# Mail in Plexii

> Read, search, tag and answer your own email inside PlexiDesk, next to your work, and turn any message into a task or keep it on a desk.

Source: https://plexiidesk.com/help/mail-overview
Section: Communicate > Mail
Plans: All plans
Updated: 2026-10-15

Mail is your own email inbox, inside PlexiDesk. You connect the mailbox you already have, such as a Gmail, Outlook, iCloud, Fastmail, Yahoo or Zoho account, or any other mailbox that offers IMAP, and read it next to your desks and tasks. Replies go out from your own address.

Use Mail when email is part of the work: answer a client without switching apps, find the message with the quote in it, sort the inbox with tags that fill themselves, and turn the email that matters into a task or keep it on the desk it belongs to.

> **Note:**
> Mail runs in the PlexiDesk desktop app, which talks to your mail server directly. In a web browser there is no mailbox to show.

## Before you start

- **Plans.** Mail is part of every plan. **Suggested tidy-up** and AI reply drafts are part of the Pro and Team plans.
- **Connect your mailbox once.** The first time you open Mail it asks for your email address and an app password. See [Connect your email account](https://plexiidesk.com/help/mail-connect-account).

## Open Mail

- In the side menu, open **Apps** and click **Mail** under **Tools**.
- Or press `⌘` `K` on a Mac or `Ctrl` `K` on Windows, type **mail** and choose **Mail**. To start a new message straight away, choose **Compose mail** instead. See [The command palette](https://plexiidesk.com/help/command-palette).

**Office Home** also has a **Compose email** quick action, and its unread list shows how many unread messages are waiting in **Mail**.

## What you will see

Mail has three columns.

| Column | What it holds |
| --- | --- |
| **Tags**, on the left | **All mail**, **Unsorted**, your own tags with the desk each one is about, **New tag**, and tags Mail suggests from the senders filling your inbox. See [Organise mail with tags](https://plexiidesk.com/help/mail-tags). |
| **The message list**, in the middle | The title, such as **Mail · 3 unread**, with your address under it. Then the search box, and your conversations, newest first. At the bottom, **Show more** fetches older mail, and a count such as **40 of 860 messages** says how much you have loaded. |
| **The reading pane**, on the right | The open message, with **Reply**, **Reply all**, **Forward**, **Send to desk** and **Make a task**. |

Along the top of the message list are four buttons. Rest the pointer on one to see its name:

- **Compose a new message** (the pencil) opens a new message. See [Read, reply and send email](https://plexiidesk.com/help/mail-read-and-reply).
- **Suggest a tidy-up** (the sparkle) asks Plexii to propose what to file, unsubscribe from, or move to Trash or Junk. Nothing moves until you say so. See [Suggested tidy-up for your inbox](https://plexiidesk.com/help/mail-suggested-tidy-up).
- **Refresh** checks your mailbox for new mail.
- **Account** (the three dots) has **Account settings** and **Disconnect mailbox**.

## What Mail can do

- **Read and reply.** Read a conversation, then reply, reply all or forward. Every message asks you to confirm who it is going to before it leaves. See [Read, reply and send email](https://plexiidesk.com/help/mail-read-and-reply).
- **Search everything it has read.** Search by sender, subject, the text of a message and the text inside attachments, with filters for unread, flagged, attachments and dates. See [Search your mail](https://plexiidesk.com/help/mail-search).
- **Sort with tags.** A tag is a saved rule, such as "from acme.com", that collects matching mail by itself. Nothing moves on your mail server. See [Organise mail with tags](https://plexiidesk.com/help/mail-tags).
- **Draft replies with AI.** When you open a message, Plexii drafts a reply in the way you usually write, for you to edit and send. See [AI reply drafts in your voice](https://plexiidesk.com/help/mail-ai-reply-drafts).
- **Tidy up the inbox.** Plexii reads your latest mail and proposes a tidy-up for you to review. See [Suggested tidy-up for your inbox](https://plexiidesk.com/help/mail-suggested-tidy-up).
- **Turn mail into work.** Send an email or its whole thread to a desk, or make a task from it. See [Put an email on a desk or turn it into a task](https://plexiidesk.com/help/mail-to-desk-and-tasks).

## Your mail on this computer

PlexiDesk keeps a copy of your inbox on this computer. In the background it reads the headers of your whole inbox, then the text of each message, newest first, and the text of attachments where it can. That copy is what search reads, what keeps an email readable on a desk after you archive it, and what Plexii can look in when you ask it about your mail.

The copy stays on this computer and is not synced to your other devices. Your mailbox connection belongs to this computer too, so connect it again on each computer you use. See [Sync your work across devices](https://plexiidesk.com/help/accounts-and-sync).

## New mail notifications

When PlexiDesk checks your mailbox and finds new unread mail, it shows a notification, such as **Mail from Sam Lee** with the subject, or **3 new emails**. Click it to open the message in Mail.

## Mail on your desks

Two widgets bring mail onto a desk:

- The [Inbox widget](https://plexiidesk.com/help/widget-inbox) shows the mail about one desk, picked by a rule you can see and change.
- The [Email widget](https://plexiidesk.com/help/widget-email) keeps one email, or a whole thread, on a desk for good.

For a walkthrough that puts both on a client's desk, see [Keep a client's people, mail and chat on their desk](https://plexiidesk.com/help/desk-people-and-mail).

## Tips

- **Keyboard first.** In the message list, press `j` and `k` to move through your inbox, `r` to reply and `a` to archive. See [Keyboard shortcuts](https://plexiidesk.com/help/keyboard-shortcuts).
- **Make a tag before you search.** If you look for the same sender every week, a tag collects their mail for you. Watch **Unsorted** go down as you add tags.
- **Keep the deciding email with the work.** Use **Send to desk** for the quote, the brief or the agreement, so it stays on the desk after the inbox moves on.

## Common questions

**Is Mail the same as Inbox in the side menu?** No. **Mail** is your email. **Inbox** holds your PlexiDesk notifications and share invites. See [Inbox: your notifications](https://plexiidesk.com/help/plexii-inbox).

**Does PlexiDesk store my email somewhere else?** No. PlexiDesk reads your mailbox from the mail server and keeps its copy on this computer. Messages you send go out through your own mail account.

**Can I connect more than one mailbox?** Each organisation you belong to, and your personal space, keeps one mailbox connection of its own on this computer. See [Connect your email account](https://plexiidesk.com/help/mail-connect-account).

**Do I need a Google or Microsoft sign-in?** No. Mail connects with your email address and an app password.

## Related tasks

- [Connect your email account](https://plexiidesk.com/help/mail-connect-account)
- [Read, reply and send email](https://plexiidesk.com/help/mail-read-and-reply)
- [Search your mail](https://plexiidesk.com/help/mail-search)
- [Organise mail with tags](https://plexiidesk.com/help/mail-tags)
- [Suggested tidy-up for your inbox](https://plexiidesk.com/help/mail-suggested-tidy-up)
- [AI reply drafts in your voice](https://plexiidesk.com/help/mail-ai-reply-drafts)
- [Put an email on a desk or turn it into a task](https://plexiidesk.com/help/mail-to-desk-and-tasks)