---
title: Forward a Shared Inbox from Google Workspace
description: Send mail from a Google Group into a Twenty email channel.
---

An email channel gives your workspace a shared address, like `sales@yourcompany.com`. Mail sent to that address has to reach Twenty somehow.

On Google Workspace that address is almost always a **Google Group**. You connect it by adding Twenty's private forwarding address as a member of the group. Every message the group receives is then copied to Twenty, and your team continues to receive it as before.

<Note>
  This applies to new mail only. Twenty will not see messages the group received
  before you set this up.
</Note>

## Before you start

You need two things:

- **Access**: you must own the group, or be a Super Admin or Groups Admin in Google Workspace.
- **A group that accepts outside addresses**: Twenty's forwarding address is external, so the group has to accept external members and accept mail from outside your company. Part 2 covers both.

## Part 1: Create the channel in Twenty

1. Go to **Settings → Communication**.
2. Click **Add email channel**.

<img
  src="/images/user-guide/emails/inbound-channels/03-twenty-add-email-channel.png"
  style={{ width: '100%' }}
/>

3. In **Source Email Address**, type the group address, for example `sales@yourcompany.com`.
4. In **Display Name**, type the name recipients see.
5. Click **Save**.

<img
  src="/images/user-guide/emails/inbound-channels/04-twenty-new-channel-form.png"
  style={{ width: '100%' }}
/>

6. Twenty now shows a **Forwarding address**. It looks like `ch_2cd282d193b5@inbound.twenty.com`. Click **Copy**.

<img
  src="/images/user-guide/emails/inbound-channels/05-twenty-forwarding-address.png"
  style={{ width: '100%' }}
/>

<Note>
  Each channel gets its own forwarding address. Never point two groups at the
  same one, or their mail will land in the same place.
</Note>

## Part 2: Check the group's settings

Two settings decide whether this works at all. Set them correctly before you continue.

1. Open [Google Groups](https://groups.google.com) and click your group.
2. Click **Group settings** in the left sidebar.
3. Find **External members** and turn **Allow external members** on.

<img
  src="/images/user-guide/emails/inbound-channels/google-03-allow-external-members.png"
  style={{ width: '100%' }}
/>

Google turns this off for the whole organization by default, so expect it to be locked the first time. If you see the notice shown above, only a Workspace admin can unlock it, by allowing group owners to add external members across the organization. Ask them, then return here.

4. Scroll down to **Who can post** and drag the slider all the way to the right, onto the globe. That is **Anyone on the web**.

<img
  src="/images/user-guide/emails/inbound-channels/google-04-who-can-post.png"
  style={{ width: '100%' }}
/>

Without this, mail from outside your company never reaches the group, so it never reaches Twenty either. This is also blocked across the organization by default, and again only an admin can change it.

5. Click **Save changes**.

<Warning>
  If the group carries Google's **Security** label, stop here. Google does not
  allow non-Google accounts in a security group, and the label is permanent once
  applied. Create a new group without it.
</Warning>

## Part 3: Add Twenty to the group

1. Click **Members** in the left sidebar.
2. Click **Add members**.

<img
  src="/images/user-guide/emails/inbound-channels/google-02-members-add-button.png"
  style={{ width: '100%' }}
/>

3. Paste the forwarding address you copied from Twenty into **Group members**.
4. Leave **Subscription** on **Each email**. This is what makes Google send every message through.
5. Leave **Directly add members** ticked, so Google adds the address rather than sending an invitation that cannot be accepted.
6. Click **Add members**.

<img
  src="/images/user-guide/emails/inbound-channels/google-05-add-forwarding-address.png"
  style={{ width: '100%' }}
/>

That completes the setup. Twenty is now a member of the group like any other.

## If you do not have a group yet

1. In [Google Groups](https://groups.google.com), click **Create group**.
2. Fill in the **Group name** and the **Group email** prefix.

<img
  src="/images/user-guide/emails/inbound-channels/google-01-create-group.png"
  style={{ width: '100%' }}
/>

3. Click **Next** twice, then **Create group**.
4. Now follow Part 2 and Part 3.

## Part 4: Test it

Send an email from an outside address (a personal Gmail works) to `sales@yourcompany.com`. It should appear in Twenty within a minute or two.

## Troubleshooting

<Accordion title="An error occurred: 1 user is outside of your organization">
  The group does not accept external members. Return to Part 2, step 3. If the
  setting is locked, only a Workspace admin can unlock it.

  <img
    src="/images/user-guide/emails/inbound-channels/google-06-external-member-error.png"
    style={{ width: '100%' }}
  />
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="The group receives mail but Twenty does not">
  Open the member in the group and check its subscription is **Each email**, not
  **No email**, **Digest** or **Abridged**.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Colleagues' emails arrive but customers' emails do not">
  **Who can post** is not set to **Anyone on the web**. See Part 2, step 4.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="The channel receives mail but cannot send">
  Receiving and sending are separate. Sending requires your domain to be
  verified under the channel's **Sending domain** section, which means adding
  the DNS records Twenty lists there.
</Accordion>

Using a different provider? See [Microsoft 365](/user-guide/calendar-emails/how-tos/forward-a-shared-inbox-from-microsoft-365) or [any other mail provider](/user-guide/calendar-emails/how-tos/forward-a-shared-inbox-from-any-mail-provider).