messages use the wrong From address: set the intended default account or choose the correct From account when composing.
• A quote or invoice did not arrive: inspect the send result and Sent folder. Do not assume delivery from the record status alone.
• Tracking looks inconsistent: marketing messages may use open and click tracking when enabled. Quote-link views are recorded separately when the customer opens the quote page.

Guided check: Email delivery

4fleet can run an automated Email delivery check on this workspace. The check only reads what is already stored, changes nothing, and returns one line per test. A fail line is what is blocking you, a warning works but is degraded, skipped means the test did not apply here, and unknown means the record could not be read, so that line proves nothing either way. What each line means:

• Mailbox configured (mailbox_configured): fails when no mailbox is connected at all. Until you add one, quotes, invoices, dispatch requests and invites are not delivered.
• Outbound SMTP ready (outbound_smtp_ready): fails when no connected mailbox carries SMTP settings, so outbound mail has no route. Re-enter the SMTP host, port and encryption.
• Inbound IMAP ready (inbound_imap_ready): warns when no IMAP settings exist. Sending still works, but replies and new enquiries are not read into Inbox.
• Account status healthy (account_status_healthy): fails when the default mailbox is not connected, and warns when a non-default one is not. The line names the address and its state; re-run Test Connection on that account.
• Credentials present (credentials_present): fails when a mailbox has host settings but no stored password, so every connection attempt is rejected at authentication. Re-enter the password or app password.
• IMAP watch healthy (imap_watch_healthy): fails when IMAP sync is erroring on a named mailbox, and warns when a mailbox is connected but not watching, in which case incoming mail arrives late or not at all.
• No recent send error (no_recent_send_error): warns when a mailbox recorded an error in the last 24 hours, with the time and the provider's own message.