Your AI agent can read and answer email
Connect an email mailbox to your Fleece AI Team agent and it reads incoming emails, processes the content, and drafts responses — or sends them directly, depending on how you configure it. The agent applies the instructions on its profile, draws on the same knowledge sources, and carries the same identity as on WhatsApp, Slack or a video meeting. An email about a refund gets the same answer as a WhatsApp message about the same refund, because there is one agent behind both.
At a glance
- Provider
- Connected email mailbox (IMAP/SMTP)
- Email types
- Inbound and outbound emails
- Setup
- Connect a mailbox from the Fleece AI Team dashboard
- Response mode
- Draft or send — you choose per agent
- Attachments
- Text extracted from PDFs and images in attachments
- Plan
- Included on Team and Scale plans
The asynchronous channel
Email is the most asynchronous of all seven channels. A customer sends an email and expects a response — but not necessarily within seconds. The agent reads the email, processes it, and responds. The timing depends on how you configure it: the agent can answer immediately, wait for a review step, or batch responses.
The agent reads the email content — the subject, the body, and any text it can extract from attachments. It then applies the instructions on its profile: if the email is about a refund, the agent looks up the refund policy; if it is about a delivery, it checks the order status.
The response follows the same tone and knowledge as every other channel. The agent does not have a separate personality for email — it reads the same system prompt, the same documents, and the same personality traits.
Draft mode vs. send mode
You can configure the agent to draft responses or to send them directly. In draft mode, the agent writes a response and places it in the mailbox's drafts folder — a human colleague reviews it before sending. In send mode, the agent sends the response directly.
Draft mode is useful for sensitive communications — legal inquiries, customer complaints, or anything where a human review is warranted. Send mode is appropriate for routine queries — order status, delivery updates, account information — where the agent's answer is reliable and a review step adds friction.
Attachments and file processing
The agent can extract text from PDF attachments and images. If a customer attaches a PDF of an invoice, the agent reads the invoice content and can reference it in the response.
It does not process all file types. A spreadsheet or a Word document is not opened by the agent — it focuses on text, PDFs and images. For other file types, the agent follows the instructions you gave it — which may include asking the customer to resend in a supported format.
Where email fits into your team's workflow
Customer support is the most common case. A customer emails with a question, and the agent answers — drawing on the knowledge you attached to its profile. In draft mode, a human reviews the response before it goes out.
Internal communications are another. Questions from team members about policy, documentation, or processes can be answered by the agent — reducing the load on human colleagues who would otherwise field the same questions repeatedly.
The agent does not replace a human for complex email threads. It handles the cases it knows, and when it does not, it follows the escalation instructions you gave it — whether that is deferring to a human, suggesting documentation, or asking the customer to clarify.
How to connect email to your AI agent
- 01
Create or select the agent
Open the agent's profile in the Fleece AI Team dashboard. Configure the instructions and knowledge that the agent will apply to email responses.
- 02
Connect an email mailbox from the Channels page
Go to the Channels section of the dashboard, find Email, and connect a mailbox. The platform handles the IMAP/SMTP connection.
- 03
Choose draft or send mode
Configure whether the agent drafts responses for human review or sends them directly. You can change this at any time.
- 04
Test with an email
Send an email to the connected mailbox. The agent should process it and either draft or send a response.
Questions, answered
Does the agent read all emails in the mailbox?
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The agent reads incoming emails. You can configure filters so it only processes emails matching certain criteria — for example, emails to a specific address or emails with certain keywords.
Can the agent send email on behalf of a person?
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The agent sends from the connected mailbox. The 'From' address is the mailbox you connected — it does not impersonate a specific person.
What happens when the agent does not know the answer?
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It follows the instructions on its profile — it can say it does not know, suggest documentation, or defer to a human colleague.
Can the agent process email attachments?
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The agent extracts text from PDF and image attachments. It does not process all file types — spreadsheets and Word documents are not opened.
How often does the agent check for new emails?
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The agent checks the connected mailbox regularly. The exact frequency depends on the configuration — most teams use near-real-time checking.
Can the agent handle email threads?
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Yes. The agent reads the email thread context — previous messages in the conversation — before responding. It does not treat each email in isolation.
Read next
- AI agent on Slack
The same agent, the same knowledge — but in the channel where your team works in real time.
- AI agent on WhatsApp
The same agent, answering on the messaging channel your customers already use — where conversations are shorter and faster.
- All channels
How one agent keeps the same identity across seven channels — same instructions, same knowledge, same voice.
Connect this channel
Create an agent and connect Email from the Channels section of the dashboard. One agent, seven channels, one identity.