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When you sign up for Freshdesk, a support email is automatically created to handle your support queries. By default, the Freshdesk mail server is used to manage the email transactions for your emails. 

However, you can set up additional emails and choose public Email servers like Gmail and Microsoft Office 365 or your own custom email server to manage your email transactions.


Note: When you set up a custom mailbox, the last day's emails in the mailbox (both read and unread emails) from the Inbox will be fetched and created as tickets. 


This article provides instructions on setting up a custom email server:

  1. How to set up Emails via custom Email servers?

How to set up Emails via custom Email servers?

To add an  Email:

  1. Log in to Freshdesk as an admin.
  2. Go to Admin > Channels > Email.
  3. ClickNew support email.
  4. In the Email settings page, enter the following details:
    1. Name: Enter the name of the email. This will be used in the ticket replies.
    2. Your support Email: Enter the support email you want to add. This could be your email in your company domain. For example, support@yourcompany.com. Also, note that this will also be yourReply-to email address.
    3. Assign to group: Select the group/team to which you want to assign the incoming tickets. For example, Billing, Finance, Accounts, etc. Alternatively, you can alsoconfigure automation rules to automatically route tickets to a specific group.
    4. Link this support email with a product: Select the product to which you want to associate the email address. To add a new product, click add product.
      Note:If you are on the Pro or Enterprise plans, you can set up a multi-product helpdesk and assign a different mailbox to each product.
  5. Under Email server, choose Custom Mail server. You can use public Email systems like Gmail, Microsoft, or your own email servers. 

Using Gmail Server or Microsoft Office 365

If you are using Gmail or Microsoft Office 365, click on the Sign in option and proceed with the further steps. 

For example, if you choose Gmail, click Sign in with Google. You will be redirected to your Gmail account, where you can enter your credentials and proceed with verification and authentication.

Note: If you are logged in to your personal Outlook or Gmail account with SSO and use the Sign In option, the authentication will be done on your personal credentials. To avoid this, ensure to complete the authentication in an incognito tab.


Using other custom mail servers

You can also choose other custom servers to manage your email transactions for incoming, outgoing, or both.

Setting up incoming mail settings 

  1. Under Email server, choose Custom Mail server and then select Other.
  2. Under Use Email server for, select Incoming only.
  3. Enter the IMAP server name from where the incoming mails have to be fetched. Also, enter the port details. Check this article to learn how to find your IMAP and port details.
  4. To establish a secure connection, ensure that you select the Use SSL option.
  5. Choose your Authentication method based on your server settings.
    Note: The authentication method varies for different email servers. For example, Gmail uses plain or CRAM-MD5 authentication. Ensure that you choose the correct authentication method.
  6. Enter the username and password of your Email account.
  7. Click Save.

Setting up outgoing mail settings

  1. Under Email server, choose Custom Mail server and then select Other.
  2. Under Use Email server for, select Outgoing only.
  3. Enter the IMAP server name from where the outgoing mails have to be fetched. Also, enter the port details. Check this article to learn how to find your IMAP and port details.
  4. To establish a secure connection, ensure that you select the Use SSL option.
  5. Choose your Authentication method based on your server settings.
    Note: The authentication method varies for different email servers. For example, Gmail uses plain or CRAM-MD5 authentication. Ensure that you choose the correct authentication method.
  6. Enter the username and password of your email account.
  7. Click Save.


Note: If you wish to use other custom mail server for both your incoming and outgoing emails, choose Both and follow the same steps for incoming and outgoing mail systems.


Tips and best practices

  • You can configure advanced Email settings to customize your emails. For example, you can allow your agents to send outbound emails to customers. For details, check Configuring advanced Email settings.
  • Though DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) verification is not specifically required for a custom email server in Freshdesk, we still recommend configuring DKIM for your own DNS. This ensures enhanced email security and helps prevent spoofing and phishing attacks.
    If you’re unsure about the setup, check with your email service provider or IT administrator. 
  • If you use Microsoft Office 365 mail authentication, note that the default lifetime for the refresh tokens is 24 hours for single-page apps and 90 days for all other scenarios. You may have to reauthenticate your tokens every 90 days.

    However, if you own the email exchange authentication, you can modify this policy.