# **✉️ Connect Email with SMTP/IMAP in Search Atlas**

To send outreach emails through Search Atlas, you must connect your Gmail account using **SMTP/IMAP with an App Password**.

🚨 **Important**

Regular Gmail passwords will **NOT** work. Search Atlas requires a Google **App Password**. Using your regular password will always fail!

✅ **Confirmed Fix (resolves 90%+ of cases)**

1. Enable **2-Factor Authentication** on your Google account.
2. Create an **App-Specific Password** and use it in Search Atlas (not your normal Gmail password).

This is a **setup requirement**, not a bug.

## **🔐 Step 1 — Enable 2-Step Verification**

1. Go to: <https://myaccount.google.com>
2. Click **Security**
3. Enable **2-Step Verification**

## **🔑 Step 2 — Create an App Password**

1. Go to: <https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords>
2. Select: **App:** Mail
3. **Device:** Other → "Search Atlas"
4. Click **Generate**
5. Copy the password ⚠️ This is **NOT** your Gmail password.

## **⚙️ Step 3 — Enable IMAP**

1. Open Gmail
2. Go to **Settings → See all settings**
3. Go to **Forwarding and POP/IMAP**
4. Enable **IMAP**

## **🔗 Step 4 — Connect in Search Atlas**

1. Go to: **Authority Building → Campaigns**
2. Click: **Manage Connected Emails → + Add New Email**
3. Select: **Configure SMTP/IMAP**
4. Enter: Email → your Gmail / Password → App Password
5. Click **Connect**

## **📌 Where is this used?**

Connecting your email enables outreach campaigns inside the **Digital PR** tool.

👉 See how it works in context: 🔗 Digital PR Tool — Overview & Functionality

## **❌ Common Errors**

- **"Authentication failed"** 👉 You used your normal Gmail password. ✔ Use App Password instead.
- **"Connection error"** 👉 IMAP not enabled. ✔ Enable IMAP in Gmail settings.
- **"Still not working"** 👉 Most commonly 2FA is not enabled, OR you generated the App Password before enabling 2FA. ✔ Enable 2-Step Verification **FIRST**, then generate a fresh App Password.

## **🚨 Most users get stuck here**

If your email is not connecting, **90% of the time** it's because:

→ You're using your Gmail password instead of an App Password.

Make sure you generate and use an App Password from Google.

**Once connected, you can:**

- Send outreach emails
- Receive replies inside Search Atlas
- Manage conversations in the Inbox

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## **🔗 Related Known Issues**

Users connecting Gmail for outreach frequently encounter these adjacent issues. If any apply, please open a separate ticket referencing the IDs below so we can track them properly:

- **Report Builder — Competitors not showing:** Confirmed bug, currently being worked on by engineering (internal ticket **GitLab #16861**). Support can provide status updates on request.
- **OTTO SEO schema causing Google errors:** Known issue under investigation by the technical team. Please share the affected URL and a screenshot of the Google error with support so it can be attached to the open ticket.
- **Billing quota reset date:** Your billing cycle and quota reset on your own subscription billing day each month (the day your plan renews, clamped to the last day in shorter months) — confirm your specific date in the account menu (person icon, top-right) → Billing.