---
title: "Let your bot answer emails"
description: "Give your bot its own email address so it replies to emails using your knowledge, or processes forwarded emails with power-ups without replying."
canonical_url: "https://chatthing.ai/docs/channels/email"
last_updated: "2026-09-25"
---

# Let your bot answer emails

**Available on:** Standard, Pro, Enterprise plans.

Every bot can have its own email address. Send or forward emails to it and the bot replies using its knowledge, or processes them with power-ups - for example creating a ticket in Notion - without replying.

> **Standard, Pro and Enterprise**
>
> The Email channel is included on the Standard, Pro and Enterprise plans.
>
> **Who can do this:** [team owners and admins](https://chatthing.ai/docs/account/teams#what-each-role-can-do).

## Steps

[Video: set up the Email channel (YouTube)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ydvr---jjs)

*Video walkthrough, recorded in 2025. Some screens have changed since.*

1. Open your bot, select the **Channels** tab and turn on the **Email** card. The **Email channel settings** page opens.
   ![The Email card on the Channels tab, with its toggle switched off](https://res.cloudinary.com/djyjvrw5u/image/upload/v1773771849/docs/email-channel-toggle.png)
2. Under **Bot email**, copy your bot's email address. It ends in `@bots.chatthing.ai`.
3. Under **Auto respond**, choose whether the bot replies to emails:
   - **Auto reply** on - the bot answers every email it receives.
   - **Auto reply** off - the bot reads and processes emails (for example with power-ups) but doesn't reply.
4. If you changed **Auto reply**, click **Save**.

![The Bot email section showing the bot's dedicated email address](https://res.cloudinary.com/djyjvrw5u/image/upload/v1773771850/docs/email-bot-email.png)

![The Auto respond section with the Auto reply toggle turned on](https://res.cloudinary.com/djyjvrw5u/image/upload/v1773771851/docs/email-auto-respond.png)

## Ways to use it

- **Answer customer emails:** forward emails from your support address to the bot's address, with **Auto reply** on.
- **Process emails without replying:** turn **Auto reply** off and add power-ups, so the bot can, for example, log each forwarded email as a Notion page or pass it to another system with [Call your API](https://chatthing.ai/docs/power-ups/call-your-api).

## Check it works

Send an email to the bot's address from your own email account with a question it should answer. With **Auto reply** on, you should get a reply by email. The conversation also appears in [Conversations](https://chatthing.ai/docs/manage/conversations).

## Troubleshooting

### The bot doesn't reply

Check **Auto reply** is on and that you clicked **Save**. Check your spam folder for the reply.

### The bot replies "This bot is currently unavailable"

The Email channel is turned off. Turn the **Email** card back on in the **Channels** tab.

## Related

- [How power-ups work](https://chatthing.ai/docs/power-ups/how-power-ups-work): What power-ups are, how to add, edit, turn off and delete them, how your bot decides to use one, and what visitors see in the chat.
- [Channels](https://chatthing.ai/docs/channels): Where your bot talks to people - your website, WhatsApp, Slack, Discord, Telegram, email and the API - and which plans include each channel.