Connect your Gmail inbox to Zickt and manage email conversations from a shared team inbox. Covers OAuth setup, threading, signatures, and address filtering.
The Email channel connects your Gmail inbox to Zickt so incoming emails create conversations in your shared inbox. Replies you send from Zickt are delivered as emails from your connected Gmail address, and email threads map one-to-one with Zickt conversations.
How it works
- You connect a Gmail account via OAuth in Settings → Channels.
- Incoming emails create conversations automatically. Zickt creates or matches a contact by sender address.
- Replies sent from Zickt are delivered as emails from your connected Gmail address.
- Email threads are preserved — each thread maps to a single conversation.
Zickt uses the Gmail API with push notifications, so new emails appear in your inbox within seconds.
Connecting Gmail
Early access
Gmail integration is in early access while Google security verification completes. New connections require approval before you can finish setup.
Request access
Go to Settings → Channels, click Add Channel, and select Email. Enter the Gmail address you want to connect and submit your request.
Wait for approval
Your channel shows Pending Approval status. The Zickt team reviews your request and adds your email to the authorized users list. Approval typically takes 6 hours or less.
Connect your Gmail account
Once approved, you receive an email notification. Return to Settings → Channels, open your email channel, and click Connect Gmail. Sign in with the Gmail account and approve the requested permissions.
Channel status
During the connection process, your channel shows one of these statuses:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pending Approval | Waiting for Zickt to authorize your Gmail address |
| Ready to Connect | Approved — complete the Gmail OAuth to activate |
| Active | Connected and receiving emails |
| Error | Token expired or revoked — reconnect required |
Required permissions
Zickt requests the following Gmail permissions during OAuth:
| Permission | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Read emails | Pull incoming messages into your inbox |
| Send emails | Send replies from Zickt as your Gmail address |
| Modify labels | Mark emails as read/unread in Gmail |
| Read profile | Verify the connected email address |
Email threading
Zickt preserves email threading using standard RFC 5322 headers (Message-ID, In-Reply-To, References). When a reply arrives, Zickt matches it to the original conversation using this priority:
- In-Reply-To header — most reliable, matches the parent email's Message-ID
- References header — fallback, tries each referenced message (newest first)
- New conversation — if no threading headers match, a new conversation is created
Outgoing replies include the correct threading headers so the recipient's email client groups them into the same thread.
Contact matching
When an email arrives from an address Zickt hasn't seen before, a new contact is created automatically using the sender's display name and email address. If a contact with that email already exists, the email is linked to the existing contact.
Channel settings
Configure these options in Settings → Channels → Email after connecting.
Signatures
Add a plain-text and HTML signature to outgoing emails. The signature is appended to every reply sent from this channel.
Configure signatures in the Configuration tab of your email channel settings.
Address filtering
Control which emails create conversations by filtering on recipient address. This is useful when your Gmail account receives emails at multiple addresses (aliases, forwarded addresses, mailing lists).
| Setting | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| No filter (default) | All incoming emails create conversations |
| Filtered addresses | Only emails sent to addresses in your whitelist are accepted |
Configure address filtering in the Security tab of your email channel settings.
Address filtering checks both the To and Cc headers. An email is accepted if any recipient matches your whitelist. Matching is case-insensitive.
Default assignment
Optionally assign a default team or team member to conversations created from this channel. Configure this in the Routing tab:
- Default team — all email conversations are assigned to this team
- Default assignee — all email conversations are assigned to this person
- Default priority — set the priority level for email conversations
Token management
The Security tab shows the health of your Gmail connection:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Token status | Current OAuth token state (Active, Expired, Error) |
| Last sync | When Zickt last received data from Gmail |
| Watch expiration | When the Gmail push notification subscription expires (auto-renewed) |
If the token status shows Expired or Error, click Reconnect Gmail Account to re-authorize. Zickt refreshes tokens automatically, but revoked access or changed passwords require manual reconnection.
Email forwarding
Forward emails from other accounts (Outlook, Yahoo, custom domains) to your connected Gmail address. Zickt processes forwarded emails the same way as direct emails — each one creates or updates a conversation.
Use address filtering to control which forwarded addresses are accepted. Add the forwarding source address to your accepted addresses list so only relevant emails create conversations.
Limits and constraints
| Constraint | Value |
|---|---|
| Attachment size | 25 MB per email (Gmail API limit) |
| Send rate | 500 emails/day for regular Gmail, 2,000/day for Google Workspace |
| Push notification latency | Typically under 10 seconds |
| Watch renewal | Automatic — Zickt renews the Gmail push subscription before it expires (every 7 days) |
Emails with attachments exceeding 25 MB are sent without attachments. The text content is still delivered.