Setting up with Gmail
If you use Gmail or Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), this is the most straightforward way to connect email to Jelly.
By the end of this guide, you'll have incoming emails appearing in Jelly and, as a bonus, be sending emails from your own addresses too. The whole process takes about five to ten minutes. There are two parts:
Set up forwarding so copies of your incoming emails arrive in Jelly
Connect your Google account so Jelly can send replies through Gmail on your behalf
Let's walk through each part.
Part 1: Setting Up Gmail Forwarding
Forwarding tells Gmail to send a copy of every incoming email to your Jelly inbox. This is how messages get into Jelly in the first place.
Gmail's forwarding setup has a few more steps than you might expect, and it's easy to miss one. We'll go through this carefully.
Find Your Jelly Forwarding Address
Before you do anything in Gmail, you need to know where to forward emails to.
Open Jelly
Click your profile photo in the top-right corner
Select Email Setup
You'll see your forwarding address displayed — it looks like
[email protected]Copy this address (you'll need it in a moment)
Add Your Jelly Address as a Forwarding Destination
Click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab
In the Forwarding section at the top, click Add a forwarding address
Paste your Jelly forwarding address into the box
Click Next
A popup will appear asking you to confirm — click Proceed
Click OK to dismiss the confirmation
Note: At this point, Gmail has recorded that you might want to forward to this address, but forwarding is not enabled yet — Gmail needs to verify that you control the destination address first.
Confirm the Forwarding Request
Gmail sends a confirmation email to make sure you actually control the address you're forwarding to. That confirmation email will arrive in Jelly.
Switch over to Jelly
Look in your inbox — you should see an email from Google with a subject like "Gmail Forwarding Confirmation"
Open the email
Click the confirmation link in the email (or use the confirmation code if provided)
If you can't find the confirmation email: check Jelly's spam folder, wait a minute and try again, or go back to Gmail settings and click to resend the confirmation.
Enable Forwarding (This Is Where People Get Stuck!)
Adding a forwarding address doesn't turn forwarding on. You must enable it separately.
Go back to Gmail → Settings → See all settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab
Important: Reload the page. The forwarding address you just verified might not appear until you refresh.
Select Forward a copy of incoming mail to and choose your Jelly address from the dropdown
Next to that, choose what Gmail should do with the original message. We recommend keep Gmail's copy in the Inbox
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes. Don't forget this part!
If you don't click Save Changes, forwarding won't be enabled.
Part 2: Connecting Your Google Account for Sending
Now that emails are arriving in Jelly, you need to be able to reply. Connect your Google account so Jelly can send replies through Gmail's servers. This ensures replies come from the email address hosted by Google, and improves deliverability.
Sign In and Authorize
Google will ask you to sign in — use the Gmail account you want to send from
Google will show you what permissions Jelly is requesting
It's vital that you ensure all the permissions boxes are checked, otherwise Jelly will not have the permissions it needs to send on your behalf through your server.
Click Allow or Continue
That's it. Jelly can now send emails on your behalf through Gmail.
What Permissions Does Jelly Get?
When you connect your Google account, Jelly requests permission to:
Send emails on your behalf — core functionality for replies
See your email address — so we know which address you're connecting
Jelly does not request permission to read your emails. Jelly only sees the emails you forward to us. You can revoke Jelly's access any time in your Google Account settings (myaccount.google.com) by removing Jelly from connected apps.
Testing the Complete Setup
Test receiving: From a personal email account (not the Gmail you set up), send an email to your Gmail address. It should appear in Jelly within a few seconds.
Test sending: In Jelly, reply to that test email and send the reply.
Check the result: In your personal email account, confirm the reply arrived, the "From" address shows your Gmail address, and you can reply back normally.
If all of that works, your Gmail is fully connected to Jelly.
Google Workspace (Custom Domains)
If you use Google Workspace with a custom domain (like [email protected]), the setup is the same. Make sure:
You're signing into the Google Workspace account (not a personal Gmail account)
Your Workspace admin hasn't restricted third-party app connections
If you see "Access Denied" or similar when connecting, your organisation's admin may have locked down app connections. Ask them to allow Jelly or have them perform the setup.
Using Multiple Gmail Addresses
If you want to send from multiple addresses:
If the addresses are aliases in the same Gmail account:
In Jelly → Email Setup → Add Email Address
Enter the alias and link it to your already-connected Google account
Jelly will verify that Gmail permits sending as this address
If the addresses are in different Gmail accounts:
Connect each account separately via Add Email Address → Connect with Google
Each Gmail account needs its own forwarding configured if they are separate mailboxes
For more details, see Adding More Addresses.
Troubleshooting
Emails Not Arriving in Jelly
The Gmail confirmation email never showed up:
Check Jelly's spam folder
Wait a minute and try sending the confirmation again from Gmail settings
Make sure you entered the Jelly forwarding address correctly
Forwarding seems set up but emails aren't arriving:
Go to Gmail settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP and verify forwarding is enabled (the "Forward a copy" option is selected)
Make sure you clicked Save Changes
Reload the settings page and check again
Only some emails are arriving:
Check if you have Gmail filters that might prevent certain messages from being forwarded
Some newsletters and automated emails might be affected by existing filters
Spam Not Arriving in Jelly
By default, Gmail doesn't automatically forward spam messages, and so anything Google flags as spam will remain in your Gmail/Google Workspace account's Spam folder
If you want Jelly to receive the spam messages, you'll have to set up forwarding in a different way, using a "filter", with the "never consider messages spam" option selected.
Can't Connect Google Account
"Access Denied" or permission error:
Ensure you're signing into the correct Google account
Try an incognito/private browser window to avoid conflicts with other logged-in accounts
Clear browser cookies and try again
For Google Workspace: ask your admin if third-party apps are restricted
Connection worked but sending fails:
Disconnect and reconnect your Google account in Jelly's Email Setup
Make sure you're selecting the Gmail-connected address when composing (not a different address)
Replies Going to Spam
When you send through Gmail, deliverability is usually excellent. If replies land in spam:
Check your domain's email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
For Google Workspace domains, ensure domain email settings are correct in Google Admin
Ask recipients to mark your messages as "not spam" to help train their provider
Sent Emails Not Appearing in Gmail's Sent Folder
Sent emails should appear in Gmail Sent. If they don't:
Disconnect and reconnect your Google account in Jelly's Email Setup
Confirm you're using the Gmail-connected address (look for the Google icon next to the address in Email Setup)
Next Steps
Now that your email is set up, you can:
Learn how the inbox works: See how Jelly organises conversations and helps your team collaborate → How the Inbox Works
Add more addresses: Set up additional email addresses for your team → Adding More Addresses
Set up rules: Automatically route and organise incoming emails → Rules
Create saved replies: Speed up responses with templates → Saved Replies
If you run into any issues, don't hesitate to contact us. We're happy to help you get everything working.
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