Connect a Microsoft inbox

Connect an Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live or Microsoft 365 mailbox so its email shows up in Nova. Name the mailbox, answer one question about your administrator, then sign in at Microsoft as the mailbox.

In the sidebar, open Settings, then choose Email Accounts under Communications. The page address is /settings/communications/email-accounts. New mailboxes are added on the Connect tab.

Before you start

• Your admin has to give your role permission to manage mailbox connections. Without it, the provider cards are greyed out and say You do not have permission to connect inboxes.
• Have the sign-in for the mailbox itself ready. Nova connects exactly the address you type, and before every trip to Microsoft it tells you which account to sign in with. A shared mailbox with no sign-in of its own (support@, info@) is connected through one of its members instead; see Connect a Microsoft 365 shared mailbox.
• A personal Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live or MSN address never needs anyone's approval.
• A work address on Microsoft 365 may need a one-time approval from your company's Microsoft administrator, the person who creates email addresses for the company (often the IT company). Nova asks about this before you go anywhere.

Steps

1. On the Connect tab, under Connect a mailbox, select the Microsoft card. It covers business Microsoft 365 mailboxes and personal Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live and MSN addresses. The Connect mailbox panel opens.
2. Type the address in Mailbox to connect, the way you sign in to it.
3. Read the list under Permissions. These are the things Microsoft will ask you to allow.
4. Under Inbox type, choose Regular inbox for everyday mail, or Support inbox if messages to this address should become tickets. For a support inbox, also choose under Support launch: Not creating tickets yet to review the setup first, or Create tickets now.
5. Leave Sync mailbox on success on so mail starts arriving as soon as the mailbox is connected.
6. Look at the progress strip below: Mailbox, then Company approval (only when your company needs it), Sign in as the mailbox and Done. It follows you to Microsoft and back.
7. Under the strip, Nova says what it found about the address. A personal address shows Personal Microsoft account. No administrator approval is needed. A company that already approved Nova shows its name followed by "already approved Nova. One sign-in and you are done." Otherwise Nova asks Are you the Microsoft 365 administrator for this company?
8. If Nova asked, choose Yes, I'm the administrator, No, someone else is or I'm not sure. Until you answer, the button at the bottom stays greyed out with Answer the administrator question to continue.
9. Read the card headed Before you go to Microsoft. Under Use this account it names the exact account to sign in with, then lists what Microsoft will show and what to choose. When you answered No, someone else is, the card is headed What happens next instead, because nothing goes to Microsoft yet.
10. Select the button at the bottom of the panel. What it says, and what happens next, depends on your answer. Read the matching section below.

Sign in as the mailbox

This is the whole trip for a personal address, for a company that already approved Nova, and when you chose I'm not sure.

1. Select the button that reads Go to Microsoft and sign in as followed by your address.
2. At Microsoft, sign in as the mailbox itself, not an administrator account. If Microsoft shows a list of accounts, pick that address or choose "Use another account". Complete any check Microsoft asks for.
3. If Microsoft shows the permissions Nova needs, choose Accept. Microsoft brings you back to Nova.

If Microsoft shows a page titled "Need admin approval" instead, choose "Return to the application without granting consent". Nova shows Ask your Microsoft administrator with a request you can send; follow Get administrator approval for a Microsoft inbox.

You are the administrator

With Yes, I'm the administrator chosen, the card is headed Before you go to Microsoft: approve Nova first and the button reads Go to Microsoft to approve Nova. You make two trips: first sign in with your administrator account and accept for the company, then, back on the Finish mailbox setup page, select the button that reads Go to Microsoft and sign in as followed by the mailbox address and sign in as the mailbox itself. Approving does not connect your own administrator mailbox. The full walk is in Get administrator approval for a Microsoft inbox.

Someone else is the administrator

With No, someone else is chosen, the button reads Ask your Microsoft administrator. Nothing goes to Microsoft. The panel closes and the Connect tab shows the prepared request under Approval request: type their address in Administrator email and select Send email, or use Copy request link and Copy IT email to send it yourself. Nova emails you when they approve, with a link that lands on the sign-in step. What the administrator sees is in Get administrator approval for a Microsoft inbox.

What you see

After the mailbox sign-in, Microsoft brings you back to the Finish mailbox setup page. After a moment it shows Connected, with the strip on Done, and says mail from the address starts arriving in about a minute. Select Open Email Accounts: the mailbox is listed under Connected inboxes on the Inboxes tab. Its status reads Sync queued, then Importing recent mail while the newest mail comes in; older mail keeps importing in the background. The badge beside its name reads Syncing, then Healthy. If it ever reads Needs reconnecting or Sync stopped, see Fix an inbox that stopped syncing.

For a Support inbox, Nova opens Support inbox setup instead, so you can finish the ticket workflow.

Open Email Accounts

If something looks different

• Not done yet: wrong account: you signed in at Microsoft with a different account than the one in Mailbox to connect. Nothing was connected. Select the button that reads Go to Microsoft and sign in as followed by the right address. If the account you used is the one you meant to connect, select the link that reads Connect followed by that address and "instead".
• The screen says Nova is approved for your company, followed by "One more step": you signed in with the administrator account when Nova asked for the mailbox. That account was not connected, and that is expected. Select the sign-in button and choose the mailbox this time.
• Ask your Microsoft administrator: your company only lets an administrator approve a new app like Nova. Nothing was connected yet. Follow Get administrator approval for a Microsoft inbox.
• You cancelled at Microsoft: nothing changed. Select Start mailbox setup again when you are ready.
• Your company's Microsoft security rules blocked this sign-in: see Fix a Microsoft sign-in blocked by security rules.
• Microsoft needs an extra sign-in check: finish the verification step at Microsoft, then try again. See Finish a Microsoft sign-in that asks for two-step verification.
• Microsoft would not sign this account in: check the address and password, or ask your administrator whether the account is blocked. See Fix a Microsoft account problem when connecting an inbox.
• Nova's Microsoft setup needs attention or Microsoft returned an error: not something you can fix here. Open Error details, select Copy support info and send it to Nova support. See Report a Microsoft app setup problem.
• This sign-in link has expired: you took too long at Microsoft, or reopened an old tab. Select Start mailbox setup again.
• The Microsoft card is greyed out with Inbox limit reached for this organization. or Microsoft inbox connections are disabled.: your organization cannot add another Microsoft mailbox right now. Ask your admin.
• A mailbox that was connected before now shows Needs reconnecting on its card: the sign-in stopped working because a password changed, access was revoked or the approval expired. Press Reconnect in the card header and sign in as the mailbox again; the steps above apply. See Fix an inbox that stopped syncing.