The email on your business card is name@yourcompany.com, and it runs on Zoho, Fastmail or whatever your web host set up. ChatGPT’s email plugins cover Gmail, Outlook and iCloud. Your actual business inbox isn’t on the list.
Why it’s missing
ChatGPT’s built-in email plugins are made by or for the big providers: Google, Microsoft and, since October 27, Apple. Zoho, Fastmail and hosted mail use IMAP and SMTP, the open standards nearly every mailbox speaks, and they aren’t among ChatGPT’s built-in email plugins.
alfred_ connects to any IMAP mailbox and is a plugin in ChatGPT, so it bridges the two.
How to connect it
- Turn on IMAP at your provider. In Zoho Mail, open Settings, then Mail Accounts, and enable IMAP access. With two-factor sign-in on, create an app-specific password. Fastmail and most hosts have the same setting.
- Connect the mailbox to alfred_. Add an account and choose Other email. Pick Zoho or Fastmail and the server settings are filled in (imap.zoho.com and smtp.zoho.com for Zoho), or choose Other and enter the IMAP and SMTP settings your host gives you.
- Add the alfred_ plugin in ChatGPT. Open alfred_ in ChatGPT and press Connect.
- Sign in and choose what to allow. Reading is the default; tick sending if you want ChatGPT to send from your address.
If your Zoho account lives in another region or on a business plan with different server names, use the settings Zoho shows you.
Each AI connection is listed in alfred_ with its permissions. Shown with sample data.
What it looks like
You: Did the venue send the final invoice to my business email?
ChatGPT: Yes. Harbor Hall emailed your Zoho address on Monday with “Invoice 2214 - Final.pdf”: $3,850, due November 14. You haven’t replied.
You: Reply that we’ll pay by the 10th.
ChatGPT: Here’s the reply from your Zoho account: “Thanks, we’ll pay invoice 2214 by November 10.” Send it?
You: Yes.
Illustrative exchange. Names are invented.
It reads PDF and image attachments as text, and the reply goes out through your provider from your own address after you say yes. Through this connection ChatGPT cannot delete an email, an event or a to-do.
Your business mailbox next to your other accounts, one search away in ChatGPT. Shown with sample data.
One search across everything
Your Zoho inbox sits next to Gmail, Outlook, iCloud and Yahoo, up to six accounts, and one question searches all of them. The same connection works in Claude. And between chats alfred_ keeps reading: it flags what needs your answer and can text you when a client is waiting.
You need an alfred_ account for any of this. Plans start at $29.99 a month with a 7-day free trial.
