A Short Guide To Integrating Slack With Email

Emails are pivotal in businesses and every organization’s workspace for communication. Mailbutler’s research shows that a whopping 347.3 billion emails are shared per day. Microsoft says the huge influx of emails has outpaced humans’ ability to organize and categorize them effectively.

At the same time, Slack has emerged as one of the top tools for transparent and organized internal communication. Employees these days like to work via Slack, and bridging the gap between email and Slack has become a common challenge in organizations. This guide dives into the most common questions around Email-Slack integration. We cover:

• Use cases and advantages of integrating email and Slack
• Explore native Slack email integrations using Channel emails, Gmail/Outlook Plugins, etc.
• Third-party Slack email integrations using ticketing tools and Slack email specialists like Front and ClearFeed.

and other miscellaneous related topics.

Note: If you hit this blog trying to find a way to reach Slack support via email, check out this guide on how to contact Slack support instead!

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5 Key Advantages of Integrating Email to Slack

Here are the most important advantages of integrating Email and Slack

1. A unified approach to communication: Slack integrates multiple channels into a single interface. Slack’s extensive app integrations make updates from common enterprise tools like Jira, Zendesk, and Salesforce directly available within Slack. Email is one of the most prolific communication channels, and bringing it into Slack means one never has to leave Slack.
2. An alternative to Email Groups: Slack's channels enable users to organize conversations by topics such as features or billing, and by client categories such as premium or SMBs, streamlining the delegation of queries to the appropriate teams, particularly benefiting customer service communication. Integrating Slack with email expands the conversation to include external participants, enhances internal group communications, and becomes a preferred alternative to traditional email groups within organizations.
3. Shared inbox: According to a Hiver survey, employees tend to ignore 40% of the emails they receive. This is particularly problematic when it comes to receiving customer communications, as emails require a timely response. Slack email integration resolves this issue at its core by enabling the organization to track external emails in common Slack channels. The presence of multiple participants in such channels means all customer emails can be seen by a broader team, and anyone available can respond to them.
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4. Automated workflows: One of the key advantages of bringing emails into Slack is the ability to leverage Slack’s built-in workflows. These automations can not only take actions inside Slack (like posting messages in specific channels) but can also be designed to perform various actions, such as:
   
   • Posting messages in specific channels with email details
   • Assigning tasks or creating issues in external tools like Jira based on email content
   • Sending notifications to relevant team members
   • Archiving or forwarding emails to other channels or users

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Reduced copy-pasting: Consistently switching between multiple apps and email tools causes digital overload and can be overwhelming for employees. This reduces productivity and wastes time. By syncing email with Slack, we can streamline communication and manage projects within a single workspace. Therefore, Slack-mail integration ultimately boosts productivity and enhances user experience.

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Quick Comparison of Slack-Email Integration Techniques

There are at least 4 distinct ways to connect Slack and Email. Here's a quick comparison table across these methods:

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Slack Email Integration: How To Integrate Email With Native Functionality?

There are several ways to integrate email with Slack using the features included with your Slack subscription. These include:

• Creating an email address for a channel and sending emails to it.
• Forwarding emails to Slackbot and receiving them in your Slack.
• Using the Slack plugin for Gmail and Outlook to send emails to Slack easily.

In the following sections, we go over these techniques in greater detail.

Email to Slack: How To Send Emails to a Channel?

Slack allows users to send emails to a channel or group via a unique email address generated within the app. This feature is available only with a paid Slack subscription. The steps to create the email address are as follows:

1. Go to the Slack desktop app. Open the DM group or channel you need to direct the emails to.
2. Go to the conversation header. Click the channel name to send an email to the channel. Click on member name(s) if the email is supposed to be sent in a DM.
3. Click on the Integrations tab.
4. Then, click on Send Emails to this channel. In the case of DM, click on Send emails to this conversation.
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5. [OPTIONAL STEP] Click on Customize email appearance if you want to upload an image or emoji to be visible with the emails posted on Slack.
6. Select Get email address.
7. If you like to create an email for the channel, click on Copy and then Share email address. It will post a message to the channel, and you can add any details you would like to share with the channel members.

Sending emails to channels is vital for alerting Slack about compliance failures or system notifications. Many software tools do not have a direct Slack integration; instead, they send emails. Forwarding those emails to a Slack channel can create shared visibility into alerts.

Points to Remember:

1. All admins and workspace owners can manage other channel members' ability to create email addresses.
2. When multiple organizations work together on Slack, any organization can generate this email for a channel. The email would be visible to all members of the channel.
3. This feature is available to Slack workspaces on a paid subscription (of any level).

How To Forward Email to Slack (Gmail & Outlook)?

You can forward emails from your Inbox (in Gmail or Outlook) to Slack using Slackbot. Can you do this without a Slack subscription plan? Follow the steps below and use Slack like a pro.

1. Go to your Slack desktop and click on your profile picture.
2. Click on Preferences and go to Messages & Media.
3. Navigate down until you reach the "Bring emails into Slack" option.

Source: How-To Geek

4. Select Get a forwarding address. Your email address will be generated.
5. Copy the email address and use it to forward your emails to Slack.

Points To Remember:

1. You must have the incoming emails option enabled for your organization or channel.
2. You might not want to opt for this method if you handle a high volume of emails.

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How To Connect and Integrate Gmail to Slack Using Add-ons?

The following steps detail how to use the Slack for Gmail app to connect Slack to Gmail directly:

• Install Slack for Gmail from the Google Workspace.

• Once the installation is done, the Slack icon will appear in the right-hand sidebar of your Gmail.
• Select an email and Connect to Slack.
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Note: Make sure you have access to connect the Slack for Gmail add-on to your organization’s workspace.

1. Once you connect to Slack, click the Slack icon and select Search Channels and people. Click the workspace, then select the channel or person you want to share the email with. Press Enter.
2. Select Send to [name]. Choose the View option and Voila! You have successfully sent your email to Slack.

Microsoft Outlook Slack Integration: How To Connect?

1. Go for Slack for Outlook add-on from Microsoft AppSource. Select the Get it now option.

2. Add your Outlook account and sign in.‍

3. Go to the Slack icon in the toolbar and click on Connect to Slack.
4. Select an email. Click the Slack icon, then search for the name of the Channel or member you wish to email. Select Send to Slack, and you will see the email in the Slack conversation. If you are working in a browser, select the three-dot icon and click on Send to Slack.

How To Set Up Email Forwarding From a Company Domain to Slack?

We have seen in earlier sections how to get an email in Slack that can land in personal notifications or in a Slack channel. But what if we have a company email address that we want to forward to Slack? This is easily done through a setup in your email provider. Example.

1. Get hold of the email address for a Channel from Slack, as explained earlier.
2. In Gmail, add that address under Forwarding & POP/IMAP, then confirm with the Slack PIN.
3. Alternatively, in G Suite, if the email address is for a Google Group, add the Slack-provided email as a member of the group, and make the Group open to Emails by "Anyone on the Internet."
4. In Outlook, build a “forward to people or public group” rule using the same address.
5. Optionally use Email filters so only specific Emails reach Slack to prevent noise

How To Reply to Emails From Slack?

Conventional Slack email methods do not support true email replies from Slack. ClearFeed, by contrast, documents a two-way email workflow through its native ticketing system: incoming emails create ClearFeed tickets, each ticket is posted as a thread in a Slack triage channel, agent replies in Slack are sent back as email replies, and subsequent customer replies continue in the same email thread and Slack thread.

• Use either a ClearFeed-provided support email or your own custom support email/domain.
• Support multiple incoming email addresses and route them to different Email Collections and triage channels.
• Automatically create tickets with public IDs and send the customer an acknowledgment email.
• Reply directly from Slack triage or from the ClearFeed web app.
• Sync attachments both ways, include recent thread context in outgoing emails, and manage CC recipients from Slack triage.

Readers interested in learning more can check out detailed documentation on Slack email integration.

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Email Parser Slack Integration: Trigger Actions (Jira, etc.)

Emails are frequently used to send alerts to Slack, and creating Jira (or ClickUp/Linear/GitHub) issues is a common follow-up requirement. There are a few ways to trigger the conversion of Emails to Jiras:

• Using Slack automations that can be triggered by Emojis (for example) applied to the Email messages, and that then invoke Jira creation. Note that Slack workflows cannot be triggered on every message.
• Alternatively, using a solution like ClearFeed, teams can create or link follow-up work in Jira, GitHub, Linear, ClickUp, or Asana from the Slack thread for an email ticket, and use automations or AI classification to decide which messages should be escalated.

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Integrate Email With Slack Using Ticketing Software

All support platforms, such as Zendesk and Freshdesk, allow customers to raise tickets via email. They also have Slack integrations with varying capabilities. Thus, one straightforward way to receive and respond to emails in Slack is to use ticketing software that integrates well with Slack.

As an example, with Zendesk, one can:

• Receive emails from customers on an email ID integrated with Zendesk
• Zendesk converts those emails to tickets
• Users can set up triggers to generate Slack notifications when such tickets are created

However, replying to emails from Slack for such platforms is not seamless. Users have to make multiple clicks to convert a Slack reply into an email. This is where software like ClearFeed can be very useful.

Unlike notification-only Slack integrations, ClearFeed's native email ticketing keeps the full email conversation bi-directionally synced with Slack and lets teams manage status, assignee, priority, internal notes, and linked follow-up work from the same workflow.

Related Read: How To Choose the Right Ticketing Software for Your Business

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How To Unify Email and Slack Communications Using Specialized Integrations

As we have seen, while the native Slack email integration provides some useful capabilities for bringing these systems together, it lacks the necessary functionality (such as the ability to reply to emails from Slack). Advanced Slack email integrations like ClearFeed and MailClark can provide this and many other features for managing emails from Slack. Here are some advanced features that such third-party solutions provide:

1. Receive and Send Emails & Attachments in Slack

ClearFeed enables the seamless flow of information between Slack and email tickets by synchronizing incoming emails, subsequent replies, and attachments in real time. Each incoming email becomes a ClearFeed ticket and appears as a threaded conversation in the Slack triage channel. Replying to an email from Slack is as simple as posting a Slack message, and customer replies come back into the same Slack thread. Outgoing emails also include recent thread history for context.

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2. Private Collaboration on Emails in Slack Triage Channels

When responding to customer emails, internal collaboration is a must-have. ClearFeed’s Slack triage channel acts as an internal command center for email tickets. Teams can collaborate with private notes, tag coworkers, edit ticket fields, and see email-specific metadata such as From, To, and CC. There is also a Delete Email action for spam or unwanted email threads, which prevents future replies from reopening or syncing back into Slack.

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3. Track the Status of Email Queries and Replies

Systems like ClearFeed convert every incoming email into a trackable object with a public ticket ID, status, assignee, priority, and other fields. Users can view and update the status in the triage channel or in the web app. ClearFeed can also send automated status emails when a ticket is marked solved or closed: a reply to a Solved ticket can reopen it, while a closed ticket stays closed and requires a new thread for further support.

4. AI Services: Email Slack Integration Triggers & Deflection

Adding a GPT-powered virtual assistant to ClearFeed’s email-Slack workflow can suggest answers to the team privately in triage or respond publicly depending on how the AI agent is configured. This helps deflect repetitive questions and reduce response time without forcing a fully hands-off workflow.

5. Combine Slack & Email with Jira, ClickUp, Asana, Linear

Support teams often want to convert incoming emails into tasks in systems such as Jira, ClickUp, Asana, Linear, GitHub, and other project management tools. ClearFeed not only enables seamless replies to emails from Slack, but also lets teams create or link follow-up work from the Slack thread for an email ticket. Updates can sync back into the Slack thread, keeping support and engineering aligned while the customer conversation remains tied to the escalation.

6. Advanced Analytics and Interactive Web App Dashboard

Monitoring the metrics is a crucial feature of any advanced email-Slack integration. ClearFeed also provides a web app for handling email tickets, creating tickets on behalf of customers, and reviewing email activity. Activity Logs record processed and rejected emails, while SLA workflows, digests, and dashboard views help teams monitor response performance across Slack and email.

7. Multiple Email Addresses, Sender Options, and Thread Controls

ClearFeed also supports multiple incoming support addresses across custom domains, flexible routing to different collections and triage channels, customizable outgoing sender identities, auto-response emails, email signatures, and CC-recipient controls. It also uses a "Reply above this line" instruction to keep email parsing reliable, since inline replies are not currently supported.

Want to see ClearFeed’s integration in action? Contact our team at support@clearfeed.ai to book a free demo with our customer support specialist.

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FAQs‍

1. Can Slack Be Used for Email?

Slack can be used to receive email in channels or in a personal Inbox. However, Slack cannot be used on its own to reply to emails or send outgoing messages. Or to perform actions like archiving emails or labeling them. Slack apps like ClearFeed or MailClark can be used to reply to emails from Slack, set up shared inboxes, categorize emails, or mark them as closed.

2. Can Slack Be Integrated With Gmail and Outlook?

Yes, Slack can be integrated with both Gmail and Outlook, allowing users to enhance their productivity by connecting their email communications directly with their Slack workspace.

• For Gmail, the Slack for Gmail™ integration lets you forward emails into Slack channels or direct messages (DMs) right from your Gmail inbox. This integration simplifies sharing email content and attachments with team members in Slack without leaving Gmail.
• As with Outlook, Slack can also be integrated with Outlook. You can use the Outlook Calendar and Microsoft Outlook for Slack apps to send emails, manage your calendar, and join meetings directly from Slack. This integration also supports forwarding emails from Outlook to Slack, enabling seamless communication and collaboration without switching between applications.

2. How To Send Emails From Slack or Forward Messages?

There is no native ability in Slack to send Emails. Users who want to send emails to create Support Tickets can use their Ticketing software's native Slack app (or third-party software like ClearFeed) to create tickets from Slack. Users who want to convert a message to an email may consider using Zapier to convert Slack messages to email.

3. Can Slack Notify My Inbox When I’m Away?

Yes, enable email notifications under Preferences → Notifications from your Slack Desktop application.

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4. How Many Unique Channel Email Addresses Can a Workspace Create?

Thirty in total on paid plans.

5. Does Replying in Slack Update the Email Thread?

Not with Slack's native channel, email, or forwarding features. In those setups, the reply stays in Slack. But with a two-way tool like ClearFeed's native email ticketing, replying in Slack updates the email thread, and the customer's next reply comes back in the same Slack thread.

6. What Is “Slack Email”?

“Slack Email” can mean three things:

• A unique address created by the Slack Email app that posts messages to one channel.
• The Slack for Gmail or Outlook add-on that lets users push individual emails into any conversation.
• A two-way help-desk layer (e.g., ClearFeed) that syncs entire threads, creates public ticket IDs, supports triage workflows, and lets teams reply from Slack while sending messages back to the original email sender.