Connecting an email channel to Desk

Desk supports email via standard IMAP/SMTP. The setup looks slightly different per provider but the underlying contract is the same.

Gmail / Google Workspace

Settings → Channels → Email → Add → Gmail. OAuth flow grants Desk read + send permission for the address. Approve under your Google Workspace admin if required by your org.

Caveat: if you use a shared mailbox (e.g., support@), connect it as a delegated account from a service user. Don't connect a personal account.

Microsoft 365 / Outlook

Settings → Channels → Email → Add → Microsoft. Same OAuth pattern. Admin-consent grant is required if your tenant has admin-consent enabled.

Postmark / Resend / SendGrid

For inbound, point your provider's inbound webhook at the URL Desk shows on the channel setup page. For outbound, paste the API key. Desk handles retries + bounces.

Custom IMAP / SMTP

For self-hosted or unusual providers, use the Custom option. You'll need:

• IMAP host + port + SSL flag + auth credentials (for inbound)
• SMTP host + port + SSL flag + auth credentials (for outbound)
• The mailbox folder to monitor (defaults to INBOX)

What happens to inbound mail

Each new email becomes a ticket (or appends to an existing thread by Message-Id). Customer record matching is by email; if no record exists, one is created automatically. Attachments flow through the kernel Media subsystem (virus-scanned, signed URLs).

Outbound deliverability

Desk signs every outbound email with your domain's DKIM (configured under Settings → Channels → Domain). SPF + DMARC alignment is enforced; misalignment surfaces as warnings on the channel page.

Common gotchas

• OAuth scopes get revoked if your IdP rotates user passwords. Re-grant.
• Aggressive bounce filtering on the customer side can break threading. The Message-Id matcher is conservative.
• Reply-to addresses inherit the channel address by default; you can override per ticket.