The email channel turns a support address like support@yourcompany.com into a Chatonio channel: outgoing replies are sent from your own domain, and incoming mail lands in the same inbox as your web chat and Telegram conversations — answered by the AI first, with operators taking over whenever needed.
The email channel is available from the Advanced plan. You'll need a domain you control and access to its DNS settings.
Create the channel
- Go to Admin → your project → Channels and click Add channel.
- Pick the Email type, give the channel a name, and create it.
- Open the channel settings, fill in From email (the address customers will see, e.g. support@yourcompany.com) and From name (e.g. “Acme Support”), and click Connect.
Verify your domain
Before anything is sent from your address, you prove that your project owns the domain. The channel page shows everything in two steps:
- Step 1 — Prove ownership. Add the TXT record shown to your DNS. The record is a random, unbranded value — it doesn't reveal to anyone which platform you use.
- Step 2 — Email delivery records. Add the sending records (DKIM/SPF) exactly as listed, so mail from your domain is authenticated and doesn't land in spam folders.
Then click Verify domain. DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate (most providers apply them within minutes), and you can retry verification at any time. Once it passes, the channel shows Connected and is ready to send. Verification is remembered for your project — a second email channel on the same domain skips the DNS steps.
Receive incoming mail
Option 1 — forward your mailbox (simplest)
After verification the channel page shows a unique Inbound address ending in @in.chatonio.com. Add a forwarding rule in your existing mailbox (Google Workspace, Outlook or any other provider) so incoming support mail is forwarded to that address. Your mailbox keeps working as before, and every customer email also becomes a conversation in Chatonio.
Option 2 — receive directly at your real address
Instead of forwarding, your domain's mail routing (MX records) can point at Chatonio, so messages sent to your real support address arrive directly — no mailbox or forwarding hop in between. The address you send from doubles as the receiving address, and extra alias addresses on the same verified domain can be attached to the channel. Keep in mind that MX records take over all incoming mail for a domain, so direct receiving is usually set up on a dedicated subdomain (for example support.yourcompany.com). Want to use it? Message us in the support chat and we'll provide the exact records and set up any aliases.
Replies and threading
- Customer replies are matched to the right conversation using standard email threading headers, with subject matching as a fallback (stacked “Re:” / “Fwd:” prefixes are ignored).
- A fresh email with a new subject always starts a new conversation — it is never merged into an unrelated open thread.
- If a customer replies inside an old thread after the conversation was closed, the same conversation reopens (and the AI picks it up again) instead of creating a duplicate.
Attachments
Attachments work in both directions. Files up to 50 MB each are accepted, and every file type is allowed except executables. Images, PDFs and videos preview inline in the dashboard; other types are delivered as downloads. Admins can restrict which file categories customers may send in the project settings. If an incoming attachment can't be accepted (too large or a blocked type), the email itself still arrives — operators see a note about the rejected file inside the message.
Spam filtering
Inbound mail is filtered automatically — there is nothing to configure. Newsletters, automated no-reply notifications, spam and duplicate deliveries are dropped before they become conversations, so your inbox only receives real human mail. Everything that was filtered is kept for 7 days in the Email quarantine (Admin → your project → Security → Email quarantine), where you can inspect any dropped email, recover a false positive as a normal conversation in one click, or permanently block a sender.
Monthly email quotas
Every email Chatonio sends on your behalf — replies and client notifications — counts toward a monthly plan quota:
- Advanced — 2,000 emails per month
- Pro — 7,500 emails per month
- Ultimate — 20,000 emails per month
Incoming mail is not counted. If you need more in a busy month, email packages can be added from your Billing page. Marketing campaigns are billed separately per email and never touch this quota.