# Custom Email

42min normally sends your meeting emails from `plus@42min.us`. Connect your
organization's SMTP server and they go out from an address on your own domain, such as
`meetings@yourcompany.com`, signed by your mail provider. Your provider bills for the
sending; 42min adds no charge, and every plan includes this. You set it up on the
[**Custom Email**](/360/integrations/custom-email) page, which opens from the
[**Messaging**](/360/integrations?category=messaging) section of Integrations.

## What it does

An organization has one connection and one From address, shared by all its hosts. Hosts
keep their names in the sender's display name, and replies still go to the host, as they
do without Custom Email.

Before anything is saved, 42min sends a test email through your server. After that, your
server carries the covered emails, and 42min steps in whenever your server didn't take
one, so a broken mail server doesn't cost you a confirmation
(see [When your server fails](#when-your-server-fails)).

## Which emails use it

Mail about a meeting, a booking, a poll or a lead goes through your server. Mail about
the account or the platform stays with 42min, so it still arrives when your server is
down.

| Through your server | Always from 42min |
|---|---|
| Booking confirmations, reschedules, host changes and cancellations, including recurring series | Sign-in, password and verification code emails |
| Reminders and [workflow](/help/workflows/overview) emails | Team invitations and their accepted or expired notices |
| [Roundtable](/help/roundtables/overview) invites, reminders, updates, decisions and vote notices | Notices about a disconnected calendar or video app |
| Booking invites and routing form submission notices | API notices and account closure notices |
| Booking approval and qualification emails | The alert that your Custom Email connection broke |
| Refund and failed payment notices | |

[Workflow SMS](/help/workflows/sms) is separate. It goes through
[SendPulse](/help/integrations/sendpulse) or [Twilio](/help/integrations/twilio).

## Before you start

- **Your SMTP details.** You need the server name, port, username and password from your
  mail provider. The connection always uses these: there is no Google or Microsoft
  sign-in option.
- **A From address your provider accepts.** Most providers send only from a verified
  address or domain, so verify it there first.
- **SPF and DKIM, set up at your provider.** 42min doesn't check your DNS records. Follow
  your provider's domain setup, or receiving servers may treat the mail as spam.
- **A public server.** 42min connects from the internet, and refuses a server name that
  points to a private network.

## How to connect

Connecting is **admin-only**: Owners and Admins see the card, and Managers and Users
don't.

<Screenshot
  src="/help/screenshots/integrations/messaging-tiles.png"
  alt="The Messaging section of the 42min Integrations page: a Custom Email tile, a SendPulse tile marked 'Recommended', a Twilio tile, and a dimmed Infobip tile marked 'Coming soon', each with a Connect button"
  caption="Integrations → Messaging: Custom Email is the first card; click its Connect button to start."
/>

1. Open [**Integrations**](/360/integrations?category=messaging). **Custom Email** is the
   first card under **Messaging**. Click **Connect**.
2. Choose a **Preset**, or leave it on **Other server** and fill in **SMTP server**,
   **Port** and **Security** yourself. Enter only the server name, without `smtp://` or a
   port.
3. Enter the **Username** and **Password**. With a preset, the placeholders say which
   credential that provider expects.
4. Check **From address** and **From name**. They start as your own email and full name,
   so change the address if your provider has verified a different one.
5. Click **Test and connect**. 42min sends a test email from the From address to your own
   address. When your server accepts it, the page reads "Test email sent to…" and the
   connection is live. If the test fails, the error shows under the button and nothing is
   saved.

<Screenshot
  src="/help/screenshots/integrations/custom-email-connect.png"
  alt="The Custom Email page before connecting: a Server settings card with the SendGrid preset chosen, which fills in smtp.sendgrid.net, port 587, STARTTLS and the username apikey, plus an empty Password field showing 'API key', From address, From name and a Test and connect button"
  caption="Before connecting, with the SendGrid preset chosen: the preset fills in the server, port, security and username, and the Password placeholder asks for an API key. Test and connect turns on once the password is in."
/>

Custom Email then leaves the Messaging cards and appears under **Your connections**, with
the From address.

### Presets

A preset fills in what the provider fixes, and you can still edit every field.

| Preset | SMTP server | Port | Security | Username | Password |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SendPulse | `smtp-pulse.com` | 465 | SSL/TLS | Your SendPulse login email | SMTP password |
| Brevo | `smtp-relay.brevo.com` | 587 | STARTTLS | Your SMTP login | SMTP key |
| SendGrid | `smtp.sendgrid.net` | 587 | STARTTLS | `apikey` | API key |
| Amazon SES | `email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com` | 587 | STARTTLS | Your SMTP username | SMTP password |
| Resend | `smtp.resend.com` | 465 | SSL/TLS | `resend` | API key |

The SendPulse SMTP password is in your SendPulse account under SMTP settings. It is not
your account password, and not the API keys that
[SendPulse SMS](/help/integrations/sendpulse) uses.

### Other servers

The port is one of 25, 465, 587 or 2525, and **Security** is **SSL/TLS** or **STARTTLS**.
Port 465 usually pairs with SSL/TLS, and 587 with STARTTLS. There is no unencrypted
option, and 42min checks the server's certificate, so a self-signed or expired one fails.

## The sender's name

**From name** applies to every email when you fill it in. Leave it blank and each email
keeps the name it would have had anyway, which comes from
[Email Sender Personalization](/help/team-and-admin/branding-and-themes#email-sender-name).
Roundtable emails have no host name to use, so they show your organization's name.

With the default template, a blank From name reads *Jordan Lee via 42min*, on your own
address. To drop the "via 42min", change the template to `{{HostName}}`, or set a From
name.

## Settings

Once connected, the [**Custom Email**](/360/integrations/custom-email) page has two
sections.

<Screenshot
  src="/help/screenshots/integrations/custom-email-settings.png"
  alt="The connected Custom Email page: a Connection card with status Connected, Connected by, Last successful send, a View the log in Messages link, a ticked 'Send emails through this server' checkbox and a Disconnect button; below it the Server settings card with the saved values, a Password field reading 'Saved. Type to replace', and Send test email and Save buttons"
  caption="Once connected: the Connection card holds the status, the pause checkbox and Disconnect, and Server settings keeps the password hidden behind 'Saved. Type to replace'."
/>

**Connection** shows the status, who connected it, and the last successful send, with a
link to the log in [Messages](/360/messages). It also holds these controls:

- **Send emails through this server**: clear it to pause. Emails go out from
  `plus@42min.us`, and your settings stay saved.
- **Disconnect**: deletes the saved settings, password included, and mail returns to
  `plus@42min.us` at once. Nothing changes at your provider.

**Server settings** holds the same fields as before, filled in. 42min stores the username
and password encrypted and never shows the password again: the field reads "Saved. Type
to replace".

- **Save** runs a new test when you change the server, port, security, username, password
  or From address. A change to the From name or the preset alone saves without one.
- **A failed test changes nothing.** The saved settings keep working.
- **A new server name or username needs the password again**, so a saved password never
  goes to a server it wasn't entered for.
- **Send test email** sends one to your own address with the saved settings.

Tests are limited to 5 every 10 minutes and 30 a day for the organization, and a save that
runs a test counts.

## When your server fails

If your server certainly didn't take a message, 42min sends that message itself from
`plus@42min.us`, under the same display name. If your server stops answering after the
message may have reached it, 42min doesn't send it again, because the recipient could get
it twice.

| What happens | What 42min does |
|---|---|
| Your server refuses one email (a bad recipient, or the message itself) | Sends that email itself. The connection stays as it is. |
| An attempt takes over 5 seconds, or your server stops answering | Sends the next 60 seconds of mail itself, then tries your server again. |
| Your server can't be reached 3 times in a row | Marks the connection broken. |
| Your server refuses the sign-in or the From address, a secure connection fails, or the server's address isn't allowed | Marks the connection broken at once. |

While the connection is broken, every covered email goes out from `plus@42min.us`, and
42min doesn't try your server again on its own. A warning at the top of Integrations and
of the Custom Email page gives the reason, and every Owner and Admin gets one email about
it from 42min.

To fix it, click **Fix connection** in the warning, or **Reconnect** under **Your
connections**. The page opens with the cursor in **Password**. Correct the settings and
**Save**, or click **Send test email** if the problem was on your server's side. A passing
test puts your server back in use.

## In Sent messages

[Sent messages](/help/team-and-admin/sent-messages) shows which route each email took:

- **Accepted by your server**: your server took the email. Your server tells 42min nothing
  after that, so look for bounces in your provider's logs.
- **Sent by 42min: …**: a gray line under the status of an email that fell back, with the
  reason, such as "your server refused to sign in".
- **Delivery unknown**: your server stopped answering partway through. Check your
  provider's logs to see whether it went out.

The **Type** filter also lists **Custom Email test** and **Custom Email alert**.

## Common pitfalls

- **Connected, yet emails come from 42min.** Your server is refusing them one by one, and
  those refusals never break the connection. Typical causes are the Amazon SES sandbox,
  which accepts only verified recipients, and a From address your provider hasn't
  verified. Each row in Messages reads "Sent by 42min: your server refused this message".
- **Amazon SES in another region.** The preset uses `us-east-1`. SES SMTP servers and
  credentials are per region, so change the region in **SMTP server** to match yours.
- **"Couldn't set up a secure connection."** The port and **Security** usually don't match,
  or the server's certificate isn't valid.
- **"The mail server refused the username or password."** Many providers use an SMTP key or
  API key here, and your account password won't work. The reply code shows after the
  message.
- **Monthly email cap.** Emails through your server count toward your plan's
  [Emails per month](/help/team-and-admin/plans-and-limits), like any other.
- **Slower API and assistant requests.** A booking, reschedule or cancellation made through
  the [API](/help/team-and-admin/api-and-webhooks) or an
  [AI assistant](/help/ai-assistants/what-your-assistant-can-do) waits for its emails, so
  your server's sending time is added to the request. Bookings on your booking pages don't
  wait, apart from the payment step of a paid booking.