Connect a Zoho Mail account to Distro
How to send campaigns from Zoho Mail (any Zoho data center), which addresses you can send from, Zoho's sending limits and what Distro can access.
You can send campaigns from a Zoho Mail account, wherever Zoho hosts it (US, EU, India, Australia, Japan, Canada, Saudi Arabia, UAE and other Zoho data centers). You connect it from Outreach → Settings → Sending accounts. Zoho handles the sign-in; Distro never sees your Zoho password.
Connect it
- Open Outreach, click Settings, and stay on the Sending accounts tab.
- Click Add sender, enter the Name recipients should see and the Email address you send from, then click Save.
- Under Email services, click Enable next to Zoho Mail.
- Sign in to Zoho and accept the permissions.
- You come back to Sending accounts. The sender shows Active, and the account appears under Connected accounts as Zoho Mail with its data center, for example Zoho Mail (EU).
Distro uses the data center Zoho reports when you sign in, never a guess from your email address.
What Distro can do with your mailbox
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
| Read your account details | Confirm the mailbox and list the addresses you can send from. |
| Send messages | Send your campaign emails, follow-ups and replies. |
| Read messages and folders | Find replies to your campaigns, so sequences stop when someone answers and replies show in the Distro Inbox. Mail that isn't part of a campaign conversation is ignored and not stored. |
Sending from an alias
Distro only sends from addresses Zoho lists for your account under Send Mail As.
- Add the alias in Zoho Mail first (Settings → Send Mail As) and complete Zoho's verification.
- Then click Add sender in Distro and enter it. If Zoho hasn't confirmed it yet, the sender shows Waiting for Zoho; verify it in Zoho Mail and click Check again.
- An address Zoho has turned off, or an account where Zoho has blocked outgoing email, can't send until it's fixed in Zoho Mail.
What's different with Zoho
Zoho's API works a little differently from Google and Microsoft:
- Slower sending. Zoho allows a mailbox only a limited number of emails to external addresses per hour and doesn't allow bulk sending. Distro sends at most 40 emails an hour and 300 a day from each Zoho mailbox, across all campaigns, and holds the rest for later. If Zoho still says the limit is reached, Distro waits an hour before trying again.
- Unsubscribe link in the footer only. Zoho doesn't let apps add the one-click unsubscribe header, so people unsubscribe with the link at the bottom of the email (it works the same way).
- Follow-ups as separate emails. Follow-up steps go out as new emails with the same "Re:" subject rather than inside the first email's thread. Replies to any of them are still found and stop the sequence.
- Replies from the Distro Inbox thread normally: Distro answers the prospect's message through Zoho.
Disconnect
Under Connected accounts, open the account's ⋮ menu and click Disconnect. Its senders stop sending and Distro deletes its stored access and asks Zoho to revoke it.
Email us at hello@usedistro.com with what you tried and what you see. Signed in? Help & support in the app has walkthrough videos and a message form.