Heads Up! If you see features in this article that aren’t in your account, this section may be what you're looking for instead.

Canopy's Global Inbox brings all your emails into the Canopy app to help speed up your workflow and eliminate the need to have multiple windows open simultaneously. Within the global inbox, you can read, delete, archive, and reply to your emails. You can also email your Canopy clients and attach Canopy files to your drafted emails.

To get started with the global inbox, make sure that you've connected an email account‍ to Canopy.

Use the Global Inbox

1. Click on the Inbox icon on the global navigation bar.

This icon will update with a red number circle, indicating the number of unread emails in your inbox.
The global inbox will open to the Inbox folder by default.

2. Change which folder to display by clicking the folder dropdown menu.

Select an available folder to view.

3. Select an email in the left-side column to open the email conversation.

4. Click on the Star icon to mark an email as a Favorite.

5. Click on the checkbox next to each email to select multiple emails and view bulk email actions.

Bulk email actions include Mark as unread, Mark as read, Archive, and Delete.
Some folders, such as Drafts and Deleted, will not show all of the bulk email options.
Emails cannot be permanently deleted from within Canopy. To permanently delete an email, please do so from your email provider's native application.

6. Change your selected email account by clicking the Account drop-down menu in the top right corner.

Select a different account that is connected to Canopy.
Click +Add Email Account to connect an additional account to Canopy.
- Alternatively, follow the Connect an email account to Canopy‍ guide to set up an additional email.

7. Search your inbox by typing in the top Search bar.

Your search will search through emails, client names, and text included in any email attachments.
Please refer to the following links for search operators that will work with your email provider: Gmail, Exchange/Outlook, Yahoo, or any basic IMAP email provider.

8. To send an email, click Create email.

9. Search for your Canopy clients in the Add recipients box.

You can open additional boxes for CCs and BCCs by clicking their associated links.

10. Input a Subject in the subject box.

11. Use Canopy's editing tools to compose your email.

You can set up a custom email signature‍ by following our knowledge base guide.

12. Click on the Attachment icon to attach a new file or an existing file from Canopy files.

Existing files can be added from Client files, Internal files, or My files in Canopy.
Select a file and click Choose to add the file to your email.

13. When ready, click Send in the top-right corner.

Send an Email from a Client Record

When working within a Client Record, you can simply send an email directly to contacts and clients from the Communication tab of the record.

Get started by navigating to a client record.

1. Find the Communication tab.

You'll see historical emails between you and the contacts assigned to the client.

2. Select New email.

3. Draft your email.

From here, you can also:

Add more recipients (BCC or CC)
Format the email
Add links or attachments
Use the AI Assistant Beta for drafting, grammar, and spelling help!

4. Click Send email.

The email will populate the list of emails in the Communication tab.

Comment on an Email

Internal comment feeds can be shown on any email received in the global inbox. These feeds provide a way for you to:

Communicate with team members
Attach files
Set up reminders
Coordinate the work that needs to be completed for a client

Comments made on an email are visible on the comments tab of the global inbox.

1. To get started, click on Inbox on the global navigation bar.

2. Select an email to comment on.

3. Click on the Comments tab.

To open the comments feed, click directly on the Comments icon, or you can click anywhere on the associated tab located to the right of the email.

4. Input your comment in the provided text box.

Best Practice: Everyone likes a clean reading experience. Make sure to break up your comments into paragraphs, as needed. You can add line breaks to a single comment by pressing Shift + Return/Enter on your keyboard. Alternatively, you can send a new comment for each paragraph.

5. To mention a team member, type @ and start typing the team member's name.

Select a team member from the popup menu.

6. If needed, check the Mark Urgent checkbox.

Marking a comment as urgent will add a red exclamation mark to the comment in the comment feed.
All team members associated with the urgent comment will receive their preferred notification to tell them that an urgent comment was left on an email's comment feed.

7. Click on the Send icon to post your comment to the comment feed.

You can also post the comment by pressing Enter/Return on your keyboard.

Use the AI Assistant to Draft an Email

You can use the AI Assistant to help draft an email in Canopy. By doing this, you can save a ton of time while also improving emails' effectiveness. You have access to this feature from the Global + button, Global Inbox, and the Communications tab of a Client Record.

Note: Though the AI Assistant is an amazing tool, it is just that. A tool. The results will only be as good as your prompt. If you get an output that doesn't suit you, you can always revise your prompt. Your personal touch is essential to write engaging correspondence that resonates with your clients!

The following steps start from the Create email window.

1. Add Recipients in the To: field and add a Subject.

2. Click the AI Assistant icon.

3. Select the Draft my email option.

Notice that you need to enter info in the Subject, To, and From fields before you can draft an email.

4. Enter keywords and phrases in the Draft details field.

Example: You want to email Ms. Devereaux to set up an appointment for May 2nd at 4 p.m. You also want to discuss which payment method she would prefer. She can pay through the Client Portal or she can have you process the payment from your end. To end the message, you want to offer a 5% discount on next year's tax filing if she refers 2 of her friends or family members to your firm.

In this situation, you'll enter the following prompt in the What topics should this email cover? field:

"suggest meeting at 4 pm on 5/2, which payment method they prefer (client portal or we can process), offer 5% discount next year taxes if refers 2 people to the firm."

5. Select one Style.

You can choose from Business Formal, Neutral, or Casual.

6. Select up to two Tones.

There are eight tones to choose from:

Appreciative
Confident
Concise
Enthusiastic
Friendly
Polite
Straightforward
Urgent

7. Choose a Language.

The email can be translated into English, Spanish, French, or Portuguese.