Integrations overview

Esqase connects to a handful of outside services so you can send email, sync your calendar, create meeting links, take card payments, and keep your firm subscription active, all without leaving the app. This page explains what Esqase connects to, why each connection exists, who controls it, and where to set it up.

There are two kinds of connections in Esqase, and the difference matters:

• Personal connections are tied to your own user account. Linking your own email, calendar, and meeting accounts is the clearest example: email you send comes from you, and meetings you book use your accounts. Each member links (or skips) these on their own, and your choices do not affect anyone else at the firm.
• Firm-wide connections are shared by everyone at the firm. Payment processing and your Esqase subscription work this way: they are configured once for the whole firm, usually by a firm owner, and they apply to every member.

Before you begin

• To link your own accounts (email, calendar, meetings), you only need to be a signed-in member. No special role is required, because these links are personal to you.
• To change firm payment settings, you need to be a firm owner or have View access to the firm payment settings. If you do not, the Payments page will be read-only or hidden.
• To change your firm subscription (plan, payment method, or cancellation), you must be a firm owner.
• Some firm-wide connections (email delivery, file storage, and push notifications) are handled automatically by Esqase. There is nothing to set up for those, and they are described below so you know what is happening behind the scenes.

Your personal integrations

Esqase now gathers all of your personal connections on one Integrations page, so you can connect the email, calendar, and meeting tools you already use in a single place.

1. In the sidebar, click Integrations. (You can also reach the same page from Settings.)
2. The page is grouped into categories, each with one card per provider:
   • Email: Gmail and Outlook. Connecting one lets you send email from that account inside Esqase, and every message you send is logged on the matter or lead it belongs to, against the mailbox it actually went out from. Outlook also brings replies back into that record automatically. The Gmail connection is send-only, so Esqase does not read your Gmail mailbox and you log Gmail replies yourself.
   • Calendar: Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar. Connecting a calendar keeps your Esqase events and that calendar in step, two ways.
   • Meetings: Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom. Connecting one lets Esqase generate a video meeting link when you schedule a meeting.
   • AI assistants: ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. These are shown as Coming soon and are not available to connect yet (see below).
   • Accounting: QuickBooks. Also shown as Coming soon and not available to connect yet (see below).
3. Each active card shows a Connect button when the account is not connected. Once it is connected, the card shows a Connected badge and a more options (⋯) menu, which lists the connected account and a Disconnect action.

Connecting an account

1. On the card you want, click Connect.
2. Esqase sends you to that provider's sign-in and consent screen (Google, Microsoft, or Zoom). Sign in if asked, review what Esqase is allowed to do, and approve.
3. When you return, the card shows a Connected badge. To see which account is connected or to stop using a connection, open the card's more options (⋯) menu, which shows the connected account and a Disconnect action. Disconnecting revokes Esqase's access to that service, and past emails and existing events stay in place, but Esqase can no longer send new email, sync new events, or create new meeting links through that connection until you connect it again.

Choosing which mailbox you send from

If you connect both Gmail and Outlook, the email composer adds a From picker so you can choose which mailbox a message goes out from. Open the From menu, then select the account (shown by its email address) you want to send as. If only one email account is connected, Esqase simply sends from that account and the From line shows which one.

You can still email without connecting a mailbox

Connecting Gmail or Outlook is not a requirement for writing to a client. The email composer opens whether or not you have a mailbox connected, and the templates, signature, recipients and placeholders all work the same way. What changes is the last step:

• With a mailbox connected, Esqase sends the message for you, records it as sent on the matter or lead, and (through Outlook) threads replies back onto that record.
• With no mailbox connected, the composer shows a No mailbox connected notice, the send button reads Continue, and Esqase hands the finished message to your own mail app (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo Mail, Proton Mail, AOL Mail, or your computer's default mail app) with the recipients, subject and message filled in. You then choose what to record in Esqase. Because the message leaves in your own mail app, Esqase cannot confirm it was delivered, and anything you log as sent is marked Unverified.

Connecting a mailbox is still the better experience, and it is the only way to have delivery and replies recorded for you.

See Sending email for how outgoing client email is composed, and Calendar and events for how synced events behave.

Coming soon: AI assistants and Accounting

Two categories are placeholders for features that are not available yet:

• The AI assistants group lists ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini as placeholders for future document-assistance features (drafting, summarizing, and refining documents).
• The Accounting group lists QuickBooks as a placeholder for future syncing of your invoices, payments, and clients.

Every card in these two groups is marked Coming soon, its Connect button is disabled, and there is nothing to set up yet. They will become connectable in a later release.

Provider walkthroughs

• For the full Google walkthrough (Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Meet), including what each permission covers, see Connecting Google (Gmail, Calendar, Meet).
• For connecting Outlook (email and calendar), Zoom, and Microsoft Teams, including choosing which mailbox to send from and generating meeting links, see Connecting Outlook and Zoom.

Taking payments (firm-wide)

Client payment options are configured once for your whole firm so clients can pay invoices and so payments land in the right account. This is a firm-wide setting, not a personal one. There is no payment processor to connect: Esqase gives your clients a way to pay you directly and to report the payment, and a firm member confirms it afterwards.

You set this up under your firm settings.

1. In the sidebar, open Settings.
2. Under Firm, click Payments.
3. Use the sections on the page to control how clients pay and where money is recorded:
   • Defaults: choose the default deposit account, which is the account a payment is recorded against unless you pick a different one at the time. Trust accounts (client funds you hold in escrow, such as an IOLTA account) are never offered as a deposit target here.
   • Manual link: turn on a manual payment option and add the instructions or link clients should use to pay you outside the app.
   • QR code: upload a QR-code image and instructions so clients can scan to pay.

These two, the manual link and the QR code, are the only ways a client can pay from an invoice link.

For the details of each option, see Payment settings. To learn how money flows into accounts and how trust funds are kept separate, see Accounts, trust, and transactions. For the client's side of paying, see How clients pay invoices.

Your firm subscription (firm-wide)

Your Esqase subscription is what keeps the app active for your firm. It is billed at the firm level and managed by a firm owner. This is separate from how your clients pay you: the subscription is your firm paying Esqase, while payment settings (above) are about your clients paying your firm.

1. In the sidebar, open Settings.
2. Click Billing to view your current plan, billing period, and payment method.
3. From here a firm owner can change the plan, update the card on file, or cancel.

For the complete walkthrough, see Your Esqase subscription.

Email delivery (automatic)

Esqase handles two different kinds of email, and it helps to know the difference:

• Email you send to clients (for example, sending an invoice or replying in a matter) goes out through your connected email account (Gmail or Outlook), so it comes from your address. Replies come back to your own inbox. Outlook records them on the matter automatically; the Gmail connection is send-only, so Gmail replies are logged by hand. This is one of the personal connections described above.
• System email from Esqase (for example, an invite to join a firm, a verification email, or a notification) is delivered by Esqase's own email service. You do not set this up, and it works whether or not you have connected Gmail or Outlook.

See Sending email and Email templates for how outgoing client email is composed.

File storage (automatic)

Every file in Esqase (uploaded documents, signed PDFs, payment QR images, profile photos, and attachments) is stored securely in Esqase's managed cloud storage. There is no integration to connect and nothing to configure. When you upload a file, it goes straight to secure storage, and when you download or view one, Esqase serves it through a short-lived private link so only authorized people can open it.

You will mostly encounter storage indirectly, when you upload or download in places like the documents workspace or when attaching a QR-code image to your payment settings. See The documents workspace.

Push and in-app notifications (personal)

Esqase can let you know when something needs your attention (a new task, an assignment, an upcoming event) in three ways. Which ones you receive is a personal choice, set per notification type.

1. In the sidebar, open Settings.
2. Under Account, click Notifications.
3. For each notification type, turn the delivery channels on or off:
   • In-app: the notification appears in the bell inbox inside Esqase, and, while you are working in Esqase, as a corner message and a desktop alert.
   • Push: the notification also reaches you as a desktop alert while Esqase is in the background.
   • Email: Esqase emails you about the event.

For the full breakdown of notification types and how the bell inbox works, see Notifications.

Where each connection lives, at a glance

Common questions

• Do I have to connect an email or calendar to use Esqase? No. You can use almost everything without it. You only need to connect Gmail or Outlook if you want to send client email from your own address, a calendar to mirror events on your own schedule, and Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or Zoom to auto-generate video links.
• Can I connect both Gmail and Outlook? Yes. When both are connected, the email composer shows a From picker so you can choose which mailbox each message sends from.
• My colleague connected their email but I still cannot send. Why? These connections are personal. Each member connects their own accounts, so you need to connect Gmail or Outlook yourself on the Integrations page.
• When can I use the AI assistants or QuickBooks? Not yet. ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini (under AI assistants) and QuickBooks (under Accounting) all appear as Coming soon and are not connectable in this version.
• Who can change payment settings or the subscription? Payment settings require View access to firm payment settings (firm owners have this by default). Subscription changes require a firm owner.
• Can my clients pay me by card or PayPal through Esqase? No. Esqase does not process client card or PayPal payments. Clients pay you through your own bank or payment app using the manual link or the QR code you set up on the Payments page, then report the payment so you can confirm it. See How clients pay invoices.

Related

• Connecting Google (Gmail, Calendar, Meet)
• Connecting Outlook and Zoom
• Notifications
• Payment settings
• Your Esqase subscription
• Sending email
• Activity timelines and audit logs