Connecting a channel (Email, Slack, Telegram, Zalo)

Each channel is connected once in Settings; after that its messages appear in the shared Inbox. Email is fully two-way — outbound replies go through SMTP and inbound mail is polled over IMAP.

When to use

Connect a channel when you want customer messages from that channel to land in the shared Inbox instead of a personal mailbox or a separate app. Typically an IT admin does this once during rollout, then adds more channels as the business opens new ways for customers to reach you. Zalo Official Account is available for the Vietnamese market.

Before you start

You need the permission communications:manage to connect channels (the Integrations tab in Settings). Feature toggles and roles in Settings need communications:admin.
Have the credentials ready: mailbox details for Email, a Slack workspace admin for the OAuth step, a Telegram bot, or a Zalo Official Account.
Toggle communications.email_ingestion: turns on the periodic importer that pulls email from connected mailboxes into the Inbox. It is off by default, and on for newly created companies. If it is off for your company, connected mailboxes are skipped.

Steps

Open channel settings

Go to Communications → Settings (/communications/settings) and open the Integrations tab. Choose the channel you want to add (Email, Slack, Telegram, or Zalo).

Enter credentials

For Email, provide SMTP host/port/user/password for sending and IMAP host/port for receiving. For Slack/Telegram/Zalo, paste the bot token / access token — credentials are encrypted at rest.

Test and activate

Save the connection; XBuddy validates it and begins polling. New messages start arriving in the unified Inbox within minutes.

Confirm messages arrive

Open the channel in the sidebar (for example /communications?channel=zalo) and send a test message from the outside. Check that it shows up in the thread list.

Communications — Channel connection settings for email and messaging apps

Channel notes

Channel	How it connects	Good to know
Email	Mailbox connection (OAuth), sync and connection test	IMAP import requires the `communications.email_ingestion` toggle
Slack	OAuth	Inbound messages appear in the Inbox; replies post back
Telegram	Bot set up through a webhook	Two-way messaging with customers
Zalo	Official Account set up through a webhook	Signature verification applies only once a key is configured
Microsoft Teams	Status, OAuth, disconnect only	Receiving Teams messages is not available yet

Microsoft Teams currently has a connection only; there is no inbound message webhook like Slack, Telegram, and Zalo have.

Tips & common mistakes

Email not arriving: check that the communications.email_ingestion toggle is on for your company and that the mailbox connection test passes.
Connect with an account that has communications:manage; read-only users cannot add or remove channels.
Disconnecting a channel stops new messages arriving; plan this before removing a channel customers still use.
Use one dedicated support mailbox rather than a personal one so threads stay with the team.
Re-run the connection test after any password or token change on the provider side.

Overview The unified Inbox