A team inbox for shared Gmail, Outlook and IMAP addresses
Sektra is a team inbox for the addresses several people answer together, such as a support, sales or client services mailbox. Every conversation has one owner, a status and internal notes, and the thread shows when a teammate is already typing a reply. The mailbox stays on Gmail, Outlook or your own mail server and syncs both ways.
A team inbox, which some vendors call a collaborative inbox, is one email address that several people work from, with a record of who is handling each conversation. A shared address without that record relies on habits such as forwarding a message to a colleague or copying everyone on the reply. Those habits break down as volume grows, and the result is a client who receives two answers or a request that each person assumed someone else had taken.
Sektra adds that record to the mailbox the team already has. The address, the mail and the history stay in Gmail, Outlook or the IMAP mailbox, and teammates who have not joined Sektra yet keep working there as before. Inside Sektra the same mail appears as conversations with an owner, a status and notes, visible to the rest of the team as they change.
How a collaborative inbox gives every conversation one owner
Each conversation in a team inbox has one owner at a time, and the owner's name shows on its row in the list. Sektra can assign new conversations as they arrive, in rotation or to the teammate with the fewest open conversations, and it skips anyone marked Away. Newsletters, receipts and auto-replies are left unassigned, so automated mail does not land on a person's list. A teammate can still assign any conversation by hand from the thread.
Internal notes and mentions on the thread
An internal note is a comment written on the thread that the client never sees. It keeps the discussion about a reply beside the message it concerns, where a forwarded email would have taken it out of the shared address. Mentioning a teammate in a note notifies them and brings them in without changing the owner, which is how a thread is handed over with its context.
A typing indicator that shows who is already replying
When a teammate starts a reply on a shared conversation, the thread shows their name with a typing indicator. Avatars in the header show who else has the conversation open, and the indicator works the same way on email, WhatsApp and chat. Sektra does not lock the thread or offer a takeover button. The second person sees that a reply is under way and can leave the answer to the first.
Status, snooze and two-way sync with the mailbox
A conversation is open, snoozed until a date or archived once it is handled, and a snoozed conversation returns sooner if the client replies first. Archive, read state, tags and sent replies sync with the mailbox, so Gmail or Outlook shows the same picture as Sektra. A reply written in Sektra leaves from the shared address itself and is filed in the mailbox's Sent folder.
What your team gets
One owner per conversation
Every conversation in the shared address has a named owner, set by rotation, by load or by hand.
Discussion kept with the mail
Internal notes and mentions sit on the thread itself, so the reasoning behind a reply is there for whoever opens it next.
One reply per client
The typing indicator names the teammate who is writing, which keeps two answers from reaching the same client.
The mailbox stays where it is
Mail remains in Gmail, Outlook or the IMAP mailbox and syncs both ways, so nothing is migrated.
Team inbox setup in four steps
The steps follow the order a new workspace takes them in, and they use the names of the screens as they appear in the app.
- 1
Connect the shared address
Under Settings, Inboxes, connect the Gmail, Outlook or IMAP mailbox and mark the inbox as Shared.
- 2
Invite the team
Invite teammates from Settings, Team, then use Manage access on the inbox to choose who can read and reply from it.
- 3
Turn on auto-assignment
On the inbox's Auto-assignment card, turn on Assign new conversations and choose the teammates in the rotation.
- 4
Work the address together
Reply, leave notes and mention teammates from the thread, then snooze or archive each conversation once it is handled.
Common questions
These are the questions teams ask before they set this up. If yours is not covered here, send it to us.
What is a team inbox?
A team inbox is a shared email address that several people work from, with an owner, a status and internal notes on each conversation. It is another name for a shared inbox. Sektra runs one on top of a Gmail, Outlook or IMAP mailbox, which keeps receiving the mail as before.
What is a collaborative inbox?
A collaborative inbox is an inbox that a group works together, where each message can be assigned to a person and marked as done. Google Groups has a feature with this name that adds assignment to a group address. Sektra provides the same collaboration on the mailbox itself, with notes, a typing indicator and a history per client.
Does a team inbox replace Gmail or Outlook?
No. Sektra connects to the Gmail, Outlook or IMAP mailbox and syncs with it both ways, so labels, read state and sent replies match in both places. Teammates who are not on Sektra keep working in Gmail or Outlook, and the people writing to the address notice no change.
Who can see the mail in a team inbox?
A team inbox is visible only to the teammates who have been given access to it. Access is granted inbox by inbox, so a member sees only the shared addresses they have been given, while admins can open all of them. Each seat also includes a personal inbox that only its owner can open.
Other parts of the same inbox
Sektra compared with the tool you use now
Each page states what the other tool is built for, what it costs and what changes when a team moves to Sektra.
Articles on this subject
What is a shared inbox? How it works, who uses one and how to set one up
A shared inbox is an email address several people work from, with an owner and a status on each thread. This guide covers how it works, how it differs from a shared mailbox, team inbox and help desk, and how to set one up.
Read the articlePlaybooksGoogle Groups Collaborative Inbox: setup, limits and alternatives
A Collaborative Inbox is the closest thing Google Workspace has to a free shared inbox. This guide covers how to turn it on, how assignment and resolution work, the five limits that end it, and the alternatives when a team outgrows it.
Read the articlePlaybooksHow to stop two people replying to the same email in Gmail or Outlook
Plain Gmail and Outlook give no sign that a colleague is drafting a reply, so duplicate replies to clients are common in shared mailboxes. This guide covers how collision detection works, which tools show it and where, and three conventions for teams without one.
Read the articleTry it on your own inbox
Connect a Gmail, Outlook or IMAP mailbox and the trial runs on your own mail, with nothing to migrate and no card required.