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A shared inbox for small teams.

A shared inbox lets a small team answer support@, sales@ or hello@ together without forwarding chains or two people replying to the same customer. Here is what Nexmail’s shared inbox does, how it fits with Slack, and how to set one up.

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The problem a shared inbox solves

Most small teams start with one shared password, a Google group that copies everyone, or a forwarding rule. Each breaks the same way: nobody knows who is answering, the same customer gets two replies or none, and the history of a conversation is scattered across personal inboxes. A shared inbox keeps one copy of each conversation, says who owns it, and keeps the team’s discussion next to it.

What Nexmail’s shared inbox does

  • Assign a conversation to one person, so everyone else can see it is handled.
  • Internal notes on any thread that only your team can see, for context the customer should not read.
  • Labels, snooze until later, and a follow-up that brings a thread back if nobody replies.
  • Mark unread for the whole team, and see which teammates have already read a thread.
  • Drafts that save as you type, a few seconds to undo every send, and forwarding of one message or a whole thread.
  • Trash that is never emptied behind your back: a conversation can always be restored.
  • Keyboard first: j and k to move, x to select, Enter to open, c to compose, ? for the full list.

General mailboxes such as support@ can be shared with everyone or only with the people you choose, and each person also has their own address at your domain.

Slack, without living in Slack

Each address can belong to a Slack channel. New mail is announced there, replies to the same conversation stay in one Slack thread, and a reply can be sent from Slack itself. Routing rules match an exact address, a whole domain, a domain fallback and a workspace fallback, in that order, and mail that matches nothing is kept under Unrouted rather than dropped. Slack is optional: the inbox works the same without it.

AI drafts, with a person pressing Send

With the sales pipeline turned on in Settings → Sales pipeline, the reply box offers Draft with AI. Say what you want, such as “thank them and suggest a call next week”, and a first draft appears in the composer. It never sends anything: a person reads it, edits it and presses Send, and the message still passes the pre-send checks. It is included on the Free plan. See Sales pipeline and Draft with AI.

Checks before anything leaves

Every reply is read for problems the recipient would see: a link whose text names one site but opens another, an executable attachment, a spoofed display name, or an address that unsubscribed. Those stop the send until fixed or overridden, and an override is recorded under the name of the person who made it. SPF, DKIM and DMARC problems only warn, so a customer reply is never held up by a DNS record that has not spread yet.

Who it suits, and who it does not

It suits teams of a few people answering customers, partners or leads from addresses at their own domain, especially teams already in Slack. It is not a help desk with ticket numbers, SLAs or a customer portal, and it does not offer IMAP access for desktop mail clients. Larger support teams that need analytics and many channels should look at Front; teams that want native desktop and phone apps should look at Missive.

How to set it up

  1. Create a workspace. Sign up and name your organization. The Free plan covers up to 9 seats and needs no card.
  2. Add your domain. Open Get started and add the domain you own. Nexmail lists the DNS records it needs, or publishes them for you on Cloudflare, Vercel or DigitalOcean. See Connect your domain.
  3. Connect a sending provider. Connect Resend in one click, or add Brevo, Amazon SES, SMTP2GO or any SMTP server under Settings → Providers. Add more than one and Nexmail fails over between them.
  4. Create the shared addresses. On Teammates, create general mailboxes such as support@ and sales@, and choose who can see each one.
  5. Route each address. Connect Slack under Settings → Slack, then pick a channel for each address under Settings → Routes.
  6. Invite the team. Invite people by email from Teammates and choose who is an admin.

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Questions

Is the shared inbox free?

Yes. The shared inbox, assignment, notes, Slack routing and Draft with AI are all on the Free plan, for up to 9 seats. A shared mailbox such as support@ counts as one seat.

Do I need Slack?

No. Slack is where new mail can be announced and answered, but the inbox in Nexmail works on its own.

Can two people reply to the same email by accident?

Assigning a conversation shows everyone who owns it, and the team sees who has read it. Nexmail does not lock a thread, so agree that the assignee replies.

Can I keep my mail on Gmail?

Yes. Connect a Gmail or Google Workspace account with an app password and Nexmail reads its inbox about once a minute, without moving or deleting anything in Gmail. Replies go out through Google as you. See Connect Gmail.

Does the AI send emails on its own?

No. Draft with AI only fills the composer. A person always reads, edits and sends.

  • Free business email on your own domain — How to get free team email at your own domain: addresses for everyone, a shared inbox and Slack routing, sending through your own Resend or Brevo account.
  • Nexmail vs Front — Nexmail and Front compared: a free shared inbox on your own domain versus a mature paid customer communication platform, and when to choose Front instead.
  • Nexmail vs Google Groups — Google Groups collaborative inbox or Nexmail for support@ and sales@? What each does, what each costs on your own domain, and when to stay with Google.

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