Conversations: Troubleshooting

If your mailbox isn't pulling in email, this guide walks through the most common causes and fixes. You'll find your inbox in the left sidebar under Conversations, with the Refresh button (the circular-arrow icon) next to the search box.

Why your email isn't syncing yet

A newly connected mailbox doesn't fill up all at once. When you first connect Gmail or Outlook, MonuDesk starts importing your email in the background, and threads appear in the list progressively as they come in. You'll see a toast that reads "importing the last 30 days of email, and threads appear as they sync."

If nothing is showing up, check these first:

• Give the import a few minutes, since a busy mailbox takes longer to backfill.

• Make sure the mailbox you expect is selected in the switcher at the top of the left rail (or choose All inboxes to see everything at once).

• Check the mailbox status (see below): a Revoked or Error state stops new mail from arriving.

• Confirm the email actually landed in the last 30 days. Older mail is never imported.

Mailbox states: Syncing, Revoked, and Error

Each connected mailbox has a status that tells you whether email is flowing. MonuDesk checks this automatically, so a status change surfaces on its own within a minute or so.

• Syncing: the mailbox is importing your last 30 days of email. This is normal right after you connect. Threads appear as the import progresses, so just give it time.

• Revoked: the email provider revoked MonuDesk's access. This usually happens after a password change or when the original consent expired. Email will not sync until you reconnect the mailbox.

• Error: the sync ran into a problem. Try the Refresh button first; if the status doesn't clear, reconnect the mailbox.

Whichever of the two it is, a red banner at the top of Conversations says the mailbox is disconnected, and the mailbox list shows a red Not syncing line under the address and a red Reconnect button beside it. See Reconnecting a mailbox that stopped syncing below.

Once everything is healthy the mailbox shows as Connected. A mailbox you intentionally disconnect shows as Disconnected: its existing conversations stay readable, but no new mail comes in.

Only the last 30 days is imported

When you connect a mailbox, MonuDesk backfills the last 30 days of email, and only those 30 days. Older messages are never pulled in, even after the mailbox finishes syncing. This is a hard limit, not a delay, so if you're looking for an email from two months ago it won't appear here.

Going forward, new email arrives continuously, so your history grows naturally from the day you connect. If you need an older message, look in Gmail or Outlook directly.

Seeing a duplicate conversation?

MonuDesk has two safeguards against duplicates:

• The same email can't be saved twice.

• Starting a new conversation with a contact who already has an active thread opens that existing thread instead of creating an empty duplicate.

If you still see two threads for the same person, it's almost always because they're using two different email addresses. Conversations groups mail by the other person's email address (one thread per address), so a message from their work email and one from their personal email land in separate threads. To keep everything together, ask them to reply from a single address.

Refreshing and reconnecting a mailbox

Your inbox updates on its own. New mail pushes in near-instantly, and a background check runs every few seconds while a mailbox is syncing and otherwise every half-minute. You rarely need to do anything by hand.

That holds even after your computer sleeps, you close the laptop lid, or your internet drops. MonuDesk keeps trying to reconnect for as long as the tab is open, and the moment you come back to the tab or your connection returns it checks for anything you missed. You should not need to reload the page to see new mail. If reloading is the only thing that brings mail in, the problem is the mailbox rather than the connection, so check its status above.

When you want to force a check instead of waiting, click the Refresh button (the circular-arrow icon) next to the search box. It pulls in any mail that arrived since the last sync and is the right first step for an Error status.

If a mailbox is Revoked, or Refresh doesn't clear an Error, reconnect it. The next section covers the button and what it keeps.

• To disconnect instead, use ⋮ → Disconnect. It stops syncing new email; existing conversations remain readable and you can reconnect later. Disconnecting also frees one of your three mailbox slots.

Reconnecting a mailbox that stopped syncing

When a connected mailbox stops syncing (Revoked or Error), a red banner at the top of Conversations stays there until the mailbox is reconnected. It reads Your mailbox [address] is disconnected. New emails are not coming in and you cannot send. Reconnect it now, you will not lose any emails. Click Reconnect in the banner; it reads Reconnecting... while it starts. When several mailboxes are in this state, the banner reads [N] of your mailboxes are disconnected and lists each one with its own Reconnect button. Elsewhere in MonuDesk, a red dot on Conversations in the sidebar reads A mailbox is disconnected. Open Conversations to reconnect it.

Only the person who connected the mailbox, or an admin, can reconnect it. Everyone else sees this in place of the button: Ask the mailbox owner or an admin to reconnect it.

The mailbox switcher at the top of the left rail shows it too. A mailbox whose connection has stopped shows a red Not syncing line under its address, with the tooltip "This mailbox stopped syncing. Reconnect it to resume.", and a red Reconnect button on the right of that row. The same Reconnect command sits in the mailbox's ⋮ menu. While any mailbox is in this state, the switcher pill itself carries a small red dot reading "A mailbox stopped syncing and needs to be reconnected.", so you can spot it without opening the list.

Click Reconnect and MonuDesk takes you back through Google or Microsoft sign-in for that same address. When you come back, the mailbox is refreshed in place: every thread and message you already had stays exactly where it was, so there is nothing to re-import and nothing to re-link. Reconnecting works even when your company is already at its mailbox limit, because you are repairing a mailbox you already have rather than adding another one. You land back on the conversation you had open, and Mailbox reconnected confirms that new emails are coming in and you can send.

An email you were writing is kept. While a mailbox is disconnected, the reply box and the new email box show the same red notice with Reconnect, and you cannot send from that mailbox. What you typed is saved as a draft: in a new email the notice reads Your draft is saved. It will still be here after you reconnect., and in a reply or forward it tells you to click Reply or Forward on that message again after reconnecting. If the mailbox drops while an email is on its way, MonuDesk shows Email not sent: your mailbox is disconnected and keeps the message as a draft where you wrote it. Reconnect, then send it again.

Some mailboxes read "This mailbox stopped syncing. Disconnect it, then connect it again." instead of offering the button. For those, use ⋮ → Disconnect and then connect the same address again from Connected mailboxes.

Related articles:

• Connecting Your Mailbox (Gmail & Outlook)

• Private vs Shared Mailboxes

• Filters, Search, Tags, Archive & Trash