Read an inbox in your mail app (IMAP)

Want to keep an eye on what your agent receives, in the mail app you already use? Add the inbox as an IMAP account. Your mail app gets its own password for that one inbox, and it can read mail but never change it: no sending, deleting, moving or marking as read.

#Create an app password

• Open the inbox in the dashboard, then Settings › Read in your mail app (IMAP).
• Under App passwords, give it a name (the device, like “MacBook Mail”), choose when it expires, and press Create app password. Only workspace owners can create and revoke them.
• Copy the password (ap_…). It is shown once: we keep only a hash of it. Lost it? Revoke it and create a new one.

Create one password per device. Revoking one stops that device at once, and the others keep working. An inbox can have up to 10 at a time; the list shows when each was last used.

#Settings

Mail apps also ask for an outgoing (SMTP) server, because they expect to send. This account is for reading: reply through your agent or the dashboard. If your app won’t save the account without a working outgoing server, use SMTP (smtp.agentboxd.com, port 465 or 587) with an inbox-scoped API key that has only messages:send as its password; what you send then goes through the same checks as an API send.

#Apple Mail

• On a Mac: Mail › Settings › Accounts, press +, choose Other Mail Account… and Continue.
• Enter a name, the inbox address and the app password, then Sign In. Mail can’t guess the servers, so it asks for them.
• Choose IMAP as the account type, enter imap.agentboxd.com as the incoming mail server and the inbox address as the user name, then Sign In again. For the outgoing server, see above.
• Keep only Mail ticked and press Done. Mail uses SSL on port 993 by default; if it doesn’t connect, open the account’s Server Settings, untick automatic settings and set port 993 with Use TLS/SSL.
• On an iPhone or iPad: Settings › Apps › Mail › Mail Accounts › Add Account › Other › Add Mail Account, then the same values under IMAP.

#Outlook

• New Outlook for Windows and Outlook for Mac: Settings › Accounts › Add account, enter the inbox address, and choose IMAP when asked for the account type (open the advanced or manual settings if Outlook doesn’t offer it).
• Incoming (IMAP) server imap.agentboxd.com, port 993, secure connection SSL/TLS, the inbox address as user name and the app password as password.
• Outgoing server: see above. Then Continue or Sign in.
• Classic Outlook for Windows: File › Add Account › Advanced options › Let me set up my account manually › IMAP, with the same values.

#Thunderbird

• In the menu: Account Settings › Account Actions › Add Mail Account (or New › Existing Email Account).
• Enter a name, the inbox address and the app password, then Configure manually.
• Incoming server: protocol IMAP, hostname imap.agentboxd.com, port 993, connection security SSL/TLS, authentication Normal password, username the inbox address.
• Outgoing server: see above. Press Re-test, then Done.

#What you see

• Two folders: Inbox (received mail) and Sent (what the agent sent). Each message is exactly as it arrived or left, attachments included.
• In a workspace that gives agents only screened mail (the default), your mail app follows the same rule: mail held for review, or still being checked, isn’t shown. When someone releases it in the dashboard, it arrives in your mail app as new mail.
• Read and unread come from the dashboard. Reading a message in your mail app doesn’t mark it read for your agent or in the dashboard.
• New mail shows up within about 30 seconds while the app is open (IMAP IDLE), or when the app next checks.
• Search in the app works on subject, sender and recipients; body search matches whole words.
• Mail removed by your retention setting disappears from your mail app too.

#Limits and errors