How Do I Configure My Mailbox Settings?

Configuring your mailbox settings is the third step in getting Propel working for you. These settings control how your AI agent behaves when responding to prospects, including when to respond, how to identify itself, and when to involve human team members.

What Are Mailbox Settings?

Mailbox settings control the behavior of your AI agent for a specific mailbox. Each mailbox can have different settings, allowing you to customize how Propel handles different types of inquiries. These settings include:

• Agent Name - How the agent identifies itself in emails
• Response Filters - When to respond, ignore, or hand off emails
• Approvals - Whether to require manual review before sending
• Agent Capabilities - Which AI features are enabled (booking, research)
• Handoffs - Automatic CC of team members when needed
• Email Disclaimer - Compliance disclaimers for all emails

Accessing Mailbox Settings

To configure your mailbox settings:

1. Navigate to Settings > Mailboxes
2. Use the mailbox selector dropdown at the top to choose which mailbox you want to configure
3. The configuration layout will display for the selected mailbox

The mailbox settings page is organized into tabs:

• Configure - All mailbox settings and configuration options
• Recent Activity - Activity log showing what the mailbox has done

Basic Information

Mailbox Name

The mailbox name is how you identify this mailbox throughout Propel. You can change it at any time.

How to change:

1. In the "Basic Information" section, edit the "Mailbox name" field
2. Click "Save Changes" at the bottom of any section

Best practices:

• Use descriptive names that indicate the mailbox purpose
• Examples: "Leasing Inbox", "Buyer Leads", "Seller Inquiries"
• Keep names consistent across your organization

Email Account

This section shows which email account the mailbox is monitoring. You cannot change this from the mailbox settings - you'll need to create a new mailbox if you want to monitor a different account.

Agent Capabilities

Agent capabilities control which AI features are enabled for this mailbox. When a capability is disabled, requests requiring that feature will be routed to human agents instead.

Booking & Scheduling

When enabled, the AI agent can:

• Schedule tours and viewings
• Check calendar availability
• Book appointments automatically
• Send booking confirmations

When disabled, booking requests will be handed off to human agents.

When to disable:

• You want all bookings to go through human review
• You're testing the system and want to handle bookings manually initially
• Your calendar integration isn't set up yet

Default: Enabled

Research & Search

When enabled, the AI agent can:

• Search your property listings
• Answer questions about property details
• Find properties matching prospect criteria
• Provide property recommendations

When disabled, research requests will be handed off to human agents.

When to disable:

• You want to manually handle all property searches
• Your listing data isn't fully imported yet
• You're testing and want to review all research responses

Default: Enabled

How to configure:

1. In the "Agent Capabilities" section, toggle the switches for Booking & Scheduling and Research & Search
2. Click "Save Changes"

Bot Signature & Disclaimer

Bot Signature

The bot signature is how the AI agent identifies itself in email responses. This appears in messages to let prospects know they're communicating with an automated assistant.

Default: "Property assistant"

Examples:

• "Property assistant"
• "Brian's leasing assistant"
• "Sales Team Assistant"
• "Rental Inquiry Bot"

How to configure:

1. In the "Bot Signature & Disclaimer" section, edit the "Bot signature" field
2. Enter how you want the agent to identify itself
3. Click "Save Changes"

Best practices:

• Keep it professional but friendly
• Consider including a team member's name for personalization
• Make it clear it's an assistant but not overly robotic

Email Disclaimer

Email disclaimers are compliance text appended to all outgoing emails. This is useful for legal requirements, privacy notices, or standard business disclaimers.

Default: Disabled

When to enable:

• Legal or compliance requirements mandate disclaimers
• Your industry requires specific disclosures
• You want to add standard business disclaimers

How to configure:

1. In the "Bot Signature & Disclaimer" section, toggle "Enable email disclaimer" to ON
2. Enter your disclaimer text in the "Disclaimer text" field
3. Click "Save Changes"

Default disclaimer text: "Information is subject to change"

Best practices:

• Keep disclaimers concise
• Use clear, professional language
• Consult legal counsel for compliance requirements
• The disclaimer appears in subtle system-looking text at the end of emails

Approvals

Approvals require manual review before sending emails. When enabled, all responses from this mailbox must be approved before they're sent to prospects.

Enable Approvals

When approvals are enabled:

• Propel generates responses but doesn't send them immediately
• Responses appear in the Approvals queue
• Designated approvers receive notification emails
• Approvers can approve or deny responses
• Approved responses are sent automatically
• Denied responses are not sent

Default: Enabled (for new mailboxes)

When to enable:

• You want to review all responses before sending
• You're new to Propel and want to ensure quality
• Compliance requires human review
• You want to maintain tight control over messaging

When to disable:

• You trust Propel's responses and want full automation
• You've tested extensively and are confident in quality
• You have rules and other safeguards in place

Default Approver Emails

Approvers are team members who review and approve responses. You can specify default approvers for this mailbox.

How to configure:

1. Enable approvals (toggle "Enable Approvals" to ON)
2. In "Default approver emails", enter comma-separated email addresses
3. Example: manager@example.com, supervisor@example.com
4. Click "Save Changes"

Note: Approvers must be team members with access to your Propel organization. They'll receive email notifications when responses need approval.

Approval Expiration

Approval expiration sets how long a response waits for approval before expiring. Expired approvals are not sent automatically.

Default: 24 hours

How to configure:

1. In "Approval expiration (hours)", enter the number of hours
2. Minimum: 1 hour
3. Click "Save Changes"

Best practices:

• Set expiration based on your response time goals
• Shorter times (4-8 hours) for time-sensitive inquiries
• Longer times (24-48 hours) for less urgent communications
• Consider your team's availability when setting expiration

Handoffs

Handoffs automatically CC team members on emails when the AI agent needs human assistance. This ensures important conversations get human attention without stopping automation.

Enable Handoffs

When handoffs are enabled:

• Propel can automatically CC team members on responses
• Handoffs occur based on rules or when AI capabilities are disabled
• Team members receive copies of relevant emails
• The original prospect email flow continues

Default: Disabled

When to enable:

• You want team members to be aware of certain conversations
• You want backup coverage for important prospects
• You're using handoffs as part of your workflow rules
• You want visibility into AI-handled conversations

Default Handoff Agents

Default handoff agents are team members who are automatically CC'd when handoffs occur.

How to configure:

1. Enable handoffs (toggle "Enable Handoffs" to ON)
2. In "Default handoff agents", enter comma-separated email addresses
3. Example: agent1@example.com, agent2@example.com
4. Click "Save Changes"

Note: Handoff agents must be team members with access to your Propel organization. They'll receive CC copies of emails when handoffs are triggered.

Best practices:

• Use handoffs for important prospects or high-value inquiries
• Don't CC too many people to avoid email overload
• Consider using rules to trigger handoffs for specific scenarios
• Combine with approval workflows for maximum control

Response Filters

Response filters define when your mailbox should respond to or ignore emails. Filters help you control which emails Propel handles automatically.

Understanding Response Filters

Response filters are evaluated for every incoming email. All filters are checked, and ignore filters take precedence over respond filters if there's a conflict.

Filter types:

• Respond filters - Only respond when conditions are met
• Ignore filters - Never respond when conditions are met

Filter evaluation:

1. All filters are checked against the incoming email
2. If any ignore filter matches, the email is ignored
3. If ignore filters don't match, respond filters are evaluated
4. If a respond filter matches, the email gets a response
5. If no filters match, default behavior applies (typically responds)

Rule Types

You can create rules based on:

Domain-based rules:

• Only respond to domain - Only respond to emails from specific domains (e.g., example.com)
• Ignore domain - Never respond to emails from specific domains (e.g., internal team emails)

Email-based rules:

• Only respond to email - Only respond to specific email addresses
• Ignore email - Never respond to specific email addresses

Subject-based rules:

• Only respond when subject contains - Only respond if subject line contains specific text
• Ignore if subject contains - Never respond if subject line contains specific text

Body-based rules:

• Only respond when body contains - Only respond if email body contains specific text
• Ignore if body contains - Never respond if email body contains specific text

Adding Response Filters

How to add a filter:

1. In the "Response Filters" section, click "Add simple filter" or "Add filter group"
2. Select the filter type from the dropdown
3. Enter the value to match (domain, email, or text)
4. Click "Save Changes" at the bottom of the section

Examples:

Ignore internal team emails:

• Type: "Ignore domain"
• Value: yourcompany.com

Only respond to inquiries from your website:

• Type: "Only respond to domain"
• Value: yourwebsite.com

Ignore automated emails:

• Type: "Ignore if subject contains"
• Value: [AUTO] or Out of Office

Only handle rental inquiries:

• Type: "Only respond when subject contains"
• Value: rental or apartment

Testing Response Filters

Propel includes a filter testing tool to verify your filters work as expected.

How to test filters:

1. Scroll to the "Test Response Filters" section
2. Enter a test sender email address
3. Enter a test subject line
4. Enter test email body content
5. Click "Test Filters"

The test results show:

• Whether the email would be responded to or ignored
• Which filters matched
• The reason for the decision

Best practices:

• Test filters after creating or modifying them
• Test edge cases (e.g., emails that should be ignored)
• Verify both positive and negative cases
• Update filters based on test results

Response Filters Best Practices

1. Start simple - Begin with basic ignore filters for internal emails
2. Add complexity gradually - Add more filters as you learn what works
3. Test thoroughly - Use the test tool to verify filters work correctly
4. Document filters - Use clear descriptions so team members understand them
5. Review regularly - Check filters periodically to ensure they're still relevant
6. Use ignore filters first - Ignore filters take precedence, so set them up first
7. Be specific - More specific filters are easier to understand and maintain

Saving Changes

Each configuration section has its own "Save Changes" button. You can:

• Save changes to individual sections independently
• Make multiple changes and save them all at once
• Changes take effect immediately after saving

Note: You must be an organization admin to modify mailbox settings. If you don't see edit options, contact your organization administrator.

Configuration Workflow

A typical mailbox configuration workflow:

1. Set basic information - Name your mailbox appropriately
2. Configure agent capabilities - Enable or disable booking and research
3. Set bot signature - Customize how the agent identifies itself
4. Enable approvals (initially) - Review responses before going fully automatic
5. Add response filters - Set up basic ignore filters for internal emails
6. Test filters - Verify filters work as expected
7. Enable mailbox - Turn on the mailbox to start monitoring
8. Monitor and adjust - Review activity and refine settings as needed

Common Configuration Scenarios

Scenario 1: Property Management Leasing Inbox

Settings:

• Agent Name: "Leasing Assistant"
• Agent Capabilities: Both enabled (booking and research)
• Approvals: Enabled initially, disable after testing
• Response Filters: Ignore internal team domain
• Handoffs: Enabled for manager email
• Disclaimer: Enabled with rental-specific text

Scenario 2: Real Estate Buyer Leads

Settings:

• Agent Name: "Sales Team Assistant"
• Agent Capabilities: Research enabled, booking disabled (showings handled manually)
• Approvals: Disabled (after initial testing)
• Response Filters: Only respond to domain from lead sources
• Handoffs: Enabled for agent emails
• Disclaimer: Enabled with real estate disclosure

Scenario 3: High-Volume Inquiry Mailbox

Settings:

• Agent Name: "Property Assistant"
• Agent Capabilities: Both enabled
• Approvals: Disabled (for speed)
• Response Filters: Ignore spam domains, ignore automated emails
• Handoffs: Disabled (handled by rules instead)
• Disclaimer: Enabled for compliance

Troubleshooting

Changes Not Saving

If your changes aren't saving:

1. Ensure you're an organization admin
2. Check that you clicked "Save Changes" in the relevant section
3. Verify you have a stable internet connection
4. Try refreshing the page and making changes again

Filters Not Working as Expected

If filters aren't working:

1. Use the "Test Response Filters" tool to verify filter logic
2. Check that ignore filters aren't conflicting with respond filters
3. Ensure filter values are entered correctly (case-sensitive for some types)
4. Verify filters are enabled (they should be by default)
5. Review the activity log to see what filters were evaluated

Approvals Not Being Sent

If approvers aren't receiving notifications:

1. Verify approver emails are correct and team members have access
2. Check that approvals are enabled for the mailbox
3. Ensure approvers are checking their email (including spam folders)
4. Verify approval expiration hasn't passed

Handoffs Not Working

If handoffs aren't occurring:

1. Check that handoffs are enabled
2. Verify handoff agent emails are correct
3. Ensure handoff conditions are met (check your rules)
4. Review activity log to see if handoffs were triggered

Next Steps

After configuring your mailbox settings:

• Enable your mailbox to start monitoring emails
• Monitor conversations to see Propel in action
• Create rules to customize automation behavior
• Review approvals if you have approvals enabled
• Set up handoffs for team collaboration

Related Articles

• Getting Started Guide - Complete setup walkthrough
• Setting Up Your First Mailbox - Create and configure mailboxes
• Understanding Your Dashboard - Monitor Propel's activity
• Creating Your First Rule - Advanced automation configuration
• Approval Workflows - Detailed approval setup guide
• Setting Up Handoffs - Team collaboration features
• Response Rules Configuration - Advanced response rules guide