Configuring Email for Agent Workspace

Configuring Email for Agent Workspace

Provisioned feature

The feature described on this page may not be enabled for all accounts. Access depends on your current license level or specific account configuration.

Overview

The email channel allows you to exchange longer-form messages with your contacts, using an email interface in Agent Workspace. Agents can compose and receive fully formatted emails, with support for rich text, links, and inline media. Such interactions generally require longer response times compared to other message-based channels.

Vonage Contact Center (VCC) supports two methods for connecting an email address:

  • Google or Microsoft (OAuth): Authenticate using your Google or Microsoft account credentials via a standard OAuth flow. This is the recommended method when near-real-time email handling is required.

  • Other providers: Connect a mailbox from any IMAP-compatible email provider, such as Yahoo, iCloud, or a custom on-premise mail server. IMAP interactions behave identically to a standard inbound email interaction in Agent Workspace once received. This is an additional provisioned feature that requires separate enablement for your account.

Each email address must be mapped to an interaction plan in Interaction Plans Manager. For more information, see Working with interaction plans in Interaction Plans Manager.

Credential expiry

We strongly recommend using non-expiring credentials for your email integration. If credentials expire, VCC will be unable to pull or route emails to agents, resulting in significant delays.

Adding an email address

One VCC account per email address

An email address can be connected to only one VCC account.

To add an email address in VCC, perform the following steps:

  1. Go to Interaction plans > Channels.

  2. Go to the Email > Addresses and click Add email address.

  3. In Authentication, follow the steps for your email provider:

Provider

Steps

Provider

Steps

Google or Microsoft

Sign in with your Google or Microsoft account. Instructions vary depending on your provider and whether you are already logged in on your current device.

Other providers (IMAP)

Before connecting an IMAP account

  • Connecting mailboxes from providers other than Google or Microsoft must be enabled for your account.

  • IMAP access must be enabled in your email provider's settings before you attempt to connect in VCC. Refer to your provider's documentation for instructions.

  1. Click Connect to account with another provider and enter the email address you want to connect.

  2. If VCC does not detect your server details automatically, provide your:

    • IMAP server details.

    • SMTP server details.

    • Sign-in credentials.

You can find these in your email provider's account or settings page.

IMAP email delivery times

Messages sent and received through IMAP accounts are typically processed within 5 to 15 minutes. If your team requires near-real-time email handling, connecting via Google or Microsoft is the recommended option.

  1. In Settings, provide the following information:

Field

Description

Example value

Field

Description

Example value

Name

A unique, user-friendly name that indicates the profile's purpose.

Support Inbound Email

Description

(Optional) A detailed address description.

Inbound support requests from customers (handled by the Support Team).

Service name for reports

Name used as service name in reports. One of:

  • Destination name. Report on individual email destinations (for example, specific support inboxes).

  • Interaction plan name. Report on the target interaction plan when multiple email destinations route to the same plan.

  • Reporting group. Group-related interaction plans to report across them (default).

Destination name

Data source

(Optional) One or more key-value pairs that are set on interactions.

channel=email, flow=customer_support, priority=standard

  1. In Signature, you can add a signature that will be automatically appended to replies sent by agents using this email address.

  2. In Profile, select a profile to assign to this address or add a new one. For information about adding profiles, see Adding a profile.

  3. In Summary, you can review the information you provided for this email address. Where available, you can click Edit and change the details in any of the previous sections.

  4. Click Add to save your new email address. Once connected, the email address appears in the Channels list and can be mapped to an interaction plan in the same way as any other email address.

If an IMAP connection fails, verify that provider-side IMAP access is fully configured and that your credentials are correct. If the issue persists, contact Vonage support.

Editing and deleting an email address

To make changes to an email address:

  1. Hover over the email address and click Edit address.

  2. In a side panel, you can check the authentication details and change the email address's settings, its signature, and profile. Click the required section to open it.

To delete an email address:

Note

You have to unmap the email address from any interaction plans before trying to delete it. Deleting a mapped email address is not possible.

  1. Hover over the email address and click Delete address.

  2. Confirm that you want to delete the address by clicking Delete.

Reauthenticating your VCC account to use an email address

If your VCC account is no longer authenticated for an email address, the email address is marked as Expired. This can happen if the email password changes or the email address is deleted.

To continue using the email address, you must reauthenticate your VCC account.

To reauthenticate your account:

  1. Hover over the email address and click Reauthenticate account.

  2. Follow the on-screen instructions for reauthentication. Instructions will vary between email providers and whether or not you are logged in to the email address on your current device. 

  3. If the reauthentication was successful, the address's status updates to Active.

Support and documentation feedback

For general assistance, please contact Customer Support.

For help using this documentation, please send an email to docs_feedback@vonage.com. We're happy to hear from you. Your contribution helps everyone at Vonage! Please include the name of the page in your email.