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This guide connects a support email address to your agent. It is written for your email administrator and whoever manages your DNS. Expect around 30 minutes of hands-on work, plus DNS propagation time, which is usually a few minutes but can take up to 24 hours. You do not need to migrate anything. Your email provider stays in place and your team keeps the inbox they use today.

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How it works

  1. A customer emails your support address, for example support@yourcompany.com.
  2. Your email provider forwards the message to a receiving address PolyAI generates for you.
  3. Your agent reads the message and either answers it or hands it to your team.
  4. Replies leave authenticated under your own domain, so they land in the customer’s existing thread with your branding intact.
PolyAI sits between your support inbox and your handoff destination. It does not replace either.

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Before you start

Decide three things up front:
  • Which address to connect. A shared support alias works better than a named individual’s mailbox.
  • Which inbox receives handoffs. This is where your team picks up, so it must be monitored. See Email handoff.
  • Who owns your DNS. The DNS records are the only step that blocks go-live, so the timeline usually depends on this person.
Email works with any provider that supports standard forwarding and DNS records. There is no fixed list of supported vendors and nothing to install. If your mail passes through a security gateway such as Mimecast or Proofpoint, contact PolyAI before starting, as routing is configured differently.

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Open the Email page

In Agent Studio, go to Channels > Email. The page has three tabs:
If you do not see Email under Channels, the channel has not been enabled for your project. Contact your PolyAI account manager.

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Environments

The Email addresses tab shows one card for each environment: Sandbox, Staging (pre-release) and Live. Each environment has its own sender address, receiving address, signature and handoff settings, so you can test in Sandbox without affecting live customers. Each environment can hold one email address. Set up Sandbox first, test there, then repeat the setup for Live. See Environments and versions.

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Add an email address

  1. Open the Email addresses tab.
  2. On the card for the environment you are setting up, select Email address.
  3. In Add an email address, enter the Sender email address. This is the address your customers write to and the address replies are sent from, for example help@yourcompany.com.
  4. Select Add address.
Agent Studio creates the address and opens Complete email setup, a five-step guide. Each step shows Not started, In progress or Complete, and progress is saved, so you can leave and come back. To resume later, open the address’s menu on the Email addresses tab and select Edit email. A domain can only be connected to one project at a time.

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Choose a delivery method

The Delivery method step shows your Receiving email address: a unique address PolyAI generates for this environment, on the domain for your region. Select Copy address, then choose a Setup method:
  • Forwarding rule (default): forward customer emails from your existing inbox to the receiving address. Best when you keep using your current mail provider.
  • MX record: route email for a domain directly to PolyAI. Best for a dedicated support subdomain that carries nothing but support traffic. Contact PolyAI for the MX value to publish; Agent Studio does not display it.

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Create the forwarding rule

Create a rule that sends everything arriving at your support address to the receiving address. Follow the route for your provider.
  1. Open the Admin console and go to Apps > Google Workspace > Gmail > Default routing.
  2. Select Add another rule.
  3. Under Specify envelope recipients to match, choose Single recipient and enter your support address.
  4. Under For the above types of messages, do the following, tick Change envelope recipient and enter your receiving address.
  5. Under Account types to affect, select Users and Groups.
  6. Set the rule to apply to non-recognised and recognised addresses, then save.
  1. Go to Settings > See all settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP.
  2. Select Add a forwarding address and enter your receiving address.
  3. Gmail sends a verification link to that address. Ask your PolyAI contact to retrieve the confirmation code, then enter it in Gmail.
  4. Select Forward a copy of incoming mail to and choose keep Gmail’s copy in the Inbox.
  1. In the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Users > Active users and select the support mailbox, or open Exchange admin center > Recipients > Mailboxes.
  2. Open Mail flow settings and select Manage email forwarding.
  3. Tick Forward all emails sent to this mailbox, enter your receiving address, and tick Keep a copy of forwarded email.
  4. If your organisation uses transport rules instead, create a rule that redirects messages sent to the support address to your receiving address.
Look in your provider’s documentation for forwarding, mail rules, routing or redirect. The rule you want: every message delivered to the support address is also delivered to the receiving address.
Keep a copy in your own inbox while you pilot. It gives your team a fallback and makes it obvious what the agent has picked up. Also turn off any auto-reply or out-of-office on the connected address. Automatic replies, bounces and bulk mail are discarded rather than answered, so an auto-responder only creates noise.

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Set up your sending domain

The Sending domain step authorises PolyAI to send replies as your domain, so customers see your brand and your mail passes authentication checks.
  1. Open the DNS settings for your domain with your domain provider, for example Cloudflare, Amazon Route 53, Azure DNS, Google Cloud DNS or GoDaddy.
  2. Add each record in the table using the Record type, Name and Value shown. Use the copy buttons to avoid typos.
  3. Save the changes with your domain provider.
  4. Return to Agent Studio and select Verify DNS records.
Agent Studio also checks the records automatically each time you open this step. It does not poll, so select Verify DNS records again after you publish a change.

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The DNS checks

The records table groups records by check. Only DKIM is required. The summary above the table reads, for example, 2 of 3 verified. Each record shows one of these statuses: When DKIM is verified, Agent Studio shows Sending domain verified and the step is complete. You can continue to the next step before verification finishes; the step stays incomplete until it passes.
Do not delete your existing SPF, DKIM or DMARC records. These records are additions, not replacements.

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Add an email signature

The Email signature step sets the signature added to the end of every reply sent from this address. The signature is written in HTML. Switch between HTML to edit and Preview to see it below a sample reply. For example:
The agent’s reply text is sent as plain text, so formatting such as bold or links belongs in the signature, not in your knowledge base or style prompt.

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Test and activate

The final step, Test your email setup, is optional but recommended.
  1. Select Send test email. The test is sent to your sender address. Until your domain is verified, the test is sent from the PolyAI receiving address rather than your own.
  2. Select Activate email. The address goes live in its environment and Agent Studio returns to the Email addresses tab.
Then run these tests from a real mailbox in Sandbox: Conversations appear under Email in Conversation Review, with Production and Test views.

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General settings

The General tab holds settings that apply across your email addresses. The style prompt, language model and safety filters are part of your agent configuration, so they follow your normal publishing flow. The other settings save to the address immediately.

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Manage email addresses

From the Email addresses tab, each address shows its domain status, for example Domain verified, Verifying domain or Domain setup required. Open the address’s menu for these actions:
  • Edit email: reopens the setup steps, where you can check DNS records, change the signature or send a test email.
  • Change sender address: changes the address customers see. If you move to a different domain, verification resets and you must publish and verify new DNS records before replies can be sent again.
  • Remove email address: stops sending and receiving through this address. Type the address to confirm.

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Go live

  1. Repeat the setup in the Live environment. If you use the same domain as Sandbox, the DNS records are already in place.
  2. Switch the forwarding rule on for the live support address.
  3. Watch the first days closely with your team still copied on the inbox.
  4. Review conversations in Conversation Review. Every inbound and outbound message is captured.

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Troubleshooting

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Go-live checklist

  • Sender address added in each environment you use
  • Forwarding rule live and verified
  • Auto-reply removed from the connected address
  • DKIM records published and verified
  • Signature set
  • Handoff inbox configured and monitored
  • Customer handoff message written in your voice
  • Sandbox tests passed
  • Live address activated
  • Team briefed on where handoffs land

Email overview

How the email channel works and what the agent answers

Email handoff

Configure where handed-off emails go and what your team receives

Knowledge base

Define what the agent can answer autonomously

Conversation review

Review agent decisions and email threads
Last modified on October 14, 2026