Communication in Odoo by email¶

Communication in Odoo related to records such as CRM opportunities, sales orders, invoices, … have a discussion thread called chatter, often displayed on the right side of the record.

On the chatter, you can send direct emails or Odoo notifications to the followers of a document (depending on their notification preferences), log internal notes, send SMSes, and schedule activities.

If a follower replies to a message, the reply updates the chatter, and Odoo relays it to the followers as a notification. All emails - outgoing and incoming - appear in the same chatter.

Hosted databases¶

If the database is hosted by a service provider, outgoing and incoming emails are usually preconfigured by the provider. Check with the provider which domain is used by default, and whether a custom domain can be used.

Using your own domain¶

To send emails from your own domain, additional configuration is necessary on the domain and within Odoo. This requires technical knowledge (mainly regarding DNS and mail protocols).

By adding a domain and configuring the administration access rights, you can also access the alias domain page to configure the alias of your companies. If only one domain is configured, this domain will be shared by all companies on the database.

The SPF and DKIM records of the domain must authorize the mail server that sends the emails. If you want to use your own mail server, follow the mail server provider’s specific documentation.

For incoming emails, after adding your own domain, replies from customers will come back to your domain, and you will need to use one of the three possible ways to get the emails back into Odoo (using either incoming mail server, redirection/forwarding or DNS MX record). Everything is covered in the Manage inbound messages documentation.

On-premise users¶

If you are on-premise, you will have to completely configure your outgoing and incoming emails:

For outgoing emails, you will need to use an SMTP server and a custom domain.
For incoming emails, set the frequency at which you fetch new emails low enough for responsiveness but high enough in order not to stress your system or provider. Due to this reason and the simplicity of this configuration, we usually advise on using incoming mail servers. To use an SMTP server, check out the “Use a custom domain for inbound messages” documentation.

Using a third-party provider’s mail server¶

Odoo’s documentation also covers several popular mail servers. As they require specific authorizations and configuration, they add a layer of complexity. Research the requirements of the chosen provider before configuring it.

Note

Every provider has its own limitations. Research the desired provider before configuring it. For example, Outlook and Gmail might not be suitable for large marketing campaigns.