If your company uses Google Workspace, Google's SMTP relay service is the recommended way to send Trackdesk emails from your own domain. SMTP relay has its own sending limits, separate from and higher than regular Gmail sending through smtp.gmail.com, so it handles the volume of welcome emails, notifications, and affiliate messages your program sends more reliably.
Setup has three parts: turning on SMTP relay in the Google Admin console, creating an app password for the sending user, and entering the settings in Trackdesk. For details on each field, the test email, and fallback behavior, see Custom SMTP Email Server.
Before you start
Part 1 requires a Google Workspace admin.
Choose the Google Workspace user account Trackdesk will sign in as, for example
[email protected]. It must be a real user account that can sign in, not a group or alias. You complete Part 2 while signed in as this user.
Part 1: Turn on SMTP relay in the Google Admin console
Sign in as an admin and open admin.google.com/ac/apps/gmail/routing (Menu → Apps → Google Workspace → Gmail → Routing).
Leave the top-level organizational unit selected on the left. Google only allows SMTP relay rules at the top level.
Find SMTP relay service and click Configure. If a relay rule already exists, click Add another rule.
Fill in the rule:
Name: for example, Trackdesk SMTP Relay.
1. Allowed senders: select Only addresses in my domains.
2. Authentication: check Require SMTP Authentication. Leave Only accept mail from the specified IP addresses unchecked.
3. Encryption: check Require TLS encryption.
Click Save. The change usually applies within minutes, but Google says it can take up to 24 hours.
Part 2: Create an app password for the sending user
Sign in to Google as the sending user you chose in Before you start.
Turn on 2-Step Verification for this account in Google Account → Security → 2-Step Verification. App passwords aren't available without it. If the option is missing, a Workspace admin must allow it in the Admin console under Security → Authentication → 2-Step Verification.
Open myaccount.google.com/apppasswords, enter a name such as Trackdesk, and click Create.
Copy the 16-character password. Google shows it only once.
Part 3: Set up custom SMTP in Trackdesk
In Trackdesk, go to Settings → Integrations → Custom SMTP (
https://your-account.trackdesk.com/settings/smtp-server).Turn on Use custom SMTP server.
Fill in the fields:
SMTP server host:
smtp-relay.gmail.com(notsmtp.gmail.com).Port:
587.Username: the full email address of the sending user from Part 2, for example
[email protected].Password: the app password from Part 2, without spaces. Do not use the account's normal password.
From name: the sender name recipients will see.
From email: any address on your Google Workspace domain, for example
[email protected]or[email protected]. Replies from affiliates go to this address, so use an inbox someone reads if you want to receive them.Test email recipient: any inbox you can check. It's used for one test email and isn't saved.
Click Save. Trackdesk sends a test email first and saves the settings only if it goes through. Check the test inbox, including the spam folder.
If the test email fails
Check that SMTP server host is
smtp-relay.gmail.com, notsmtp.gmail.com.Check that Password is the app password without spaces, not the account's normal password.
Check that Username is a real Google Workspace user that can sign in, not a group or alias.
Check that From email is an address on your Google Workspace domain. The relay rule only accepts senders from your domains.
If you saved the relay rule recently, wait and try again. Google can take up to 24 hours to apply it.