Overview
This article provides an end to end guide for all-things-email in Tern. We'll walk through:
Integrating with your email client, to send emails "from you", see all of your emails in Tern, and see emails sent from Tern in your email client outbox.
Creating email templates and using variables.
Sending email from Tern - with or without the email integration.
Reading, triaging & replying to email in Tern - with or without the email integration.
Setting up an email signature - which will be automatically added to all your emails.
Note: if you'd like to learn more about sending email automatically based on rules/triggers, check out Automation in Tern.
Integrating with your email client
Tern without an email integration
If you have not integrated your email, you can still send and reply to emails via Tern. The main things to be aware of are that:
They will come from Your Name (via Tern), and '[email protected]'. Your clients can actually respond to these emails, and we make that clear in the email they receive.
You will only see email replies when you have initiated an email from Tern. For example - if you share a trip and send an email from Tern, and your client responds back, you will see that reply in Tern. But if you get a flight confirmation from an airline, you will not see that confirmation email in Tern.
Benefits of integrating
Emails will come directly from "your email", and appear in your email client outbox as well as Tern. Jump to 'Sending Email from Tern' to learn more.
You'll see all emails synced into Tern, not just replies to threads initiated in Tern. This allows you to triage things like confirmation emails to your trips for easy reference. Jump to Reading, triaging & replying to email in Tern to learn more.
To set this up go to your Settings, click 'Email and Scheduling' and click 'Connect Account'
You will be taken through a flow to integrate with your chosen email provider.
Choose your Connection Type and agree to the Terms of Servive.
This is an example from Gmail
If you want to set up the email integration, make sure to give permission to view email messages/settings and send email on your behalf.
Once you're done, you should see 'Account Connected'
Note: The email address you connect for your inbox does not need to match your Tern login email. For example, you might log in to Tern with your personal email but connect a shared team inbox or a separate business email for client communication.
Important: When connecting Google or Microsoft, you must grant both the email and calendar permissions for the integration to complete. Granting email permission alone will cause the setup to loop without finishing. The calendar permission is required even if you don't plan to use the scheduler — it's part of how the underlying connection works.
If you'd prefer not to grant calendar access, you can still send emails from Tern, but they'll go out from Tern's address rather than your own. To set this up, connect the scheduler only (calendar without email) in Settings → Email and Scheduling.
Storing message templates & using variables
1. To add a template, go to your Library, select 'Emails', and click 'New Template'
2. Create your email template
We support basic formatting (bold, italics, underline, hyperlinks, bullet point lists, font color/highlighting). You can also embed photos.
3. Optionally add variables to your email template
If it makes sense for the template you are building, add a variable by highlighting text and clicking the { } symbol in our editor.
We currently support the following variables, but would love to hear if there are others you'd like to see! Shoot a note to our support team with any requests.
4. Preview your template to make sure everything looks good
We use fake names/data if you preview from a template - don't worry, when you add this template to a trip or contact the correct information will be swapped in.
Sending email from Tern
You can email clients through Tern by sharing a trip, sharing a form, or creating a new email from the "Emails" tab of your Trips or Contacts.
As a reminder - if you have set up an integration with your email provider, emails will come directly from your email address. If not, emails will come from Your Name (via Tern) / [email protected].
Sending an email when sharing a trip
1. Go to your trip, and click 'publish'
2. Insert a template or add your own custom email, and click 'send'
Tip: don't forget you can also customize the subject line and who to send this to.
3. Your client will receive an email immediately.
If you haven't set up an email integration, it will look something like this:
If you have set up the integration, it will be indistinguishable from an email you send from your email client:
4. You will also see the email in the 'Emails' tab of your trip
Sending an email when sharing a form
You can initiate an email from your forms by clicking the 'mail' icon.
Messages you send from here will appear in your global email inbox.
Sending an email from a trip or contact
You can also send emails from your trips - by going to the Emails tab and clicking 'new':
Or from your contacts, by clicking into an individual contact, selecting 'Emails', and clicking 'Send Email':
Reading, triaging & replying to email in Tern
If you haven't integrated your email client, you can still see any replies your clients send from the emails you initiate through Tern.
The replies will appear in:
Your global email inbox (for all emails)
The 'Emails' tab of the trip, if initiated from the trip
The 'Emails' tab of your contact, if initiated from the contact
You will also see the trip the email is associated with on the right hand side under 'Related Content'
You can remove the association if you no longer want to see it under Emails for that trip; you can also click through directly to view the trip from here!
If you have integrated your email client, you will see ALL your emails in Tern, regardless of whether they were initiated from Tern.
1. Go to your Global Email Inbox to see all emails in Tern.
You can search on subject line to narrow down your results.
2. From here you can tag any email you receive with a specific trip, which will add it to that Trip's 'Emails' tab.
For example - if you get a flight confirmation from United for a specific trip, you can tag it with that trip so it is tracked there.
3. Click the trip directly from 'Related Content', go to 'Emails', and you'll see the email tracked there!
4. Emails that are from a Tern contact or have a tagged trip will show up as 'Important', in that default filter view -
Reply directly to emails in Tern
You can always reply to existing email threads in Tern, through the global Email inbox or from your trip / contact emails tab.
If you have chosen to integrate your email client, you'll see the option to choose who to reply to when you respond.
You can choose anyone who is on this email thread already when you respond.
Archiving emails
To archive an email, click the archive icon from your email.
You can access archived emails in the 'archived' tab, and unarchive them from there.
Please note: When you archive an email in Tern, it will be deleted after one week (seven days time).
Deleting an email in your external email client does not delete it in Tern. Similarly, if we delete an archived email in Tern, it will not be deleted in your external email client.
Setting up an email signature
To set up a signature, go to 'Settings' -> Email & Scheduling
'Email signature' will be below the integration information.
You can store a simple signature (using our editor)
Make sure you save, and toggle 'enable signature' ON.
Or, you can create your signature via HTML
Most email signature creation services have the option to "copy source code" or "copy HTML" available.
For example, HubSpot has a free signature creation service. Then they let you "copy signature source code" as an option below:
Once you copy the code, paste it into our HTML editor option and 'preview' to make sure it looks good!
We will automatically append your email signature whenever you send from Tern. This includes emails sent from templates.
Your signature won't show up in the editor box itself, but will when you preview & send your email!
FAQs
FAQs
Can I CC another person on notification emails from Tern?
Not currently. Tern notification emails (such as payment authorizations and trip shares) are sent to the intended recipient only. There is no option to add a CC address.
Can I set up email forwarding rules in Tern?
No. Tern does not support forwarding rules or automatic email routing within the platform. If you need another team member to receive copies of Tern notifications, we recommend setting up forwarding rules in your external email client.
Can I connect more than one email inbox?
Each Tern account supports one connected email inbox. You cannot connect multiple inboxes to the same account.
Can I forward a supplier email to my client?
Not directly. When you reply to a supplier email in Tern, you can only send to people already on that thread. There's no "forward to a new recipient" option yet. If you want your client to receive a supplier confirmation, you'd need to start a fresh email from the trip's Emails tab and manually include the content. Note that for rich HTML emails (like booking confirmations with graphics and links), copy-pasting won't preserve the formatting, as this is a known limitation we're tracking.
Can I change the subject line of an email I already sent in Tern?
No. Once an email is sent, the subject line cannot be changed. If you need to use a different subject, start a new email from the trip's Emails tab and set the subject you want before sending.
Can I change the subject line when replying to an email in Tern?
No. When you reply to an email thread, the subject stays the same as the original email — there's no subject field in the reply composer. To send an email with a different subject, start a new email from the trip's Emails tab instead of replying.