Connect and use the Mailbox (Outlook/Gmail) in SamBooks

The Mailbox connects your Outlook or Gmail account inside SamBooks: read and write email, find your attachments, and bring invoices and documents into your accounting or into the chat with Sam — without leaving the app.

What it is for

The Mailbox lets you:

• Connect one or more Outlook (Microsoft) or Gmail (Google) mailboxes through a secure sign-in (OAuth), without ever entering your mailbox password into SamBooks.
• Read, search and browse your messages (Inbox, Sent, Spam) directly in SamBooks.
• Write, reply to and forward email.
• Bring a single email or attachment to Sam with one click, and import invoices or tax forms into your accounting.

Sam never reads your mailbox on its own initiative: it only sees what you share, and only after you give consent.

Requirements

• A Starter plan or higher. On Mini/flat-rate plans the Mailbox is not available: the screen "The Mailbox is available from the Starter plan" appears.
• An Outlook account (including outlook.com, hotmail, live) or a Gmail account that you own.

Step-by-step

1. Open the Mailbox

In the side menu, under Dashboard, click Casella di posta (Mailbox), marked with the BETA label. The "Mailbox" page opens.

2. Connect a mailbox

If you have not connected any account yet, you see the "Connect your mailbox" screen.

1. Click Collega Outlook (Connect Outlook) or Collega Gmail (Connect Gmail).
2. The provider's sign-in page (Microsoft or Google) opens: sign in and authorise SamBooks to read and send email on your behalf.
3. Back in SamBooks you see "Mailbox connected successfully" and the mailbox appears in the top bar with the Active status.

To add more mailboxes use Collega un'altra casella (Connect another mailbox): you can keep Outlook and Gmail connected at the same time and switch between them from the top bar.

3. Set privacy and AI consents

As soon as you connect the first mailbox, the Mailbox privacy window opens (you can reopen it any time from the Privacy e AI button at the top right). It has two switches, both off by default:

• Use email as AI context — lets Sam read the content of the emails you explicitly share.
• Extract tax documents — lets you bring attachments (invoices, tax forms) you choose to import into your accounting.

Turn on only what you need and click Save. Without these consents you can still read and write email: they are only needed for the paths toward Sam and your accounting.

4. Read, search and browse folders

• On the left, choose the folder: Inbox, Sent or Spam.
• Use the Search by sender or text… bar at the top of the list to search your messages.
• Click a message to open it in the reader on the right. For privacy, remote images are blocked: click Show images to load them.
• New messages sync on their own (Automatic sync); to force an update use Sync.

5. Write, reply and forward

• For a new message click Scrivi (Compose): fill in To, optionally Cc, the Subject and the Message, attach files with Allega file (from your device) or Allega fattura (a SamBooks document), then send.
• With an email open you can Reply, Reply all or Forward.

6. Bring an email or attachment to Sam

With an email open in the reader:

• Show to Sam — passes the email text to the chat as context (requires the "Use email as AI context" consent).
• Attach to chat / Import to chat on an attachment — brings the document (for example an invoice) into the chat and into accounting (requires the "Extract tax documents" consent). Alternatively you can drag the attachment straight into Sam's chat.

Every attachment goes through an antivirus check before it is read.

7. Disconnect a mailbox

From the mailbox bar click Disconnect and confirm. Access tokens are revoked and all metadata for that mailbox is deleted from SamBooks. To use it again you will need to reconnect it.

Tips

• Reopen Privacy e AI any time to change your consents: no setting is permanent.
• Messages arrive on their own thanks to Automatic sync: you do not need to press Sync on every visit.

Common issues

• "The Mailbox is available from the Starter plan" appears: your plan is Mini or flat-rate. Switch to Starter to enable the feature.
• Gmail forward without the original attachments: when you forward a Gmail message, the original email's attachments are not re-attached automatically — add them manually with Allega file. On Outlook, forwarding keeps the original attachments.
• Sam does not answer about emails: check that you enabled the "Use email as AI context" consent under Privacy e AI.

FAQ

Does Sam read my mailbox on its own? No. Sam only sees the email or attachment you explicitly share with Show to Sam or Attach to chat.

Does SamBooks store my emails? Only metadata (sender, subject, date) is synced; the body and attachments are fetched on demand and not kept beyond the session. When you disconnect the mailbox, everything is deleted.

Do my emails train the AI? No, never. No email content is used to train artificial-intelligence models.

Related features

• Chat with Sam
• Supplier invoices
• Privacy and consents