> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Why do texts go through the CRM but email goes from my mailbox?

> The one rule for how NextLevel MCA reaches merchants and lenders: email from your connected mailbox, texts through your CRM.

NextLevel MCA has one rule for messages to merchants and lenders, and it applies to everyone on the team:

| | How it's sent | What it needs |
| - | - | - |
| **Email** | From a mailbox your team connected (Gmail or Outlook) | A connected mailbox, and an email address for the person |
| **Text** | Through your CRM, from your CRM's phone number | The person linked to a CRM contact, with a mobile number |

## Email: always from your mailbox

Every email to a merchant or lender goes from a connected mailbox: submissions, contract requests, offer pitches, document requests, portal links and emails you write in the **Conversation** tab. The email really comes from your address, lands in their inbox like any email you send, and their reply comes back to your mailbox, where NextLevel MCA reads it and files it on the deal.

**No mailbox, no email.** If there's no connected mailbox, email options say **No mailbox connected** with a link to connect one, and nothing is sent. Email is never sent through the CRM instead. To connect one, see [Connecting a mailbox](/help/email-senders).

Why not send email through the CRM? The CRM can't record an email that was sent from outside it, and replies to CRM email never reach NextLevel MCA, so offers, declines and attachments in them couldn't be filed on the deal.

<Note>
  Notification emails to your own team (for example when a lender approves a deal) are the exception. They come from NextLevel MCA's own system address, not your mailbox. Nothing sent to a merchant or lender uses that address.
</Note>

## Texts: always through your CRM

Every text goes through your CRM, so it's sent from the phone number your CRM uses and shows in the contact's conversation in the CRM as well. That means:

* The person must be linked to a CRM contact. If they aren't, NextLevel MCA shows *Not linked to your CRM* and the **Text** option is greyed out until you link them. Email still works.
* They need a phone number on file.
* Replies come back to the CRM conversation.

**Which number it comes from.** The CRM picks the number. Texts are sent as you, so if your user has a phone number assigned in the CRM (**Settings → My Staff**), the text comes from that number. Otherwise it comes from the number already used with that contact, or the account's default number. To change which number your texts come from, change it in your CRM.

**Delivered or not.** A text shows as sent once the CRM accepts it, and NextLevel MCA checks with the CRM over the next few minutes whether it was actually delivered. If a carrier blocks it, the text is marked **Not delivered** in the conversation with the reason, it's noted on the business's activity, and you get a notification. Texts are also sent in plain characters (straight quotes and hyphens instead of curly quotes and long dashes), so each text costs as few segments as possible.

Portal links and document requests can be sent either way. The dialog shows **Send by text** (through your CRM) and **Send by email** (from your connected mailbox).

## The Conversation tab

Open a deal and click the **Conversation** tab (on a business page it's **Conversations**). Pick a contact on the left to see one thread with everything:

* texts, calls and voicemails from your CRM conversation,
* emails sent to that person from any connected mailbox, marked *via* the mailbox address,
* their email replies to any connected mailbox, unless an admin turned off **Replies in Conversations** for that mailbox.

To send, choose **Text** or **Email** above the message box. For email, pick the **From** mailbox and add a subject. Press **Send**, or Ctrl + Enter (⌘ + Enter on a Mac). A contact marked *email only* isn't linked to your CRM, so you can email them but not text them.

## Common problems

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="The Text option is greyed out">
    Hover over it to see why: either there's no phone number on file, or the person isn't linked to a CRM contact. Link them, or send an email instead.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Email says No mailbox connected">
    Nobody's mailbox is connected, or the connected ones are disconnected. Connect one, or reconnect it. See [Connecting a mailbox](/help/email-senders) and [Reconnecting a disconnected mailbox](/help/reconnect-mailbox).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="A text says Not delivered: blocked by the carrier (30007)">
    Mobile carriers filtered the text as possible spam. That's usually because the sending number isn't registered for business texting (A2P 10DLC), or the registration doesn't cover messages with links. Check the number's registration with your phone provider (Twilio, or your CRM's phone system). A short test text without a link getting through, while ones with a link are blocked, points to this.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Emails I sent from NextLevel MCA aren't in the CRM">
    That's expected. The CRM can't record emails sent from outside it, so they show in NextLevel MCA's **Conversation** tab and the deal's activity log instead. Texts do show in the CRM, because the CRM sends them.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>


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