Email knowledge sources

Overview

An email source connects a mailbox to your knowledge base. AtomicX Chat checks the mailbox on a schedule you choose and adds new emails to the knowledge base, so the AI can use them when answering questions. This is useful for a shared inbox where your team collects product updates, announcements or answers to common questions.

Email sources connect to your mailbox using POP3, a standard way of reading email that most email providers support. You'll need your mailbox's POP3 server details, which your email provider or IT team can give you. Supported attachments (PDF, DOCX, plain text and CSV) are also read.

Each email is only added once, even if it's still in the mailbox the next time it's checked.

Steps

Add an email source

1. Go to AI → Knowledge bases and click Manage Content on the knowledge base you want to use.
2. Open the Email Sources tab and click Add Email Source. You can also use Add Email Source at the top of the page.
3. In the Add Email Source (POP3) window, fill in:
   • Display Name: a friendly name, for example "Support Inbox".
   • POP3 Server (required): the server address, for example pop.example.com.
   • Port: the default is 995.
   • Use SSL/TLS: on by default. Leave it on unless your provider tells you otherwise.
   • Username (required): usually the full email address.
   • Password (required): the mailbox password or app password.
   • Fetch Interval: how often to check for new email, from Every 15 minutes to Every 24 hours.
4. Click Test Connection. If the details are correct, you'll see a message like "Connection successful! Found 42 messages in mailbox." If not, the message explains what went wrong.
5. Click Add Email Source.

Check an email source

The top of the Email Sources tab shows totals for Email Sources, Active sources and Emails Processed.

Each source card shows its status, Server, Username, Interval, the number of emails processed and the Last Fetch time. The status is one of:

Pause, resume or delete

• Click Pause to stop checking the mailbox for a while. Content that was already added stays in the knowledge base.
• Click Resume to start checking again. Use Resume after you fix a problem that put the source into Error.
• Click Delete to remove the source. When you confirm, all emails fetched from that source are also removed from the knowledge base.

Tips

• Use a dedicated mailbox that only receives content you want the AI to know. Personal or sales inboxes can contain private information you don't want in answers.
• Many providers need POP3 access switched on in the mailbox settings, and some require an app password instead of your normal password. If Test Connection fails, check these first.
• You can't edit an email source after adding it. To change the server, password or interval, delete the source and add it again.
• Choose a longer Fetch Interval for mailboxes that change rarely.

Related articles

• Create a knowledge base
• Add documents and websites
• AI agents
• Email conversations