Outreach mailbox

Connect your own mailbox over SMTP and IMAP to send outreach and read replies, and set the sender name, postal address and sending limits.

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Connect your own mailbox so Prefera can send outreach emails from your address and read the replies, instead of you copying each email into your mail app. Prefera never sends without your approval, and only reads messages that answer an email it sent.

It uses SMTP to send and IMAP to read replies. Find it under Integrations > Outreach mailbox. See Authority, outreach and directories for how outreach works.

Connect#

Owners and editors can connect.

Click Connect mailbox.
Pick your Provider and read the note under it. It explains what to do for that provider.
Fill in Send from (for example you@yourcompany.com) and Your name, which is shown to the person you write to.
Leave Login empty to use the address above, or enter a different login.
Enter the Password. For Google it is an App password. It is stored encrypted and never shown again.
Fill in the sender details (see below), then click Test connection.
Click Save and connect.

Test connection logs in to both servers and sends nothing.

Providers#

Provider	What to know
Google (Gmail or Workspace)	Use an app password, not your Google password. Turn on 2-step verification, then open myaccount.google.com/apppasswords, create one named Prefera and paste the 16 letters. Some Workspace admins switch app passwords off. If the option is missing, ask your admin or use another mailbox.
Outlook or Microsoft 365	Personal Outlook accounts need 2-step verification and an app password (account.microsoft.com, Security, App passwords). Microsoft 365 work accounts often have SMTP sign-in switched off. Your admin must allow SMTP AUTH and IMAP for this mailbox.
Zoho Mail	Create an application-specific password in Zoho (Accounts, Security, App passwords) and enable IMAP in Mail settings. In the EU or India data centre, change the servers to smtp.zoho.eu / imap.zoho.eu or smtp.zoho.in / imap.zoho.in under Custom.
Hostinger Email	Use the mailbox address and its password (set in hPanel, Emails). Hostinger has no separate app passwords.
Another provider	Enter your provider's SMTP server, SMTP port, IMAP server and IMAP port. Ports 465 and 993 use SSL. Ports 587 and 143 start in plain text and upgrade with STARTTLS. Use an app password if your provider offers them.

Sender identity and postal address#

Before Prefera can send, you must fill in who the sender is. All three are required:

Business name: shown in the footer of every email. 2 to 120 characters, no links or HTML.
Postal address: required in every outreach email by law in the US (CAN-SPAM). A PO box is fine. It must be 10 to 300 characters and cannot contain links or HTML.
A tick box: "I'm the sender. I'll only email business contacts about relevant topics, and I honour opt-outs."

If any of these is missing, the tile shows Sending paused and says "Add your postal address to keep sending. It's required in every outreach email. Open Manage to add it." Open Manage, fill it in and save. Save sender details only saves just these fields.

Every email ends with your business name, your postal address and a short opt-out line: "Not relevant? Reply 'no' or 'unsubscribe' and I won't email you again." Anyone who says no or bounces is never emailed again.

Sending limits#

Two settings control how fast mail leaves your mailbox.

Setting	Rule
Emails per day	1 to 40. The default is 20. A new mailbox does best below 20.
Seconds between emails	30 to 900. The default is 120.

The daily count resets at midnight UTC. The tile shows how many were sent today and that replies are checked every 20 minutes. Save limits only saves just these two settings.

Manage and disconnect#

Manage reopens the form. Leave the password empty to keep the saved one.
Disconnect deletes the stored password and cancels emails waiting to be sent. Sent history stays.

A Needs attention badge means the last login failed. Open Manage and test again.