> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://sitegpt.ai/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Answer emails with AI

> Give your chatbot an email address so it answers your customers by email, or writes drafts that your team approves and sends.

Give your chatbot its own email address. When customers write to it, the chatbot answers in the same email thread from your content. You choose for each address whether the AI sends its replies on its own, or writes drafts that your team checks and sends. To answer the email that reaches your current support address too, forward that address to the new one.

Email conversations show in **Chat History**. Your team replies there, and the reply goes out as an email in the same thread.

Email is an add-on. The chatbot owner buys it on the **Billing** page as **AI Email Support (Addon)**, with one inbox for each email address. The add-on is priced per inbox. For the price, see [sitegpt.ai/pricing](https://sitegpt.ai/pricing).

## Before you start

* The chatbot owner has a SiteGPT subscription, on any plan. See [Plans and limits](/docs/reference/plans-and-limits).
* The chatbot owner has the **AI Email Support (Addon)**, and it covers more inboxes than are in use now. See [Buy the email add-on](#buy-the-email-add-on).
* You have the Manager, Admin, or Super Admin role on the chatbot.
* To forward your current support address: access to the settings of that mailbox, for example in Gmail or Outlook.
* Your chatbot is not in a HIPAA workspace. Email is not available there. See [HIPAA](/docs/account/hipaa).

## Buy the email add-on

Only the chatbot owner can buy the add-on, because the add-on belongs to the owner's account. Each email address is one inbox. The inboxes count across all chatbots that you own. For example, to give two chatbots one address each, set the add-on to 2 inboxes. For the limit, see [Email limits](/docs/reference/plans-and-limits#email-limits).

**1. Open the Email card**

In SiteGPT, go to **Advanced** > **Integrations** > **All Integrations**. The **Email** card is the first card. Without the add-on, the owner selects **Get Started** to go to the **Billing** page. Other team members see **Learn more**, and the page tells them: "The account owner adds it from the Billing page."

**2. Set the number of inboxes**

On the **Billing** page, find **AI Email Support (Addon)**. Use the minus and plus buttons to set the number of inboxes, then select **Subscribe**.

**3. Confirm**

The dialog **Add AI email support?** shows the charge and when you are charged. Select **Subscribe** in the dialog.

AI replies by email use your plan's monthly message allowance, like messages on your website. Each AI answer counts when the AI writes it, also a draft that your team later discards. See [How messages are counted](/docs/reference/plans-and-limits#how-messages-are-counted).

To add or remove inboxes later, change the number on the same card and select **Add inboxes** or **Remove inboxes**. You cannot set fewer inboxes than are in use. The card shows them, for example "1 of 2 in use." See [Manage your plan and billing](/docs/guides/account/billing#buy-or-remove-an-add-on).

## Create the email address

**1. Open the Email page**

Go to **Advanced** > **Integrations** > **All Integrations**. On the **Email** card, select **Get Started**. If the chatbot already has an address, the card shows **Manage** instead.

**2. Choose the address**

Under **Email address**, enter the name before the @ and your email name after it. The form fills in `support` before the @ and a suggested email name, for example `yourcompany`. Change them if you like. The page shows the full address, for example `support@yourcompany.sitegpt.email`.

The email name after the @ is fixed. You cannot change it later. Use lowercase letters, numbers, and single hyphens, with no hyphen at the start or end. Names that are reserved, contain "sitegpt", or belong to a well-known brand are refused. See [Email limits](/docs/reference/plans-and-limits#email-limits).

**3. Choose how replies go out**

Under **Replies**, select **Drafts for approval** or **Automatic replies**. See [Choose drafts or automatic replies](#choose-drafts-or-automatic-replies). **Drafts for approval** is selected by default.

**4. Add your current support address (optional)**

In **Your current support address (optional)**, enter the address that your customers already write to, for example `support@yourcompany.com`. The forwarding steps then name that address. With your own sending domain, replies use it as the reply address. See [Send from your own domain](#send-from-your-own-domain-optional).

**5. Create the address**

Select **Create email address**.

SiteGPT sets up the address for you. You do not change any DNS records. The page shows each step, for example **Creating your email address** and **Checking DNS (this can take a few minutes)**. Setup usually finishes within two minutes, and the page updates by itself. When the address is ready, its badge shows **Ready**, and the **Email** card on the Integrations page shows **Active**.

If the email name is taken, you see "This email name is taken. Choose another." If the name breaks a rule, you see "This email name cannot be used." Try a different name. If the name before the @ breaks a rule, you see "Use up to 30 lowercase letters, numbers, dots, hyphens or underscores for the address."

If every inbox of your add-on is in use, a notice shows instead of **Create email address**, for example "All 2 inboxes on your account are in use. Add more on the Billing page, or remove one from another chatbot." Other team members are told that the account owner can add more on the **Billing** page.

## Forward your current support address

Customers can write to the new address directly. To answer the email that reaches your current support address too, forward that mailbox to the new address. On the inbox card, select **Forward your support address here** to see these steps with your address filled in.

**Gmail or Google Workspace**

1. In Gmail, open **Settings**, then **See all settings**, then **Forwarding and POP/IMAP**.
2. Choose **Add a forwarding address** and enter the new address.
3. Gmail sends a confirmation code to the new address. Within a minute, the inbox card shows **Gmail sent a forwarding confirmation** with the code and a link. Enter the code in Gmail, or select **Open Gmail's confirmation link**.
4. Select **Forward a copy of incoming mail**, then **Save Changes**.

**Outlook or Microsoft 365**

1. Open **Settings**, then **Mail**, then **Forwarding**.
2. Turn on forwarding, enter the new address, and keep a copy of forwarded messages.
3. Save.

SiteGPT does not answer the Gmail confirmation email itself.

## Choose drafts or automatic replies

Each address has its own setting. You can change it at any time on the inbox card. The change saves at once.

| Option | What happens |
| - | - |
| **Drafts for approval** | The AI writes each reply as a draft. A person on your team sends, edits, or discards it in **Chat History**. |
| **Automatic replies** | The AI sends each reply on its own. Some emails still wait as drafts: emails whose sender SiteGPT cannot verify, and emails with attachments. |

SiteGPT verifies a sender when the sender's email provider vouches for the address in the **From** line. Emails that fail this check could be forged, so a person checks the reply first.

Replies that the AI wrote end with "Answered by the" and your chatbot name, followed by "AI assistant. Reply to this email to continue." This also applies to a draft that your team sends without changes. Each reply comes from your chatbot name and the email address. The subject is the subject of the customer's first email, with "Re:" in front unless it already starts with a reply prefix. An email with no subject gets "Re: Your message".

## Add more inboxes

A chatbot can have more than one address on its email name, for example `support@` and `sales@`. Each address counts as one inbox of your add-on.

1. On the Email page, select **Add another inbox**.
2. Enter the name before the @, and choose **Drafts for approval** or **Automatic replies**.
3. Select **Add inbox**.

The page shows how many inboxes your account uses, for example "2 of 3 inboxes in use on your account". When all inboxes of the add-on are in use, **Add another inbox** is replaced by a notice that says so and points to the **Billing** page.

## Set rules for some emails

Rules decide what happens to emails that match a text that you choose. Each address has its own rules.

**1. Open the rules**

On the inbox card, select **Rules**.

**2. Add a rule**

Select **Add rule**. Choose what to match: **Sender contains**, **Subject contains**, or **To contains**. Enter the text, for example `@yourcompany.com`. The match ignores upper and lower case.

**3. Choose the action**

| Action | What happens |
| - | - |
| **Send to the team** | The AI does not answer. The conversation goes to your team, and your team gets the escalation notifications. The conversation shows "An email routing rule sent this conversation to your team." |
| **Write a draft** | The AI writes a draft, also when the address uses **Automatic replies**. |
| **Ignore** | No answer and no conversation. |
| **Answer normally** | The email follows the reply setting of the address. Later rules do not apply to it. |

**4. Save**

Select **Save rules**. Changes do not apply until you save.

The first rule that matches decides. To ignore one sender or a whole domain, add **Sender contains** with the address or the domain, and **Ignore**.

## Emails that SiteGPT does not answer

SiteGPT skips some emails before any rule. It does not answer them, and it does not create a conversation for them. They do not show in **Chat History**.

* Automatic replies, out-of-office replies, and bounce messages.
* Email from addresses such as `noreply@` or `mailer-daemon@`.
* Newsletters and mailing list email.
* Email that the email service marks as spam.
* Email with no new text after SiteGPT removes the quoted earlier messages and the signature.
* Email from a sender who wrote too many emails in a short time, or a conversation with too many emails in a day. See [Email limits](/docs/reference/plans-and-limits#email-limits).
* Email that SiteGPT itself sent.

## How email conversations work

### What the AI reads

The AI answers the new text of each email from your content, like on your website. SiteGPT removes the quoted earlier messages, reply headers, and the signature first. The first email of a conversation also gives the AI its subject.

The AI does not read attachments. It sees only their names, types, and sizes. SiteGPT keeps the files, up to a size limit, and your team can download them in **Chat History**. Emails with attachments always wait as drafts. Replies that SiteGPT sends have no attachments.

### Conversations

A reply to one of the chatbot's emails continues the same conversation, if it comes from the customer's address and the conversation is not resolved. Every other email starts a new conversation, also a reply to a resolved conversation. The customer's email address and name are saved with the conversation.

In **Chat History**, these conversations show the source **Email**. See [Review conversations](/docs/guides/monitor/review-conversations#conversation-sources).

### Working hours and hand-off

* [Working hours](/docs/guides/human-support/set-up-human-support#answer-during-working-hours) apply to email. With **Your team answers later**, a customer who writes outside your hours gets your away message by email, one time. With **Drafts for approval**, the away message also waits as a draft.
* With **Let the Visitor Choose**, email conversations start with the AI. Email has no buttons.
* The AI can hand the conversation to your team when human support is on. Its reply is sent or drafted like any other answer. The conversation then goes to your team, and the AI no longer answers in it.
* The chatbot does not show lead forms by email. The customer's email address is already saved with the conversation.

## Work with drafts

Open the conversation in **Chat History**. A draft shows above the reply box with the badge **Draft reply**, the customer's address, and the subject. In the conversation, the AI's answer shows with a dashed outline and the line "Draft: not sent yet."

* Select **Send** to send the draft as the AI wrote it. It goes out with the AI note at the end.
* Select **Edit**, change the text, then select **Send edited reply**. The edited reply goes out from your team, without the AI note. It shows in the conversation as a reply from you, and the AI's original answer shows "Not sent as written: it was edited before sending."
* Select **Discard** to drop the draft. Nothing is sent.

Sending a draft does not move the conversation to human mode. The AI answers the customer's next email.

A draft does not expire. It closes when the customer writes again, because the AI then answers the newer email, or when a reply from your team goes out first. When you resolve the conversation, its drafts are hidden and can no longer be sent.

Every team role can send, edit, and discard drafts. With API v2, use the drafts endpoints of a conversation: list the drafts, send one (optionally with your own text in `message`), or discard one. See the [API reference](/docs/api-reference/v2/getting-started).

## Reply from Chat History

Replies that you write in the reply box of an email conversation go to the customer as an email in the same thread. They come from the chatbot's address that received the conversation, or from your own domain when it is verified, with your chatbot name. Your reply moves the conversation to human mode, so the AI stops answering the customer's next emails. To give it back, select **Release to AI**. See [Reply to and take over conversations](/docs/guides/human-support/reply-and-take-over).

Replies from ChatGPT, Claude, or another AI assistant through the MCP server, and replies sent with API v2, also go out by email.

If a reply cannot go out, it stays in the conversation and the dashboard says why. For example: "Saved to the transcript, but the email inbox of this conversation was removed, so nothing was emailed."

In an email conversation, SiteGPT does not send the separate "New reply from" email that website visitors get. Your reply is the email.

## See what happened to each reply

In an email conversation, each message that went out, or should have, shows a line under it. The line says what happened to that email. Messages that the customer never received show with a dashed outline.

| Line | Meaning |
| - | - |
| "Draft: not sent yet." | The reply waits as a draft. |
| "Sending by email." | The reply is on its way, or waits until the address is ready. |
| "Emailed." | The email service accepted the email. |
| "Emailed and delivered." | The customer's email server accepted the email. |
| "Emailed. Delivery is delayed, and is being retried." | Delivery is delayed. The email service tries again. |
| "Emailed. The customer marked it as spam." | The email was delivered, then marked as spam. |
| "Email not confirmed yet: it may have gone out." | SiteGPT tried to send the email but has no confirmation. It may have reached the customer. |
| "Not delivered: the address bounced." | The customer's address does not accept email. |
| "Not delivered: the email service dropped it." | The email service did not deliver the email. |
| "Not sent: the email service refused it." | The email was not sent. A more specific reason can show instead, for example "Not sent: the inbox was removed before this reply went out." |
| "Not sent: discarded." | A team member discarded the draft. |
| "Not sent: a newer email from the customer replaced it." | The customer wrote again before the draft was sent. |
| "Not sent: a team member replied instead." | A reply from your team went out first. |
| "Not sent: the conversation was closed or taken over first." | The conversation was resolved or taken over before the reply went out. |
| "Not sent as written: it was edited before sending." | A team member edited this draft. The edited reply shows as its own message, with its own line. |

The AI does not read answers that the customer never received. When it answers the next email, it leaves out drafts, discarded and replaced replies, and emails that bounced or were not sent. The customer's own messages stay. The conversation in **Chat History** still shows everything.

Below the conversation header, a bar shows the subject, the customer's address and your address, and the reply setting. If some emails were not delivered, it shows how many. Select **Email history** to see each email that came in or went out, with its status and attachments.

## Replies to your team's emails on website conversations

When your team replies to a website conversation and the visitor has left, SiteGPT can email the reply to the visitor. See [When SiteGPT emails your reply to the visitor](/docs/guides/human-support/reply-and-take-over#when-sitegpt-emails-your-reply-to-the-visitor). Outside HIPAA workspaces, the visitor's answer to such an email shows in the conversation, with or without an email address. If your chatbot has an email address that answers, the answer goes back through it. See [When the visitor answers the email](/docs/guides/human-support/reply-and-take-over#when-the-visitor-answers-the-email).

## Send from your own domain (optional)

After the address is ready, replies can come from your own domain, for example `support@yourcompany.com`, instead of the `sitegpt.email` address.

**1. Add the domain**

On the Email page, under **Send from your own domain (optional)**, enter your domain, for example `yourcompany.com`. Select **Add domain**.

**2. Add the DNS records**

The page shows two CNAME records under **Add these records in yourcompany.com's DNS**, with your domain. Add them in the DNS settings of your domain.

**3. Wait for the check**

The domain shows **Waiting for DNS** until SiteGPT finds the records, then **Verified**.

After the domain is verified, every address of the chatbot sends from your domain with its own name before the @. For example, `sales@yourcompany.sitegpt.email` sends as `sales@yourcompany.com`. Customers' emails still reach the chatbot through forwarding to the `sitegpt.email` address. If you entered your current support address when you created the first address, replies use it as the reply address, so that mailbox must forward to the chatbot. Otherwise, the reply address is the `sitegpt.email` address. A chatbot can have one own domain. To use a different domain, select **Remove domain** first.

## Check that it works

1. From a personal mailbox, send an email with a question to the new address.
2. In **Chat History**, open the new conversation with the source **Email**.
3. With **Drafts for approval**, select **Send** on the draft. With **Automatic replies**, the reply goes out on its own.
4. The reply arrives in your personal mailbox in the same thread. In **Chat History**, the line under the reply shows "Emailed." and then "Emailed and delivered."

## Remove an address or email

* **Remove one address:** on the inbox card, select **Remove** and confirm. The address stops receiving email at once. You can create it again later.
* **Remove email from the chatbot:** at the bottom of the Email page, select **Remove email** and confirm. Every address on the email name stops receiving email, and the email name becomes free.

Removing the last address also removes email from the chatbot. Your conversations stay in **Chat History**, and their email history stays with the label **Inbox removed**. The stored copies of the received emails and their attachments are deleted, so attachments can no longer be downloaded. Replies from **Chat History** in these conversations are saved but not emailed.

When you delete the chatbot, SiteGPT removes its email too.

### If an inbox is not covered

An address stops answering when your add-on does not cover it. This happens when the add-on ends, for example when your subscription ends. It also happens when more inboxes are in use than your add-on covers, for example after a chatbot transfer. The inboxes that became yours first keep answering. The newer inboxes pause. An inbox that came to you with a chatbot transfer counts as your newest inbox at the time of the transfer.

A paused address stays set up. SiteGPT does not answer new emails to it, and they do not show in **Chat History**. Drafts stay, but you cannot send them, and replies from **Chat History** are saved but not emailed. On the Integrations page, the **Email** card shows **Not answering**, or for example **1 not answering**. The inbox card says why, for example "Not answering: the account no longer has the AI Email Support add-on."

To start again, add inboxes on the **Billing** page, or remove an address that you do not need.

## Troubleshooting

> **Get Started opens the Billing page**
>
> The chatbot owner does not have the email add-on. Buy it on the **Billing** page. See [Buy the email add-on](#buy-the-email-add-on).

> **The setup does not finish**
>
> The page updates by itself while SiteGPT sets up the address. If it shows **Setup stopped**, read the message and select **Try again**. If it keeps stopping, contact support.

> **The chatbot does not answer an email**
>
> * Check the **Email** card. If it shows **Not answering**, open the Email page to see why. See [If an inbox is not covered](#if-an-inbox-is-not-covered).
> * Check whether the address uses **Drafts for approval**. Then the answer waits as a draft in **Chat History**.
> * Check your rules. A rule with **Ignore** or **Send to the team** stops the AI.
> * Check that the email is not one that SiteGPT skips, for example an automatic reply or a newsletter. See [Emails that SiteGPT does not answer](#emails-that-sitegpt-does-not-answer).
> * Check that the conversation is not in human mode. Release it to AI, or resolve it.
> * If you forward your support address, check the forwarding in that mailbox.

> **A reply waits as a draft with Automatic replies**
>
> SiteGPT could not verify the sender, or the email has attachments, or a rule with **Write a draft** matched. Send the draft yourself.

> **The line under a reply shows "Not delivered" or "Not sent"**
>
> The customer did not get this email. Read the reason in the line. For a bounced address, check the address with the customer in another way. To try again, write a new reply.


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