> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.rescueconsole.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Inboxes
> The addresses your organization receives mail at, how to forward your own addresses to them, and who can read each one.
An inbox is an address that mail arrives at, so that it can be read and answered in the [Communications inbox](/communications/inbox). Most rescues keep one for each kind of mail: adoptions, fosters, volunteers.
Open it from **Settings → Communications → Inboxes**. The page is called **Inboxes**: "The addresses this organization receives mail at, and who can read each one."
Anyone who can **See** Communications can open this page and copy an address. Adding, renaming, retiring and restoring inboxes needs **Change** on Communications. Changing who can read an inbox needs **Configure** on Communications.
## How this works
RescueConsole does not host your email. You keep your own addresses where they are, and set your mail provider to forward a copy of what arrives to the address shown here. Nothing changes for the people writing to you.
For example, you forward [adoptions@contoso.org](mailto:adoptions@contoso.org) to the address of your Adoptions inbox, which looks like `contoso+adoptions@inbox.rescueconsole.com`. Copy it from this page rather than typing it: each inbox has a **Copy** button beside its address.
Forwarding fails silently if the address is mistyped by one character: the sending server sees a successful handoff and nobody is told. If nothing arrives after you set it up, that is almost always why.
### Forwarding your address
**Show me where:** on the page opens the steps for your mail provider.
**Google Workspace**
1. Admin console → Apps → Google Workspace → Gmail → Routing.
2. Under "Routing", add a rule for the address you want forwarded.
3. Set "Also deliver to" to the inbox's address, and leave the original delivery in place.
4. If the address is a Group rather than a user, add the inbox's address as a member of that Group instead.
**Gmail (personal address)**
1. Settings → See all settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP.
2. Click "Add a forwarding address" and paste the inbox's address.
3. Google emails a confirmation code to it. Open Communications to read that message and confirm.
4. Back in Gmail, choose "Forward a copy of incoming mail to" and keep Gmail's copy in the inbox.
**Microsoft 365**
1. Exchange admin center → Recipients → Mailboxes, and open the mailbox.
2. Under "Mailbox behaviors" (or "Others"), choose "Manage mail flow settings" → "Email forwarding".
3. Turn forwarding on, paste the inbox's address, and tick "Keep a copy of forwarded email".
**cPanel or another host**
1. Look for "Forwarders", "Aliases", or "Mail routing" in your host's control panel.
2. Add a forwarder from your address to the inbox's address.
3. If your host offers a choice, keep a copy in the original mailbox as well.
## The list of inboxes
Each inbox shows its display name, its address with **Copy**, and any of these labels:
| Label | What it means |
| ---------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Default | Mail sent to your organization's address without naming an inbox arrives here. |
| Restricted | Only named people and roles can read it. See [who can read a mailbox](/communications/inboxes#who-can-read-a-mailbox). |
| Retired | The address no longer accepts mail. |
Retired inboxes are hidden until you tick **Show retired**. The list holds only the inboxes you can read, so a restricted inbox you are not on does not appear here either.
### The default inbox
Every organization starts with one inbox, **General**, which is the default. Besides its own address, it receives mail sent to your organization's bare address, such as `contoso@inbox.rescueconsole.com`.
The default inbox is also where answers arrive to mail a workflow sends, and it is the first choice under **Send from** in Compose. **Make default** on another inbox moves all of that to it.
## Adding an inbox
The form opens above the list.
**Address name** becomes part of the email address. **Display name** is what your team sees.
The new inbox and its address appear in the list. Copy the address into your mail provider's forwarding.
| Field | What it means |
| ------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Address name | Required. Lowercase letters, digits and hyphens, 1 to 31 characters, starting with a letter or a digit. No spaces, dots or underscores. For example `adoptions`. |
| Display name | Required. What staff see in the list, such as "Adoption enquiries". |
Two inboxes cannot share an address name. A few names are kept for the email system itself and are refused: postmaster, abuse, hostmaster, webmaster, noreply, no-reply, bounces and mailer-daemon.
A new inbox is open to everyone who can **See** Communications until you name who may read it.
## Changing an inbox
These controls sit beside each inbox, for people who can **Change** Communications.
| Control | What it does |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Who can read this | Opens the list of people and roles who can read it. See below. |
| Rename | Changes the display name only. |
| Make default | Makes this the default inbox. |
| Retire | Stops the address accepting mail. Not offered on the default inbox. |
| Restore | On a retired inbox: the address accepts mail again. |
### Why an address cannot be changed
**Rename** changes what your team sees, not the address. Once mail is being forwarded to an address, changing it would stop delivery without an error anywhere. To move to a different address, add a new inbox, change your forwarding to it, then retire the old one.
### Retiring an inbox
Retiring asks you to confirm first. After that, mail sent to the address is refused, and the sender's own mail server tells them it did not arrive. The conversations already in the inbox are kept, and **Restore** brings the address back.
The default inbox cannot be retired. Make another inbox the default first.
## Who can read a mailbox
**Who can read this** opens the list for one inbox.
* **Open**: "Everyone who can open Communications." This is how every inbox starts.
* **Restricted**: "Only the people and roles listed here." **Organization admins can always read every mailbox**, so nobody can lock your organization out of its own address.
To restrict an inbox, add the first person with **Add a person**, or the first role with **Or add a role**. Adding the first one restricts the inbox straight away. Roles are marked **role** in the list. **Remove** takes one off.
Removing the last person or role does not open the inbox back up. It stays restricted with nobody named, so only organization admins can read it, and mail still arrives. To let everyone read it again, press **Open to everyone** and confirm.
Only people who can **Configure** Communications can change this list. People who can **Change** Communications see who is on it.
A person on the list still needs a role that can **See** Communications to open the inbox at all.
### What a restricted inbox keeps from others
For somebody not on its list, a restricted inbox does not exist. They cannot:
* see it in the inbox filters, or see its conversations listed or counted
* open, answer, assign or merge its conversations
* see its conversations in the **Emails** section of a person's record, or on an application or form submission
* send from it in Compose
## Mail that is refused
Mail is refused, and the sender is told, when:
* it is sent to an address that has no inbox: "No such address at this domain."
* it is sent to a retired inbox: "That address is no longer in use."
* it is larger than 5 MB: "Message too large. Send a link to large files rather than attaching them."