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Sprigr

Email (IMAP/POP)

The Email (IMAP/POP) app connects any mailbox to the Sprigr Inbox over IMAP or POP3: Gmail, Outlook and Microsoft 365, Yahoo, iCloud, Fastmail, or a custom server. New messages are polled every two minutes (IMAP) or five minutes (POP3) and appear as threads alongside your other channels, attachments included. Replies are sent through the account’s SMTP server and thread correctly on both ends. Read state, trash and spam changes made in Sprigr are mirrored back to the IMAP server.

Prerequisites

Section titled “Prerequisites”
  • A mailbox with IMAP or POP3 access enabled, and its server details if it is not one of the presets. Outlook may require an app password when MFA is on. Google has been retiring app passwords for personal Gmail accounts; where one is not available, use the OAuth sign-in described below or the Google Workspace app.
  • Admin or Owner role in your Sprigr Team organisation to install the app.

Installing and adding an account

Section titled “Installing and adding an account”

  1. Install the app

    Sign in to team.sprigr.com, open Apps in the sidebar, find Email (IMAP/POP) under Available, and install it. The encryption key is generated automatically. See Installing Apps.

  2. Add an account

    Open the app’s settings page from Apps > Installed and use Add an account. Pick a provider (Gmail, Outlook / Microsoft 365, Yahoo Mail, iCloud, Fastmail) or Other / custom server, enter the email address, an optional label, the password or app password, and, for a custom server, the hostname and port. SMTP settings default to the inbound ones; set them separately if your provider differs. Click Save account.

  3. Choose which folders to sync (IMAP)

    By default only INBOX is synced. Ask your agent to list the account’s folders and enable the ones you want (list_folders, set_synced_folders). At least one folder must stay enabled.

  4. Check the connection

    The Connected accounts list shows each account’s status, last poll time and last error. Accounts can be paused, resumed or removed from the same list; removing an account deletes its stored credentials.

How mail flows

Section titled “How mail flows”
  • Polling. IMAP accounts are polled every two minutes and POP3 accounts every five, fetching up to 50 new messages per account per run. POP3 messages are read without being deleted from the server.
  • Threads and attachments. Messages land as inbox threads; attachments are fetched from the server on demand when someone clicks Download.
  • Replies. Sending from a thread uses the account’s SMTP server with the right In-Reply-To and References headers, so the reply threads in the recipient’s client and in your own mailbox.
  • Mirroring (IMAP only). Marking a thread read in Sprigr marks it read on the server; moving to trash or spam moves it to the provider’s matching folder; a hard delete in Sprigr deletes and expunges on the server. POP3 has no read state, so nothing is mirrored for POP3 accounts.

OAuth sign-in for Gmail and Microsoft 365

Section titled “OAuth sign-in for Gmail and Microsoft 365”

For a Gmail personal account or a Microsoft 365 tenant with basic authentication turned off, the app can authenticate with OAuth (XOAUTH2) instead of a password. This needs the install’s GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID and secret, or MICROSOFT_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID and secret, set in the app’s secrets. With those in place, ask your agent to start the sign-in for the account (start_oauth_flow); it gives you a consent link, and the account switches to token-based sign-in once you approve. Without them, use an app password, or use the Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 app.

Common use cases

Section titled “Common use cases”
  • Shared mailboxes. Bring info@ or support@ into the inbox so a team and its agents triage from one place.
  • Legacy hosting. A mailbox on a hosting provider with no API gets the same inbox treatment as Gmail.
  • Personal inbox on a companion agent. A person connects their own mailbox so their companion can summarise and draft replies.
  • Multiple providers. Yahoo, iCloud and a custom server all land in the same inbox.

Troubleshooting

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Authentication failed Most providers reject the account password and want an app password when MFA is on; Outlook is the usual case. Personal Gmail accounts may no longer accept app passwords at all, in which case use the OAuth sign-in or the Google Workspace app. Some providers require IMAP to be enabled in their settings first.

No new mail arriving Check the account’s status and last error on the settings page. A paused account does not poll. For IMAP, confirm the folder you expect is in the synced list.

Replies fail SMTP host, port, username or password is missing or wrong on the account. Edit the account and fill the SMTP fields; they default to the inbound values only when the provider uses the same server.

Read or delete changes not reflected in my mailbox Mirroring is IMAP only. Archive and folder moves other than trash and spam are not mirrored because providers differ too widely.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”