> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://help.close.com/llms.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://help.close.com/_mcp/server.

# Email configuration

> Connect Gmail, Microsoft 365, or a custom IMAP/SMTP email account to Close. Manage archiving, delete accounts, and create your email signature.

Close offers 2-way email integration, which allows you to send email from Close and automatically log the replies. Close will auto-log any email that appears in your Sent folder, even if it was sent from Gmail or your mobile phone, and emails sent from Close will automatically appear in your Sent folder.

By connecting your email account with Close (via IMAP/SMTP), Close will begin to automatically track email threads with any contacts you have in your organization.

The benefit of this is twofold:

* Your Close and email account's Inbox becomes a concise list containing only emails that are still actionable and haven't yet been handled.
* You can work out of either Close Inbox or your regular email account, and the changes propagate between the two so you don't waste time seeing emails again in one place that you've handled in another.

When sending emails through your current email client (ex: Outlook, Mail.app, Gmail.com) there's no need to BCC Close. The email thread will automatically show up in the activity feed for any lead that you have the recipient's email address as a contact.

Close will automatically sync all email communication between you and any Contact in Close.

> **Haven't set up your email yet?**
>
> You can find directions for configuring your email sync [here](/v1/docs/connect-your-email).

For more information on setting up outbound email without inbound email tracking, [please see this article.](/v1/docs/set-up-outbound-email-without-inbound-email-tracking-1)

Close will pull in all historical communication with any Contact email address within each Lead that is added to the system. We automatically exclude email communications between coworkers and any email address that is not connected to a Contact in Close.

## Connecting a new email account

> **Plan Limitations**
>
> Most plans allow each user to connect up to **10 Connected Accounts**. The **Solo**, **Essentials** and **Base** (legacy) plans allows each user up to **3 Connected Accounts**.

To connect a new email account go to `Settings > Accounts & Apps > + Add Account` in the top-right.

![](https://close-prd-help-docs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/feature-guide/emailing/email-configuration/accounts_apps_empty_state_272272.png)

If you're using [Gmail / Google Workspace](#gmail-google-workspace-setup), or [Microsoft Office / Office365](#microsoft-office-office-365-setup) you will go through a short authorization setup allowing Close to sync your emails.

If you're using a different email provider, you'll need to select the [Custom Email](#custom-email) option and enter your SMTP/IMAP details that you can obtain from your email provider.

### Gmail / Google Workspace setup

Select `Google` as your email provider and click `Connect with Google`. You will be redirected to Google's pages where you need to allow Close to access your mailbox. Once enabled, you'll be redirected back to Close to enable/disable email syncing, sending, and calendar access:

* Enable email sending
* Enable email syncing
* Calendar syncing (required for [Meetings](/v1/docs/meetings))

![](https://close-prd-help-docs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/feature-guide/emailing/email-configuration/email_and_calendar_sync_e69cb2.png)

### Microsoft Office / Office 365 setup

Select `Microsoft`as your email provider and click `Connect with Microsoft...`. You will be redirected to Microsoft's pages where you need to allow Close to access your mailbox.

![](https://close-prd-help-docs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/feature-guide/emailing/email-configuration/microsoft_permissions_prompt_b32932.jpg)

The permissions prompt includes calendar permissions alongside mail access. These are required to complete the connection even if you don't plan to use calendar syncing, and you can turn calendar syncing off in Close afterwards. If Microsoft instead shows an **"Administrator approval required"** screen, your organization requires an admin to approve Close's permissions first — see [Connecting Microsoft 365 in managed tenants (Entra admin guide)](/v1/docs/connecting-microsoft-365-in-managed-tenants-entra-admin-guide).

Click `Accept` and you'll be redirected back to Close to enable/disable email syncing and sending:

* Enable email sending
* Enable email syncing

![](https://close-prd-help-docs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/feature-guide/emailing/email-configuration/connect_microsoft_account_267de1.png)

Why my Microsoft account is disconnecting?

If you are able to connect your Microsoft account to Close and sync emails, but whenever you try to send an email from Close it disconnects, you will need to reset your SMTP access as explained [here](/v1/docs/office365-connected-accounts).

For a guide on syncing your calendar with Close, [read on here.](/v1/docs/meetings)

### Custom Email

Select `Custom Email` as your email provider, enter your email address and click `Next`. On the next screen, you'll need to enter your `SMTP/IMAP host`information alongside your `username`(usually, that would be your email address) and your `password`(your email password).

For more details on your SMTP and IMAP host please reach out to your email provider.

![](https://close-prd-help-docs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/feature-guide/emailing/email-configuration/connect_email_account_234df3.png)

## App-specific passwords

If you receive an `Invalid username/password` error make sure to check with your email provider if they require you to create a so-called `app password` that you will enter *instead of* your regular email password. See a sample guide for [Yahoo Business Emails](/v1/docs/syncing-yahoo-business-emails).

> **SMTP/IMAP port**
>
> If you need to specify the SMTP or IMAP port, use the `:`notation followed by a port number. For example, to enter port `465` type in:
>
> `mail.example.com:465`

Once filled in, click `Save` and your account should connect.

## Deleting an email account

You can delete your email account by going to `Settings > Accounts & Apps > open your account > scroll all the way down > click on Remove Account`.

![Settings panel showing calendar syncing enabled and a Remove Account button with arrow.](https://close-prd-help-docs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/feature-guide/emailing/email-configuration/calendar_configuration_panel_04a319.png)

**No data will be lost** once you remove your email account - all emails already synced in will remain in Close.

## Active Workflow Subscriptions

If you have any existing active [workflow subscriptions](/v1/docs/sequences) that were sent from this email account, you have the option to reassign those workflows to be sent from a different email account added as one of your Connected Accounts. If you are removing the only Connected Account you have added, you cannot reassign your active workflows to a different email account.

![Modal dialog warning before removing an email account with reassignment option and Confirm & Remove button.](https://close-prd-help-docs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/feature-guide/emailing/email-configuration/remove_email_account_95084f.png)

Removing an account and not replacing the email sending account will cause active workflows to be automatically moved to the first (oldest) connected account that has email sending enabled.

If there's no other Connected Account with email sending enabled, you'll get the following `A sending account could not be resolved for this user`error:

![Modal showing workflow details with an email follow-up marked error and tooltip saying sending account could not be resolved.](https://close-prd-help-docs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/feature-guide/emailing/email-configuration/workflow_error_modal_9982bb.png)

The only way to resume those would be to reach out to [support@close.com](mailto:support@close.com) and request that we reassign those subscriptions from the deleted email account to a different email account.

## Archiving emails

Whenever you mark an email as `Done` in your [Close Inbox](/v1/docs/inbox), we'll automatically archive it in your mailbox folder as well and vice-versa - if you archive something in your mailbox (e.g. Gmail), Close will automatically mark it as `Done` in your Close Inbox.

If you aren't used to "Archiving" your emails (e.g. in Gmail) once you're done with them, but instead just leave all messages in your Inbox as "read", we'd strongly recommend you archive your emails instead. This will make Close's Inbox better for you, since then you'll have a synced view consisting purely of emails that haven't yet been handled.

## Can I stop Close from archiving emails in my email account?

If for some reason you do not want Close to archive emails in your email account when marking them "Done" in Close, head to `Settings > Accounts & Apps > open your account`. Scroll down to the `Done / Archive Syncing` section and toggle this option off:

![Settings option to enable Done/Archive email syncing with a toggle switch.](https://close-prd-help-docs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/feature-guide/emailing/email-configuration/done_archive_syncing_9b882b.png)

Toggling this option on and off will be automatically saved to your Connected Account.

## Is it possible to archive email in other people's email accounts?

No. We hide the checkboxes and Done/Snooze buttons from Inbox when you're looking at your coworker's Inbox (or have 'All Users' selected), since we thought it would be a bad idea to allow people to archive each other's email, etc.

On the lead page, you should only see the Done button if the email appears in your own Inbox (because you received a copy of that email). Pressing the Done button (from the lead page or in Inbox) will only mark the incoming email as handled for yourself (other recipients will have to handle it from their Inbox separately) and it will only archive it in your own email account.

## Creating Your Email Signature

You'll also want to set up your email signature under `Settings > Email > Email Signature`. You can use the editor to add text or images, or if you have the HTML for an existing signature, simply click the `<>` to add the code.

If you need fonts or styling that aren't supported by the rich-text editor, switch to the HTML/code view (the `<>` button) and paste your own custom HTML/CSS.

If your signature was created in another tool (Google Docs, Word, or another email client), convert it to HTML before pasting it into the code view. An online converter (for example, [https://wordtohtml.net](https://wordtohtml.net)) can help generate HTML you can paste into Close.

![Email signature editor box showing name, title, company and formatting toolbar with a Save button.](https://close-prd-help-docs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/feature-guide/emailing/email-configuration/email_signature_editor_983870.png)

Save it once you're done and you're all set up!

> **Multiple signatures**
>
> We don't offer the option to set up unique signatures per email account. You can only set up one email signature per user. One workaround is to leave the signature field blank under `Settings > Email` and create a unique email template for each desired signature. You can then pull up the template in question as needed.

## Setting up an Email Alias

To send emails from another email address in your Close account you can set up an alias. In most cases, this should only be used if the alias is on the same domain. For instance, if your email account is [anthony@bar.com](mailto:anthony@bar.com) and you want to send an email as [support@bar.com](mailto:support@bar.com) as well. If you're looking to send emails from a different domain, you may want to set up a separate email account in Close so that you can use that domain's SMTP credentials.

To get started, head to `Settings > Accounts & Apps > open your account` and add a `From Address`:

![Email sending settings showing enabled toggle, a from address list, and an Add a From Address button.](https://close-prd-help-docs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/feature-guide/emailing/email-configuration/email_sending_settings_6ad166.png)

Email aliases can also be used to indicate that a particular email address belongs to the organization, which helps Close determine whether an email was incoming or outgoing, and is also used to filter out intra-company communication (see more [here](/docs/which-emails-are-added-in-closeio)).

> **Pro Tip: Gmail Users**
>
> If you're using Google Apps / Gmail you need to set up your alias within that system first and you need to make sure your Gmail alias and Close alias **match exactly** (capitalization matters). [Click here for instructions](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/22370?hl=en).