Email Channels
Overview
Email channels connect your existing email addresses to There There. When a customer sends a message to support@yourcompany.com, that email gets forwarded to There There and becomes a ticket your team can pick up, assign, and reply to. The customer never notices the difference: replies come from your own domain, and your original mailbox keeps working as before.
Each email channel has its own address, color, and settings, making it easy to manage multiple support inboxes from one workspace.
Creating an email channel
Navigate to "Settings > Channels" and click to create a new email channel. You will need to provide:
- Name: an internal label so your team can tell channels apart (e.g. "Product Support", "Sales Inquiries").
- Email address: the address your customers already write to (e.g.
help@yourcompany.com). If you don't have a mailbox for this address yet, create one first with your email provider. - Color: a color to help you identify this channel at a glance in the ticket list.
The setup process
After creating the channel, there are two more steps before it is fully operational.
Email forwarding
You need to configure your email provider (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) to forward a copy of every incoming message to There There. This is how tickets get created. Your original mailbox keeps receiving emails as before, and your provider's spam filter still runs before forwarding, so only legitimate messages reach There There.
The channel setup page shows the exact forwarding address to use and includes step-by-step instructions for common providers. For the complete guide, see Email Forwarding.
DNS configuration
Three DNS records are needed so There There can send emails from your domain. Without them, replies would come from a generic address instead of support@yourcompany.com. The records cover domain ownership verification, DKIM email authentication, and bounce handling.
The setup page shows exactly which records to add. For provider-specific instructions (Cloudflare, Namecheap, Google Domains), see DNS Configuration.
Once forwarding is verified and all three DNS records are in place, the channel is ready. Incoming emails become tickets, and your team's replies go out from your own domain.
Email aliases
You can add additional email aliases to an existing channel. Aliases let you receive mail at multiple addresses (e.g. info@yourcompany.com and hello@yourcompany.com) while keeping all tickets in a single channel. Each alias needs its own forwarding setup, but if the alias uses the same domain as the main channel, the DNS records are reused automatically.
Channel settings
Each email channel has several configurable options:
- Brains: tick one or more brains the AI assistant should search when working on tickets in this channel. Different channels can use different combinations, which is useful when you support multiple products. See Brains for details.
- Feedback requests: choose whether customers receive a feedback survey email after a ticket on this channel is closed. This is off by default. See Customer Feedback Ratings for how the survey works.
- Access control: choose whether all workspace members can see tickets in this channel, or restrict it to specific people. Owners and admins always have access.
Signature
Each channel can have its own email signature that pre-fills below every reply sent from that channel. Everyone replying from the channel shares the same signature, so your team signs off consistently, and an agent can still edit or remove it before sending a particular reply.
Edit the signature under "Settings > Channels", open the channel, and go to the "Replies" tab (alongside the sender name). The signature is positioned below the agent's personal reply template, so the reply template covers the opening and body while the signature holds the closing sign-off.
Signatures support placeholders that are filled in per sender when a reply is composed:
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
{{ agent.name }} |
The name of the team member sending the reply |
{{ agent.email }} |
That team member's email address |
{{ channel.name }} |
The name of this channel |
{{ workspace.name }} |
The workspace name |
Replies sent before you have set up your own channel (from the starter inbox) do not include a signature.
Branding
Outgoing emails are sent from your channel's email address using your verified domain, so replies look professional and consistent. Adding a workspace logo in "Settings > General" will include it in outgoing messages.
Deleting a channel
When you no longer need a channel, you can request its deletion from the channel settings. The channel and its associated mail server resources will be cleaned up. Existing tickets remain in your workspace for historical reference.