Use Google OAuth to Send From Help Scout
If you are using your own email address with Help Scout, we send email on your behalf via our own Help Scout mail servers by default. If your custom email address is a full Google Workspace (formerly known as G Suite) user mailbox, you may choose to configure Help Scout to send your email from Google's servers instead, using Google OAuth.
If you are using any email provider other than Google, take a look at Use SMTP to Send From Help Scout for help to set up that connection.
Note: If you are using your Help Scout email address directly — e.g. support@jg-clothing.helpscoutapp.com — you cannot configure Google OAuth to send from that address. This is only an option for Google Workspace based email accounts.
In this article
Reasons to Use OAuth
Using customized outgoing settings allows you to save all of your outgoing replies to Gmail for archive or backup purposes. Sending from Google's servers may also assist with email deliverability.
Configure Outgoing Settings
Before authenticating, you'll want to ensure that you're logged in to the Gmail account for your inbox address (e.g. support@domain.com). Google OAuth will not work with Google Groups addresses.
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Open the desired inbox and head over to Inbox Settings > Outgoing Email.
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Select the Use custom SMTP option. Choose Send with Gmail from the drop-down list, and then click Sign in with Google.
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Choose the Google account associated with your inbox address or choose Use another account to sign in to Google as the inbox address. Click the blue Allow button on the next screen to allow Help Scout to use that Gmail account to send email.
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The next page will take you back to Help Scout where you will have a Sending via... confirmation stating that your outgoing settings are properly set up. Don't forget to hit the blue Save button.
You can disconnect from Google OAuth at any time by clicking on the blue Disconnect button.
If you change the password on the Google account you're using, you will need to Disconnect and go through these steps again to re-authorize the account.
Troubleshooting Bounces
If we're unable to hand off an email to Google, you'll find the message in the Needs Attention folder with a status of Bounced.
Click into the conversation to see more information along with your options.
Click the View details link to open a pop-up window showing the error we received from Google.
The error you see in the pop-up window is what Google reported at the time we tried to connect. If you are seeing an error that includes "invalid_grant", that usually indicates the the password has changed for your Google account that is connected with the inbox. You'll need to disconnect and re-authorize it, as Google revokes email authorization when you change the password.
Re-authorizing the connection can sometimes resolve other errors as well. Just click Disconnect in your Outgoing Email settings, then re-authorize it following the steps in Configure Outgoing Settings.
If you are unsure as to why you are seeing an error and re-authorizing it doesn't resolve the issue, you may need to reach out to Google support for assistance. You may also choose to change your Outgoing Email settings to Use Help Scout and retry the bounced email to send from our servers instead.
Note: If the error you're seeing is code 401 "Request had invalid authentication credentials" as in the example above, you'll need to completely remove authorization from the Google side of things and re-connect. After disconnecting in Help Scout, but before you re-authorize, head to https://myaccount.google.com/u/0/permissions and log in as the account you're using to authenticate for outgoing email. Click on the entry showing Help Scout access, then click Remove Access. Now head back in to Help Scout to reconnect, and that should take care of that!
Click Retry after you have resolved the Google issue to retry the reply. Click Dismiss if you are unable to resolve the delivery issue but would like to no longer see this alert. This will remove the conversation from the Needs Attention folder, and the reply will be saved in the conversation history though no email out was generated to the customer. You will no longer have the option to Retry to send that reply.