Email Setup Guide: Connect Gmail, Outlook, or IMAP to Know Reply

Connecting your email to Know Reply takes about 15 minutes. This guide walks through the process for the three most common configurations: Google Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, and standard IMAP servers.

Before You Begin

Make sure you have the following ready:

A Know Reply account (sign up at app.knowreply.ai if you do not have one)
Admin or owner access to the email account you want to connect
Your knowledge base content — FAQ documents, website URLs, or help articles

Step 1: Create Your Agent

After logging in, click Create Agent from the dashboard. Every email connection in Know Reply is tied to an agent, so you will set this up first.

Name: Choose something descriptive, like “Order Notifications Agent.”
Instructions: Tell the agent how to behave. For example: “You help customers with order status questions. Be concise and friendly. Escalate refund requests to a human.”
Escalation rules: Define when the agent should hand off to a human team member.

Step 2: Connect Your Email

Navigate to the Email section in your agent settings. Choose your provider:

Gmail (Google Workspace or personal)

Click Connect Gmail and sign in with your Google account. Grant the requested permissions. Know Reply uses OAuth, so your password is never stored. The connection supports both @gmail.com and custom domain addresses managed through Google Workspace.

Microsoft Outlook (Office 365 or Outlook.com)

Click Connect Outlook and sign in with your Microsoft account. Approve the permissions request. This works for both personal Outlook accounts and organizational Office 365 mailboxes.

IMAP / SMTP (Any provider)

For other providers — Zoho, Yahoo, Fastmail, self-hosted servers — select Manual IMAP. You will need:

IMAP server: e.g., imap.yourdomain.com
IMAP port: typically 993 (SSL) or 143 (STARTTLS)
SMTP server: e.g., smtp.yourdomain.com
SMTP port: typically 465 (SSL) or 587 (STARTTLS)
Username and password: use an app-specific password if your provider supports two-factor authentication

Step 3: Build Your Knowledge Base

Your agent is only as good as the information it has access to. Add sources from the Knowledge Base tab:

Website crawl: Enter your site URL and Know Reply will automatically index your public pages.
Document upload: Upload PDFs, text files, or Word documents containing product info, policies, or procedures.
Manual entries: Paste individual FAQ items or knowledge articles directly.

Step 4: Test in the Simulator

Before going live, use the Simulator to send test emails to your agent. Try common questions your customers ask. Review the responses, tweak your knowledge base or agent instructions, and re-test until you are confident.

Step 5: Go Live

Toggle your agent from Test to Live mode. It will begin monitoring your connected mailbox immediately. You can view all conversations, agent responses, and escalated messages from the Know Reply dashboard.

Need help with setup? Sign in to Know Reply and reach out to our support team — we are happy to walk you through it.