Are you wondering how you can email using Nutshell if you don't have a Google or Office 365 account? Adding your email provider's SMTP settings into Nutshell allows you to send emails from Nutshell,  and our BCC feature allows you to copy any email into Nutshell. 

Note: You can always email your contacts by clicking on their email address on a Nutshell page. This will not require you to follow any of the steps below. 

Sending emails from inside Nutshell

So you want to send emails from Nutshell? Configuring your SMTP settings will allow you to contact your Companies and People contacts without needing to jump into your email client.

Note: If you have an account with Office 365 or Gmail, you can use the 2-way email sync with Nutshell and will not need to establish SMTP settings. Follow the links above to learn more. 

Steps to configure SMTP

If you haven't already, follow these steps to connect your email to Nutshell.

How do you know your SMTP settings? 

Email SMTP settings vary widely, but most email providers will post their SMTP settings online. Check out this article to learn more. You can also ask your email administrator to confirm your SMTP settings.

Some email providers differentiate between inbound and outbound SMTP. You will need the outbound SMTP hostname. 

Nutshell requires SSL or TLS to connect to your email provider via SMTP. If your email server is not configured with a port for SSL or TLS, you will not be able to connect your email with Nutshell. 

Configuring aliases with Nutshell

If you are trying to connect an alias with Nutshell, which is an email disguised as another email address, use the primary email address in the 'Username' field, and enter the password for the primary email address in the 'Password' field.

Getting emails from your inbox into Nutshell

Nutshell accepts forwarded and BCCed emails at bcc@nutshell.com, which attaches the message to all the right places automatically. For complete step-by-step instructions on how to use BCC with Nutshell, please follow this link to read our article.

Using BCC to push emails into Nutshell

When emailing a Person or Company from inside your email client, just BCC the outgoing message to bcc@nutshell.com. Nutshell connects the message directly to the Person or Company, as well as to any open leads with them.

Using BCC to push emails between colleagues into Nutshell

If you are emailing another Nutshell user regarding a lead, just include the lead number (i.e. "Lead-1234") in the subject line of the email and BCC to bcc@nutshell.com. Nutshell automatically attaches the email to that lead's timeline.

Using BCC to push incoming messages into Nutshell

To push an incoming message into Nutshell that you receive from a contact inside your email client, forward it to bcc@nutshell.com. Nutshell automatically attaches it to the Person timeline.

New People pages will be automatically created for email addresses that do not already exist in Nutshell.

If you use an email client that strips out the header of your emails, such as Outlook or Thunderbird, you will have to forward the message as an attachment when you forward it to bcc@nutshell.com.

FAQ

I am sure my credentials are correct, but Nutshell says the connection failed.

Any time you attempt to reconfigure and update your SMTP settings with Nutshell, be sure to wait anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes before retrying the connection. SMTP connection attempts are throttled to avoid being automatically blocked by your server, because too many connection attempts in a short time can appear to be a malicious attack. 

I am using an alias and attempting to connect it with Nutshell. 

To connect an email alias using SMTP settings, you must use the credentials for your original email account in the hostname, port, username, and password fields. 

What is my hostname for Gmail?

We recommend using our email sync to connect via Gmail instead of SMTP, and suggest only using SMTP if you need to send email from Nutshell using more than one email address. Oftentimes, the hostname for Gmail is 'smtp.gmail.com', but we recommend that you confirm this with your email administrator. 

What is my hostname for Outlook/Office 365?

If you are using Office 365, we recommend using our email sync to connect instead of SMTP. You may use SMTP to connect if you need to send email from more than one email address. You might find that 'smtp.office365.com' works as the hostname. If you are using Outlook but Office 365 is not your actual email provider, contact your email administrator. Sorry to sound like a broken record, but it's best to confirm SMTP settings with your email administrator. 

What is my username?

Your username is the email address you're attempting to configure (e.g., jim@dundermifflin.com).

What is my password?

Enter the password you use to access the email you're attempting to configure.

I've double-checked my credentials, and I'm still getting an error that says "Failed to verify your SMTP credentials." What gives?

1. Make sure that you are using your email credentials (not your Nutshell username/password).
2. If you are a Gmail user getting this error, it's possible that you need to change your email settings to allow less secure apps (see this Google support article for more information). Nutshell is considered a "less secure" app because it doesn't require two-step verification.

I got the error message: Could not open socket

1. This implies that you are using an incorrect port number. If you've chosen SSL, try choosing TLS (and vice versa). The port number should automatically change when you switch between SSL and TLS.
2. Ensure correct spelling for all values (e.g., smpt.gmails.comm vs. smtp.gmail.com) 

I got the error message: Connection timeout 

This error will occur if the hostname is not correct, thereby preventing Nutshell from connecting to your email provider. Try updating the hostname. Make sure there aren't any spaces within the name, before or after your hostname, and that it is spelled correctly. If you aren't sure of your hostname, check with your email administrator or IT department. 

I got the error message: Failed to verify SMTP Credentials for [your email address]

With this error you'll receive a few different, specific, error descriptions, such as:

• Could not read from [your hostname]

This error will occur if the hostname you provided was incorrect. Retry with a different hostname or IP address.

• 5.0.0 Authentication Failed 

This error will occur if the Username and Password in relation to your email account are not recognizable.

• 5.7.8 Username and Password not accepted. Learn more at 5.7.8 https://support.google.com/mail/?p=BadCredentials 

This error will occur if the Username and Password in relation to a Google account are not recognizable. It also requires that you are logged into your Gmail account on your web browser. 

• Unable to connect via TLS

This error occurs if the port number or email provider server's configured port isn't a valid SMTP configured port. Check to make sure that you are using a TLS/SSL Port. STARTTLS will not be able to connect via SMTP to Nutshell. 

Connection has Failed but no error messages are shown  

If you see a 'Failed' message only, and no other error messages, Nutshell is still attempting to contact your Email Provider Server to verify your settings. Nutshell throttles the validation attempts you can make at a single time avoid appearing to be a malicious attack.