There's a step-by-step version of this inside the app. Go to Settings → Connectors → Email, open the Email panel and, in its Forward your school inbox section, click Set up forwarding — it walks you through the steps below for your own inbox, with your Pamio address ready to copy. This page is the same thing in full, to read at your own pace.
Your Pamio email address already works. Your school has an email address
from Pamio (find it on the Settings → Connectors → Email card — it looks like
pam-yourschool-xxxxxx@in.pamio.io). Anyone who emails it reaches Pam right now, and
Pam answers your students' booking and lesson emails for you — automatically, in the same email
thread. You don't need to do anything here to start.
The address is switched on from the Turn on button on the Email card, and forwarding is the optional Forward your school inbox section of the Email panel — the card simply reads Connected until you set it up.
This guide adds automatic forwarding. It's a one-time setup in your own inbox so that email sent to your usual school address — the one your students already have — reaches Pam too, without you forwarding each message by hand.
Your inbox doesn't change. Forwarding sends Pam a copy; you still receive and reply to every email exactly as you do today.
What Pam works on — and what it leaves alone
Pam handles your students' emails (booking, lessons, questions) and genuine new enquiries from people asking about lessons. For email from people it doesn't recognise yet, Pam sorts it automatically: real lesson enquiries and student questions get answered; everything else is left alone and never stored — sales and supplier pitches, marketing newsletters, an insurance renewal, a utility bill, anything that isn't about driving lessons.
Emails from your staff (instructors or admins) to your inbox are treated as internal. Once forwarding is set up, emails from any of your staff to the school inbox are treated as internal communication and not acted upon by Pam — even if they're asking about lessons or a booking. The one exception: to get Pam to handle a student's or prospect's email, staff should forward it straight to your Pamio address — not to your school inbox — and Pam picks it up and handles it.
First — copy your Pamio address
Open Settings → Connectors → Email and copy the address shown there. It looks
like pam-yourschool-xxxxxx@in.pamio.io. That's what you forward to, and it's the
same address every time — you can set forwarding up from more than one inbox,
and they all forward to it.
Setting up forwarding in Gmail
Step 1 — Add the forwarding address
- In Gmail (on a computer), click the gear icon → See all settings.
- Open the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
- Click Add a forwarding address.
- Paste your Pamio address, then Next → Proceed → OK.
Step 2 — We approve it automatically
Normally Gmail asks you to click a confirmation link. You don't need to — that confirmation email arrives at your Pamio address and we approve it for you within a few seconds. Wait a moment, then go back to Gmail's Forwarding and POP/IMAP settings and refresh.
Step 3 — Turn forwarding on (this part is yours)
We confirm the address for you, but only you — the Gmail account owner — can switch forwarding on (Google doesn't allow anyone else to). It's a quick toggle:
- Refresh the Forwarding settings page — the confirmed address only appears in the dropdown after a reload.
- Select Forward a copy of incoming mail to and choose your Pamio address (it'll show (in use) once selected).
- Leave the second dropdown as keep Gmail's copy in the Inbox.
- Click Save Changes.
Still shows "pending / verify" after a minute? Click Resend (Reenviar correo electrónico) next to the Pamio address in Gmail's forwarding settings — Gmail sends a fresh confirmation and we approve it again automatically. You never need a code.
If you use Outlook or Hotmail
This is for a personal Microsoft account — outlook.com, hotmail.com, live.com or msn.com. You set it up with a rule, not the forwarding setting.
Don't use the Forwarding toggle under Settings → Mail → Forwarding. It rewrites the sender to your own address, so every email would look to Pam as if you sent it — and Pam wouldn't know which student wrote in. Use the redirect rule below instead: it keeps the student's real address on the email.
Step 1 — Create the redirect rule
- In Outlook.com (on a computer), click the gear icon → Mail → Rules.
- Click Add new rule and give it a name, e.g. Forward to Pam.
- Under Add a condition, choose Apply to all messages.
- Under Add an action, choose Redirect to and paste your Pamio address.
- Click Save.
Microsoft sometimes asks you to turn on two-step verification before it will save a rule that sends mail outside the account. If you're prompted, turn it on and save the rule again.
That's it — nothing to register, and nothing else to set up.
Last — send a test email
Send a quick email to your school address from any other account. When Pamio sees the forwarded copy, the Settings → Connectors → Email card flips to "Connected." Done.
Good to know
- More than one inbox — you can repeat this from any other inbox your school uses. In the app, Add another inbox on the Email card reopens the steps.
- Privacy — anything that isn't an actionable student email is discarded, never stored.
- You stay in the loop — two emails per student interaction: their original, and one short summary from Pam of what happened (or what a student needs from you).
Work or school Microsoft 365 accounts aren't covered here. Many organisations block automatic forwarding to outside addresses at the account level, so the steps above may not be available. Get in touch and we'll look at it with you.