Connecting Your Email

Connecting your mailbox does two separate jobs, and it helps to think of them separately from the start:

• Sending — proposals, invoices, and messages go out from your address instead of JourneyFuse's shared one, so replies come straight back to you.
• Inbox sync — mail your clients send you gets pulled into JourneyFuse and matched to the right client, lead, and trip, so the whole conversation lives on the trip instead of in your head.

Gmail is one card with two steps: sign in with Google to send, then paste one code from Google to receive. Outlook and other IMAP mailboxes do both in one go. Each advisor connects their own mailbox from their own login. Connections belong to that login across workspaces; connecting an owner’s mailbox does not connect the whole team.

Everything here lives at Settings → Email.

Which connection covers what

You can hold more than one at a time. If you do, sending goes out through them in this order: IMAP, then Outlook, then Google.

Gmail: one card, two steps

Once you connect Gmail, its card shows two lines:

• ✓ Sending · Emails go out from your Gmail
• ○ Receiving · See client replies in JourneyFuse, with a Turn on button

Step 1, Sending, is the one-click Google sign-in. Step 2, Receiving, is what brings client replies into JourneyFuse. Until it is on, replies go to your Gmail and never reach your trips, and the Inbox shows a reminder saying so.

Why two steps? Reading a Gmail inbox through Google's sign-in needs extra permission that Google grants only after a separate security review, which we have not finished yet. Until then, receiving uses a Google app password. When Google approves the review, step 2 becomes a second click on Google's own sign-in, and the card stays the same.

Turning on receiving

1. On the Gmail card, click Turn on next to Receiving.
2. Click Open Google. It opens Google's app-passwords page, signed in as the Gmail address on the card.
3. Google asks for a name. Type JourneyFuse and click Create. Google shows 16 letters in four groups of four, like abcd efgh ijkl mnop. Copy them.
4. Paste the code into the card. Spaces are fine.
5. Choose which emails JourneyFuse should bring in (see Your first 30 days below) and click Turn on receiving.

JourneyFuse checks the code with Google straight away. You do not type your address, server names or ports; the card fills those in.

An app password is not your Google password. Your normal password, a 2-Step Verification PIN and an authenticator code will all be refused. If you close Google's window before copying the code, make a new one; Google shows each code only once.

If Google says app passwords aren't available

Google hides the app-passwords page in a few situations. The card's Google says app passwords aren't available? link covers them:

• 2-Step Verification is off. App passwords need it. Turn it on at myaccount.google.com/signinoptions/twosv, then click Open Google again.
• A work (Google Workspace) account whose administrator has switched app passwords or IMAP off. Only they can change it. Click Copy note for your admin and send them the note; it explains what JourneyFuse needs and which two Google Admin settings to check.
• 2-Step Verification set up with security keys only, or an account on Google's Advanced Protection. Google offers no app passwords for these. See Google's app-password guidance.

Gmail without the Google sign-in

If Google's sign-in is blocked for your account, you can skip step 1. Under the provider buttons, click Connect Gmail with an app password instead, enter your Gmail address, and follow the same steps. An app-password connection sends and receives on its own, and the card shows both lines as on.

Outlook and Microsoft 365

Click Outlook and sign in with Microsoft. That one connection covers both sending and inbox sync, with no app password to generate. When you come back, JourneyFuse asks which emails to bring in, then imports your last 30 days (see Your first 30 days). The Outlook card shows the same Sending and Receiving lines as Gmail's.

Use this rather than IMAP for any Microsoft-hosted mailbox. Many Microsoft 365 tenants have password-based IMAP switched off at the organisation level, so the IMAP route will simply be refused even when your password is correct.

If Microsoft turns you away, the message usually names the reason.

"Need admin approval"

Your organisation’s consent policy or the permissions being requested may require an administrator’s approval. This is not a universal rule for every Microsoft account. See Microsoft’s consent guidance.

You are not stuck. Back out of that screen and JourneyFuse shows a card in Settings → Email with two buttons: Open approval page and Copy link for your admin. That link is the approval page. It stays there until the connection succeeds, so you can go and ask, and come back to it later.

• If you administer your own Microsoft 365, open the link, sign in with that administrator account, and click Accept. Then come back and click Outlook.
• If somebody else administers it (an IT person, or your host), send them the copied link. They approve it once and every advisor in your organisation can connect afterwards.
• If your Microsoft 365 came through GoDaddy, Bluehost, or a similar reseller, the administrator account is usually the person who owns that account. If they cannot find the approval screen, their support team can open the same link.

Approving covers mail and calendar together, so you only do it once.

Use the Outlook connection for Microsoft-hosted mail; do not try to bypass an organisation’s consent requirements with a password connection.

Yahoo, iCloud, Zoho, and everything else

These use the same IMAP form and are prefilled with the right server names, so you only supply an address and a password.

• Yahoo and iCloud both need an app-specific password, not your normal one. For iCloud, generate it at appleid.apple.com under Sign-In and Security → App-Specific Passwords.
• Zoho Mail requires IMAP access to be enabled. Use an application-specific password when required by your account’s authentication settings. See Zoho’s IMAP setup.
• Other Email Provider (IMAP) is for anything else, including mail hosted with your website (SiteGround, cPanel, GoDaddy and similar). You will also be asked for the incoming and outgoing server names. For most hosts these are mail.yourdomain.com on port 993 incoming and 587 outgoing. Your host's support page will confirm them.

Whatever you pick, Test & Connect verifies the credentials against your provider before saving anything, so a connection that saves is a connection that works. The form also asks which emails to bring in, and the 30-day import starts as soon as the connection saves.

Your first 30 days

When you turn receiving on, JourneyFuse asks one question first: Which emails should JourneyFuse bring in?

• Clients, leads and travel mail (recommended). Skips newsletters and automated notices. Supplier and booking mail still comes in, so confirmations sit next to the trip.
• Only my clients and leads. Only mail to or from people already saved as a client or lead. A new enquiry from someone you haven't saved yet won't come in.

Your answer is saved as your own inbox setting, and then JourneyFuse brings in your last 30 days of mail, all of it, however much there is. The Inbox and your mailbox card show progress while it runs (Bringing in your last 30 days… 212 emails so far) and Done — 30 days imported when it finishes. A busy mailbox can take a while; new mail keeps arriving normally in the meantime.

JourneyFuse imports 30 days on purpose. Mail older than that which isn't linked to a client, lead or trip would be cleared after 90 days anyway (see How long mail is kept below).

Inbox Sync: choosing what comes in

Once a connection that supports inbox sync is in place, the Inbox Sync card controls how much of your mailbox JourneyFuse stores.

• Smart (the default) drops newsletters and automated mail, and keeps client, lead, and inquiry mail along with supplier confirmations. This is the right setting for almost everyone.
• Contacts only stores mail only to and from people already saved as a client or lead. Strict, and it means a brand-new inquiry from a stranger is missed.
• Off stops inbox sync entirely. Your mailbox stays connected for sending.

New mail appears as the scheduled sync runs; it is not an instant mirror. Connecting runs the 30-day import for you. Import last 30 days runs it again, for example after you change what comes in. It covers the whole month, however many emails that is, and your sync setting still applies to it, so newsletters are skipped on Smart.

This setting belongs to the whole agency, not to you. Inbox Sync is one choice for every advisor in the workspace, and only an owner or admin can change it. If your agency is set to Off, connecting your own mailbox will send fine and sync nothing, and there is no error to tell you so. If you are an advisor and your inbox stays empty after a successful connection, ask your owner what Inbox Sync is set to before assuming the connection failed.

Exclude specific senders

Never sync these senders accepts an email address or a domain. The list is shared within the workspace. Use an address for one mailbox; a domain also covers its subdomains.

Adding an exclusion skips matching incoming mail and removes existing matching JourneyFuse conversations that are not linked to a client, lead, or trip. Linked conversations are kept. Your original mailbox is not changed.

Removing an exclusion allows future sync again; it does not restore conversations already removed. An eligible Import last 30 days backfill can retrieve mail still within that window. Review the scope before adding a rule.

How long mail is kept

Mail attached to a client, lead, or trip is kept indefinitely, as is anything classed as client, lead, or inquiry mail. General mail with no CRM connection, along with supplier bulletins, is cleared after 90 days so your inbox does not fill up with things nobody will read again.

Which address your mail goes out from

A connected mailbox is used for eligible client email. Campaigns, platform notifications, and mail only to yourself or your team can use the platform sender. To change the mailbox used for client mail, connect the intended mailbox. An external test with a recipient who expects it is more useful than a self-test for checking the actual From address and reply destination.

Gmail and Outlook also control the sender name recipients see. If your agency's From Name is "Coastal Escapes" but your Gmail account is named "Nancy D", recipients see "Nancy D". That is the provider rewriting the header on the way out and it cannot be overridden from JourneyFuse. Change it in Gmail's own settings under Accounts and Import → Send mail as, or in your Outlook account name settings. A generic IMAP host usually honours the name JourneyFuse sets. See Sending Emails for more on composing and sending.

Who can read your synced mail

Only you. Email synced from your mailbox never shows in anyone else's Inbox, on their view of a client or trip, or in their notifications, even if they are an owner or admin. Connecting your mailbox never shares it with the agency. See Inbox & Messaging for what stays shared.

What you can see depends on your role

If you are part of a team, Settings → Email shows you different things depending on your role:

• Owners and admins see everything: the connection card, Inbox Sync, Sending Defaults, and the agency's forwarding addresses.
• Advisors see the Email Connection card only. Your mailbox connection is yours, so you set it up yourself, but the agency-wide settings are managed by your owner.

Solo advisors, with no team, see the full page.

When a connection is refused

Test & Connect reports what your provider actually said. The common ones:

If a message names a specific thing to fix, fix that first. Repeating the same password will not produce a different answer, because your provider decided it, not JourneyFuse.

Disconnecting

Disconnect on any connected mailbox stops sending from it, and stops inbox sync for the ones that sync. On the Gmail card, each line has its own Turn off: turning off Receiving leaves sending alone, and turning off Sending leaves receiving alone. Mail already pulled in stays where it is, attached to its clients and trips. Reconnect any time.

If Google stops accepting a saved app password (you changed your Google password, or revoked the code), the Gmail card shows Receiving: Stopped with a Reconnect button. Paste a new code and it picks up where it left off.

Related

• Inbox & Messaging — working with mail once it is flowing in
• Sending Emails — composing and sending from JourneyFuse
• Email Signatures — what gets appended to your outgoing mail