# Inbox

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

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

1. Go to **Settings › Connections**.
2. Click **Connect** and choose **Gmail**.
3. Sign in with your Gmail or Google Workspace account.

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.

A connection can also belong to a team or the organization. Then everyone who can reach that team or
the organization sees what it syncs.

## 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>