How to Set Up a Mailbox to Serve CE Email Media Channels

If you would like to use a mail server outside your organization to store and forward the emails received from the customers to Contact Expert and the emails sent by Contact Expert agents to the customers,this guide helps you to do so by describing:

• Create and configure a mailbox suitable for Contact Expert;
• Configure Contact Expert to use the mailbox for inbound and outbound email communication;
• Verify all the settings are correct.

Note

Performing the below steps requires both user and administrator level skills on Contact Expert.

Please also note that Contact Expert does not support Microsoft Exchange shared mailbox, it has to be a user mailbox.

Step-by-step guide

Setting up an Outlook mailbox using a Microsoft account

1. Create a Microsoft account (e.g. contactexpert.yourcompany@outlook.com).
2. Add all domains and email addresses you trust to the safe senders and domains list on the outlook.com options section.
3. Important: sign out from outlook.com when finished.
4. Navigate to the Email → Gateways page on the CE portal.

5. Register an email gateway using the following configuration: Incoming Emails:

   • Host: imap-mail.outlook.com
   • Port: 993
   • Protocol: IMAP
   • Login: [the address you specified e.g. contactexpert.yourcompany@outlook.com]

   • Password: [the password you specified] Outgoing Emails:

   • Host: smtp-mail.outlook.com

   • Port: 587
   • Sender: [the address you specified e.g. contactexpert.yourcompany@outlook.com]

   • Reply To: [the address you specified e.g. contactexpert.yourcompany@outlook.com] Security:

   • Encryption: yes

   • Authentication: yes

6. Create an email campaign using this email gateway as its endpoint and start it.

7. Send a couple of emails (~10-20) to the mailbox to test the settings. Handle these incoming emails in CE Agent Application and reply to them.
   1. Once you notice that an email sent to the mailbox is delivered to any CE agent within 5-10 minutes, sign in to the mailbox website and verify that you are not a robot on the infamous Call us overprotective screen. Sign out again an repeat the test procedure.
8. If emails are still not pouring in, please check the Junk folder in the mailbox site and fix the safe senders and domains settings.

Setting up a Gmail mailbox using a Google account

1. Create a Google account (e.g. contactexpert.yourcompany@gmail.com).
2. Navigate to Gmail.com and sign in with the account you have just created.
3. Make sure to set the Allow less secure apps option to true.
4. Important: sign out from the mailbox whe finished.
5. Navigate to the Email → Gateways page on the CE portal.

6. Register an email gateway using the following configuration:

   • Incoming Emails:

     • Host: imap.gmail.com
     • Port: 993
     • Protocol: IMAP
     • Login: [the address you specified e.g. contactexpert.yourcompany@gmail.com]
     • Password: [the password you specified]

   • Outgoing Emails:

     • Host: smtp.gmail.com
     • Port: 25
     • Sender: [the address you specified e.g. contactexpert.yourcompany@gmail.com]
     • Reply To: [the address you specified e.g. contactexpert.yourcompany@gmail.com]

   • Security:

     • Encryption: yes
     • Authentication: yes

7. Create an email campaign using this email gateway as its endpoint and start it.

8. Send a couple of emails (~10-20) to the mailbox to test the settings. Handle these incoming emails in CE Agent Application and reply to them.
9. If emails are still not pouring in, please check the Spam folder in the mailbox and review the email gateway settings.

Related articles

• How to set up a mailbox to serve Contact Expert email media channels