# SendBeam inbox: receive and answer email

Use the SendBeam inbox to receive replies to your campaigns and mail to your own addresses, on a domain you own, and answer it.

## What it does

The SendBeam inbox is where email sent *to* you arrives: replies to your campaigns, and
mail to addresses such as `hello@reply.yourbrand.com` on a domain you own. A reply
arrives linked to the contact who wrote it and the campaign they were answering, so you can see
who is replying and to what, and answer from the same place you send from.

Each workspace receives on its own domains, so every site or client you run keeps its own mail.

## Forward-only or an inbox

A workspace handles received mail in one of two ways:

- **Forward only** (the default). Each message goes to your
  [webhook](https://sendbeam.io/docs/api/webhooks) and waits in the API for 72 hours, then it is deleted.
  Nothing is kept in SendBeam, and the Inbox shows a **Forward-only** notice. Use this when another system, such as your helpdesk or your own code, handles the mail.
- **Keep as an inbox**. Messages are kept for the period you choose and can be read
  and answered in SendBeam on the web and in the app. They still go to your webhook as well.

How long mail can be kept, and how much of it, depends on your plan. Inbound settings shows what
your workspace has used.

## Turning the inbox on

A workspace admin does this once:

1. **Receive on a domain.** Go to **Settings → Receiving**, add a domain
  and copy its DNS records to wherever your domain's DNS is managed. See
  [Receiving email on your domain](https://sendbeam.io/docs/inbox/receiving-domain).
2. **Keep the mail.** Open the Inbox, select the settings cog (**Inbound settings**) and, under **Where received email goes**, choose
  **Keep as an inbox**. It saves as soon as you choose it. See
  [Inbox settings](https://sendbeam.io/docs/inbox/settings).

From then on, received mail is kept, and replies to your campaigns come back to the inbox.

## Reading and replying

- **Tabs.** Mail is sorted into **Replies** (answers to your email),
  **Known** (contacts and team members), **New senders** and
  **Spam**. **All** shows everything. A message in Spam can be marked
  **Not spam**, which always allows that sender.
- **Folders.** Archive a conversation to clear it from the inbox, or move it to the
  trash. Search finds conversations by sender or subject.
- **Reading safely.** Mail opens as plain text. The formatted version is offered for
  senders whose domain passed its checks, with remote images off until you load them, so a sender
  cannot tell you opened their message.
- **Replying.** Your reply is plain text and stays in the same conversation. It can
  quote their message below yours. You can undo for a few seconds after you press
  **Send**.
- **On a contact.** A contact's page has a **Conversations** tab with
  every conversation with them.
- **Keyboard.** On the web, press ? in the Inbox to see the shortcuts.

## Who sees what

Access follows the person's role in the workspace (see [Team](https://sendbeam.io/docs/admin/team)):

- **Admins** see and manage every address, and change the inbox's settings.
- **Members** can read and reply on the workspace's addresses. An address an admin
  restricts is visible only to the people given access to it: **Can view**,
  **Can reply** or **Can manage**.
- **Reviewers** see received mail only on an address they are given **Can view** on.

## Replies written by an agent

An API key or a connected assistant can read the inbox and draft replies. A person approves each
draft in the conversation before it is sent, because anyone who emails you can try to instruct
an agent through their message. An admin can let a tested integration send without approval, under
**Settings → API keys**; it may then do so only in replies and conversations with known senders.

## In the SendBeam app

The SendBeam app for iPhone and Android has an **Inbox** tab with the same
conversations, and a **To Approve** list for replies drafted by an agent. The tab
works once the workspace keeps its mail as an inbox. Until then it says the inbox isn't on for
the workspace, and **Learn More** opens this page.

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Source: https://sendbeam.io/docs/inbox