You can configure your existing email addresses to forward messages to Slate. The following sections describe how to configure permissions and a forwarding address for Inbox.

⭐ Best Practice

Begin migrating just one mailbox into Inbox. Once you have gone through all of the steps and tested one Inbox group, it will be much easier to replicate the steps for any additional email addresses.

Create an Inbox-Enabled Role

Each message in Inbox must be assigned to an Inbox-enabled role, which will have an associated Inbox group. This role and group combination determines the users who can view and respond to the message.

1. Click Database on the Slate navigation bar and select Role Groups & Permissions in the Users & Access section.

2. Click New Role.

3. Enter the following role configurations:

   • Name: Name the role (such as "Admissions Inbox").

   • Permission: Grant this role the Inbox permission.

   • Reply Email: Granting permission to Inbox enables the Reply Email field at the top of the popup. Provide a Reply Email address for the role. This email address will be the default email address for Inbox replies for messages assigned to this role and its associated group. It will also be used by automatic reply rules that are configured to use the role's email address.

Assign Role Users

1. Click Database on the Slate navigation bar and select User Permissions in the Users & Access section.

2. Select the appropriate user.

3. Click Edit User.

4. Click Role and grant the Inbox-enabled role to each user who should have access to view and respond to messages assigned to that role. These users will inherit the Inbox permission from this role. Users can only view messages associated with roles to which they have been assigned.

Create an Inbox Group

Inbox groups are each assigned a unique email forwarding address. Any emails sent to that forwarding address are automatically associated with that Inbox group. You will make one Inbox group for each email account that you will be forwarding into Inbox. As stated before, it is a best practice to configure and perfect one Inbox account before configuring the rest.

1. Click Database on the Slate navigation bar and select Inbox Groups in the Communications section.

2. Click New Group.

3. Enter the following group configurations:

   • Name: Assign the Inbox group a distinctive name.

   • Default Role: Select the Inbox-enabled role that you created in the previous step as the default role. Any emails sent to this Inbox group's email address will automatically be associated with the default role.

4. Click the Inbox group that you just created to view the forwarding address that you will use in the next section. Copy the forwarding address, and send a test email to the forwarding address. The message will appear in Inbox within 15 minutes.

Configure Email Forwarding

To allow people to continue sending emails to your existing, publicized email address, you must configure that email account to automatically forward the emails to Slate.

If you want to use rules to redirect messages to other groups or for auto-replies, it is recommended that you wait to turn on email forwarding until the rules are fully configured and tested. This will allow you to tweak and test the rules without affecting Inbox users or email senders. You will learn more about this in the Automations section. The Automations section also provides best-practice instructions for testing rule changes once you have begun forwarding messages into Slate.

📝 Note

An email message will only forward to Inbox if it has a message body.