STEP 1 OF 6

Open Email Integration Settings

Why it matters: This is the single screen that controls both Gmail and Outlook connections - you won't need to touch anything outside it for the rest of setup.

Go to Settings → Integrations → Email from any screen in CrmLeaf.

Click your workspace name (top-left) → Settings
Select Integrations from the left menu
Click Email, then choose Gmail or Outlook

WHAT YOU SEE WHEN DONEA provider selection screen with a "Connect" button and a list of any accounts already linked.

STEP 2 OF 6

Authorize Your Inbox

Why it matters: CrmLeaf never asks for or stores your email password - access is granted entirely through Google or Microsoft's own consent screen, and can be revoked there at any time.

Click Connect and you'll be redirected to Google or Microsoft's sign-in page.

Sign in with the mailbox you want to connect
Review the requested permissions (read, send, and manage labels/folders)
Click Allow to return to CrmLeaf

Note: Use a shared team mailbox (e.g. sales@yourco.com) for a support inbox, and individual mailboxes for personal rep accounts - mixing the two makes assignment rules harder to reason about later.

WHAT YOU SEE WHEN DONEYour connected mailbox appears in the Email Integration screen with a green "Connected" status.

STEP 3 OF 6

Set Your Matching Rules

Why it matters: Matching rules are what keeps this integration private - only threads involving a known CrmLeaf record get synced, so personal email is never touched.

Under Matching Rules, choose which record types an incoming or outgoing email address is checked against:

Leads & Contacts - matches CRM-stage records
Clients - matches post-sale accounts
Vendors - optional, for procurement threads

Leave all three enabled unless you have a specific reason to narrow the sync.

WHAT YOU SEE WHEN DONEA confirmation banner: "Matching active for Leads, Contacts, Clients."

STEP 4 OF 6

Configure the Support Address

Why it matters: Without this step, support emails still sync to Client records, but they won't automatically become trackable, assignable Tickets with an SLA clock.

Under Ticketing, enter the inbound address that should generate Tickets - typically your shared support alias.

Enter the address (e.g. support@yourco.com)
Choose the default Ticket priority for new inbound mail
Toggle "Auto-link to Client" on if that address is client-facing

WHAT YOU SEE WHEN DONEA test Ticket titled "Sample inbound email" appears in the Work module's Ticket list.

STEP 5 OF 6

Set Assignment Rules

Why it matters: Without an assignment rule, every auto-created Ticket lands unassigned, and unassigned tickets are the ones that get missed.

Choose how new Tickets and unmatched threads get routed:

Round robin - cycles evenly across your support team
By Client owner - routes to whoever owns that Client's account
Manual queue - all new items land in a shared queue for triage

WHAT YOU SEE WHEN DONEYour chosen rule appears active under Ticketing → Assignment.

STEP 6 OF 6

Test the Sync

Why it matters: Confirming the sync now, with a throwaway test, is far cheaper than discovering a misconfigured rule after a real client email goes missing.

Send two test emails and confirm both land correctly:

Email an existing Contact's address from a personal account - confirm it appears on that Contact's timeline within 60 seconds
Email your support address from a different account - confirm a Ticket is created and assigned per your rule

WHAT YOU SEE WHEN DONEBoth test threads visible in CrmLeaf, tagged "Auto-logged," with the Ticket showing the correct assignee.

You've completed this tutorial

Your inbox is syncing. Next: connect QuickBooks so every invoice syncs automatically alongside the email threads that closed the deal.

Next: Connect QuickBooks

Continue learning

Keep going with the next tutorials in the CrmLeaf series.

INTEGRATIONS

How to Set Email Integration in CrmLeaf