One of the most common questions we heard during Relay's early access period was "Do you support Outlook?" closely followed by "Can we connect both Gmail and Outlook accounts to the same workspace?" The answer to both is yes, and today we want to explain how Relay's multi-provider email support works and why it matters for teams that are not all on the same email platform.
The Problem with Single-Provider Tools
Many support tools are built with a single email provider in mind. They integrate deeply with Gmail but treat Outlook as an afterthought, or they are Microsoft-first and have limited Google Workspace support. This creates problems for several types of teams:
- Companies using Microsoft 365: A large portion of businesses, especially in enterprise, government, and regulated industries, use Microsoft Outlook as their primary email client. Tools that only support Gmail leave these companies out entirely.
- Companies with mixed environments: It is increasingly common for organizations to use Google Workspace for some departments and Microsoft 365 for others, or to acquire companies that use a different email provider. A support tool that only works with one provider creates silos.
- Teams migrating between providers: If you are planning to switch from Gmail to Outlook or vice versa, you want a support tool that works with both so the migration does not disrupt your support operations.
- Agencies and managed service providers: Teams that manage support for multiple clients often encounter both Gmail and Outlook accounts across their client base.
How Relay Handles Multi-Provider Email
Relay treats Gmail and Outlook as equal providers. The setup process, features, and AI capabilities are identical regardless of which provider your email runs on. Here is how it works.
Connecting Gmail
Connecting a Gmail account to Relay uses Google's standard OAuth 2.0 authorization flow:
- Navigate to the Mailboxes section in your Relay workspace
- Click "Add Mailbox" and select Gmail
- You are redirected to Google's authorization screen
- Sign in with the Gmail account you want to use
- Grant Relay permission to read and send email on your behalf
- You are redirected back to Relay with your mailbox connected
Relay requests only the permissions necessary to manage your support email. It does not access contacts, calendar, drive, or other Google services. The OAuth token is encrypted at rest and stored securely.
Connecting Microsoft Outlook
Connecting a Microsoft Outlook account follows a similar OAuth 2.0 flow through Microsoft's identity platform:
- Navigate to the Mailboxes section in your Relay workspace
- Click "Add Mailbox" and select Microsoft Outlook
- You are redirected to Microsoft's authorization screen
- Sign in with your Microsoft account
- Grant Relay permission to read and send email on your behalf
- You are redirected back to Relay with your mailbox connected
Relay uses Microsoft Graph API for full-featured Outlook integration, including support for shared mailboxes and Microsoft 365 organizational accounts.
Mixed Provider Workspaces
The most powerful aspect of Relay's multi-provider support is that Gmail and Outlook mailboxes coexist seamlessly within the same workspace. Your team can:
- View and manage conversations from all connected mailboxes in a unified dashboard
- Assign conversations from any mailbox to any team member
- Use the same knowledge base across all mailboxes
- Configure different AI agents for different mailboxes, regardless of provider
- See analytics across all mailboxes or filtered by individual mailbox
From the agent's perspective, there is no difference between working on a Gmail conversation and working on an Outlook conversation. The interface, workflow, and AI capabilities are identical.
Get started with Relay
Connect your Gmail or Outlook, add your knowledge base, and start responding faster.
Under the Hood: How We Handle Provider Differences
Gmail and Outlook are both email, but they handle several things differently at the API level. We invested significant engineering effort to ensure that these differences are invisible to Relay users.
Thread Management
Gmail and Outlook organize email conversations differently:
- Gmail uses a thread ID system where all messages in a conversation share a common thread identifier
- Microsoft Outlook uses a conversation ID system that groups messages by subject and participants
Relay normalizes these into a consistent conversation model. Whether a conversation originated in Gmail or Outlook, it appears as a unified thread in your Relay dashboard with full message history and context.
Email Synchronization
Both providers require careful synchronization to ensure that new messages, replies, and status changes are reflected in Relay in near real-time. Relay uses:
- Webhook-based notifications where available for instant updates
- Efficient polling as a fallback for providers and account types where webhooks are not supported
- Incremental sync that only fetches new or changed messages, minimizing API calls and ensuring responsiveness
Authentication and Token Management
OAuth tokens for both providers are managed automatically by Relay. This includes:
- Secure encrypted storage of refresh tokens
- Automatic token refresh when access tokens expire
- Graceful handling of token revocation or permission changes
- Clear notifications if re-authorization is needed
Your team never needs to think about token management. Relay handles it in the background.
Common Questions
Can I connect multiple mailboxes from the same provider?
Yes. You can connect multiple Gmail accounts or multiple Outlook accounts (or a mix of both) to the same Relay workspace. Each mailbox has its own AI agent configuration and can reference different knowledge base collections.
Does the AI work the same across both providers?
Yes. The AI response generation, knowledge base retrieval, classification, and all other AI features work identically regardless of the email provider. The email provider only affects how messages are sent and received, not how they are processed.
What about shared mailboxes in Microsoft 365?
Relay supports Microsoft 365 shared mailboxes. You can connect a shared mailbox just like an individual mailbox, and your team can manage it collaboratively within Relay.
Can I migrate from one provider to another without losing my Relay setup?
Yes. Your knowledge base, AI agent configuration, team members, and analytics are all independent of the email provider. If you switch from Gmail to Outlook (or vice versa), you simply connect the new mailbox and disconnect the old one. Your setup remains intact.
Is the email data stored separately for each provider?
Email data flows through Relay's unified data model regardless of the source provider. Conversations, messages, and metadata are stored in the same format and accessible through the same interface. There is no provider-specific data silo.
Security and Privacy Across Providers
Handling email data from multiple providers means handling sensitive customer communications. Security is not an afterthought in Relay's multi-provider architecture.
Data Encryption
All email data is encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest (AES-256). OAuth tokens, which grant Relay access to your email accounts, are encrypted with a dedicated encryption key that is managed separately from application data.
Minimal Permission Scope
Relay requests only the permissions necessary to read and send email for the connected mailbox. It does not request access to contacts, calendars, file storage, or other services available through Gmail or Outlook APIs. This minimizes the scope of access and reduces the potential impact if credentials were ever compromised.
Provider-Agnostic Security Model
The same security controls apply regardless of whether a mailbox is connected through Gmail or Outlook. Access controls, encryption standards, and audit logging are consistent across providers. There is no security disparity between the two.
Real-World Use Cases
The Growing Startup
A 15-person SaaS company uses Google Workspace for internal communication and support. Their sales team also handles inbound inquiries through a Microsoft 365 account inherited from a partner relationship. With Relay, both mailboxes are managed in the same workspace, with the same knowledge base powering AI responses for both.
The Enterprise Department
A mid-size company's customer success team uses Microsoft 365. When they adopt Relay, they connect their primary support mailbox and two departmental mailboxes. All conversations flow into the same workspace where their team reviews AI-drafted responses, regardless of which Outlook mailbox the original email arrived in.
The Agency
A customer service agency manages support for six clients, three on Gmail and three on Outlook. Each client's mailbox connects to Relay with its own AI agent configuration and dedicated knowledge base. The agency's support team works across all six mailboxes from a single dashboard.
Why Multi-Provider Support Matters
In a world where teams are increasingly distributed, where mergers and acquisitions bring different technology stacks together, and where the email provider market continues to be a two-player competition between Google and Microsoft, building a support tool that works with only one provider is leaving a large portion of the market underserved.
We built Relay to work wherever your email lives. Whether your entire team is on Gmail, your entire team is on Outlook, or you have a mix of both, Relay provides the same AI-powered support experience. The email provider is an infrastructure detail that should not constrain your choice of support tools or limit how your team collaborates.
Getting Started
If you are already using Relay with Gmail and want to add an Outlook mailbox (or vice versa), simply navigate to the Mailboxes section and connect the new account. There is nothing to configure or migrate, as the new mailbox integrates into your existing workspace immediately.
If you are new to Relay and want to try it with your email provider, start a free trial at userelay.ai. The setup takes minutes regardless of whether you are connecting Gmail, Outlook, or both.