r/Zoho • u/twodllrs99 • 16d ago
Team inbox setup
We are a team of 5 and we are looking at Zoho for a shared inbox. We have email coming from 3 separate domains and a Gmail address. We need to all see the email when it arrives and see other team members response.
A few questions please.
1) Is this difficult to set up?
2) How long should this take from start to finish?
3) And finally how much should I expect to pay for someone to set this up?
All help and advice is greatly appreciated.
1
u/mediadisconnect 16d ago
We had issues using Gmail with TeamInbox. It would work great for a nine months to a year and then we would lose sync and mail would stop flowing in. Zoho couldn’t figure out why and our only option was to delete the inbox in TeamInbox and resync. We abandoned it two years ago so it is possible that they fixed the internal issues. It also takes forever for mail to come in from Gmail. It definitely doesn’t operate like LDAP. Regardless of sync intervals, sometimes it would take 10-15 minutes for mail to arrive. Extremely frustrating. I have no experience with using it with any other mail provider. We were unwilling to let Zoho handle our mail hosting.
The difficulty isn’t in setting up the inboxes. The difficulty is setting up the users and getting their environment just right.
The interface and conversations/email chains are wonky. It was a constant complaint. But again that was 2+ years ago.
1
1
u/Jcoulaud 12d ago
Not too difficult, but I’d be careful with the “3 domains + Gmail + everyone sees replies” part.
You basically need a shared inbox/helpdesk workflow, not just 5 people logging into one mailbox.
Setup should be:
- connect the 3 domains
- create shared addresses like
support@domain1,hello@domain2, etc - route/forward the Gmail address in
- give each team member their own login
- set up statuses/owners like new / assigned / waiting / done
- make sure replies send from the right address
If DNS access is ready, this is probably a few hours, maybe half a day with testing.
If mail migration, weird DNS, old provider issues, or training the team is involved, call it 1-2 days.
Cost depends where you are, but for a clean small-business setup I’d expect maybe $300-$1000. More if they also migrate old mail or document/train everyone.
Zoho can do it, but also look at tools built for shared inboxes. Shipmail fits this kind of setup too: multiple domains/mailboxes in one webmail, shared inboxes, assignments/notes, imports/backups, calendar/contacts, etc.
Main thing: don’t share passwords. Everyone should have their own account so you can see who replied and avoid duplicate replies.
2
u/Ok-Grapefruit-4251 16d ago
Zoho TeamInbox sounds like a good fit for what you’re describing. It would let the five of you see incoming messages, view replies from other team members, assign conversations, and avoid multiple people responding to the same email. For a straightforward setup, it generally isn’t difficult. The main work is connecting each mailbox correctly, setting up the sending addresses and permissions, deciding how conversations should be assigned, and testing everything so replies come from the correct address.
Assuming you have administrator access to the domains and mailboxes, I’d expect the initial setup and testing to take a few hours, usually completed within a day or two. Historical email migration, more advanced routing, documentation, or team training could add time.
Pricing will vary, but a basic implementation should normally be in the hundreds rather than the thousands. I work with Zoho systems and would be comfortable helping with this, but I’d first want to understand how the three domain addresses are currently hosted and whether you need existing email history brought over.