> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.alvahq.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Alva by Email > Brief Alva from your inbox. Email it, or copy it into a thread, and it replies on the same thread. Your account has its own Alva email address. Email it — or copy Alva into a thread you're already on — and it reads the message, does the work and replies on the same thread, just like a colleague would. It's the quickest way to hand Alva a job from your phone, forward Alva a document, or approve something it has proposed. ## Your Alva address Your address looks like this: ``` alva@yourcompany.alvahq.email ``` You'll find it at **Settings → Alva by Email**, with a button to copy it. Two shorter forms work too: `alva.yourcompany@alvahq.email` and `yourcompany@alvahq.email`. Alva by Email is switched on for new accounts. Admins can switch **Email to Alva** off and on again at any time on the same page. ### Changing the address The part of the address that names your company is based on your account name. An admin can change it **once** under **Change the address (once)**, using lower-case letters, numbers and hyphens. The old address keeps working for 30 days. To change it again after that, contact support. ## Who can instruct Alva Only **active members of your team** can give Alva instructions by email. It acts as the person who sent the email, with that person's permissions — so a sales rep can't use email to change an admin-only setting. Mail from anyone else is recorded and ignored, and Alva doesn't reply to it. Admins are told when someone outside the team emails the address. Automatic replies such as out-of-office messages are ignored too. > [!NOTE] > > Alva never emails anyone outside your company from this address. When it replies, it writes to the member who emailed it and copies in any other team members who were on the email — never outside addresses. ### Email-only team members Some people — a busy founder, say — only ever want to work with Alva by email. An admin can add them as an **email-only member** from **Settings → Team**, or by asking Alva. There's no invitation to accept and no password: they get a welcome email with Alva's address and can start emailing it straight away. If they ever need the app, an admin can send them a one-time sign-in link. Email-only members need Alva by Email to be switched on. ## How replies work * Alva replies **on the same thread**, so your inbox keeps the whole exchange together. * Every email thread is also saved as a conversation in your **Chat history** in the app, so you can pick it up in the [chat panel](https://docs.alvahq.com/ai-assistant/talking-to-alva.md) later. * Replies are plain, short emails — no templates or banners. * Any PDFs Alva writes during the job are attached to its reply. See [Documents](https://docs.alvahq.com/ai-assistant/documents.md). The **Recent emails** table at **Settings → Alva by Email** lists recent messages to Alva: when they arrived, who sent them, the subject, how many files were kept and what happened to each one. ## Sending files Forward or attach files and refer to them in your message — "thoughts on the attached deck?" — and Alva reads them. | File | What happens | | - | - | | **PDF**, **Word** (.docx), **CSV**, **text** files | Kept and read when your message refers to them | | **Images** | Kept and looked at when you ask about them | | **Excel** and old-style **Word** (.doc) | Listed, but Alva can't open them — it will ask for a PDF or CSV | Files are kept for 90 days. Signature logos, badges and small inline images aren't treated as attachments. Alva treats what's inside a file as information, never as instructions. A CSV of companies works the same as in the chat panel: Alva tells you what's in it and imports it after you reply "yes". ## Approving and finishing things from your inbox ### Saying yes When Alva needs your go-ahead — to order outreach mailboxes, start a BDR agent, change your plan — its reply explains exactly what it will do and what it costs. Either: * reply **"yes"** on the thread, or * click the **Approve** link in its email, which carries out exactly the action it proposed. ### Action links Some steps can only be done in the browser, such as opening the billing portal, choosing a plan, connecting a mailbox or uploading a file. For those, Alva's reply includes a one-time link that signs you in to the right account and opens the right page. * Each link works **once**. * Links expire after **24 hours** — or after **1 hour** for billing links. * A link stops working if your role or membership changes. * An email with a sign-in link goes only to the person it signs in, with nobody copied. ## Emails Alva starts With Alva by Email on, Alva also emails *you* when it has something to report: * your onboarding over the first couple of weeks * reminders and follow-ups you've asked for * reviews of Search Agents and BDR agents, and the weekly business development report, where they're switched on for your account * a single heads-up when your credit runs out Reply to any of them and the conversation carries on. See [Agenda and weekly report](https://docs.alvahq.com/ai-assistant/agenda-and-weekly-report.md). ## If you're out of credit Alva needs credit to work. If your balance has run out, Alva replies briefly to say so rather than carrying out the request. See [Buying credits](https://docs.alvahq.com/billing/buying-credits.md). > [!TIP] > > The first few replies from a new address can land in spam. Mark one as "Not spam" and the rest will arrive in your inbox. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.