# Inbox

> Sync a Gmail mailbox into conversations and messages linked to the people and companies they involve.

Inbox syncs a Gmail mailbox into Continual. Each customer's and partner's email sits with the rest
of their record, so you and Continual read it in context.

## How work moves

Inbox reads from your mailbox. It does not send, archive, or label mail; you keep doing that in
Gmail, and Inbox follows.

### Connect a mailbox

[Connect your Gmail](/docs/guides/connect-your-accounts) or Google Workspace account in
**Settings**. Continual then brings in the threads from the last 14 days, a page at a time. After
that, it checks Gmail for changes every few minutes.

### What syncs

Each email thread becomes a **conversation**, and each email in it a **message**. Each email address
in them becomes an **address**. The sync is one way: these records hold what Gmail reports, so no
one edits them in Continual.

### Email on people and companies

Continual matches each message's sender and recipients to your people by email address. The message
then appears in the [Activity](/docs/concepts/activity) of those people and their companies.

<TryAsking
  prompts={[
    "What did Northwind Health say in their latest email?",
    "Summarize the email thread about the Ironbridge renewal.",
    "Who at Coastal Transit Authority have we emailed this month?",
  ]}
/>

## Who sees your mail

A connection you make for yourself is private. Only you, and Continual when it works for you, see its
conversations and messages. A message in a company's Activity shows only to people who can read the
mailbox it came from.

**Coming:** a mailbox a team shares, such as ar@, that everyone on the team reads.

## Records

Inbox keeps three kinds of record. Each page explains how the record works and lists its fields.

<Cards cols={3}>
  <Card
    title="Conversations"
    href="/docs/apps/inbox/conversations"
    icon="inbox"
  >
    An email thread in a mailbox.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Messages" href="/docs/apps/inbox/messages" icon="message">
    One email, linked to the people it was between.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Addresses" href="/docs/apps/inbox/addresses" icon="users">
    An email address a mailbox has seen.
  </Card>
</Cards>

## Next steps

<Cards>
  <Card
    title="Connect Gmail and GitHub"
    href="/docs/guides/connect-your-accounts"
    icon="plug"
  >
    Connect your mailbox step by step.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Activity" href="/docs/concepts/activity" icon="list">
    See email beside a record's other history.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Records" href="/docs/concepts/records" icon="building">
    How companies, people, and other records fit together.
  </Card>
</Cards>