By default, replies sent from Zoho Desk go out via Zoho's own mail servers, which can show recipients an "on behalf of" wrapper around your address in some email clients. Setting up your own custom SMTP server lets replies genuinely come from your own domain's address instead.
Setting Up Custom SMTP
- Go to Setup, then Channels, then Email.
- Find the From address you want to configure, hover over it, and click Edit.
- Check the option to use your own SMTP server.
- Fill in your SMTP server details, including hostname, port, username, and password.
A known gotcha: Some users have found that even after setting up custom SMTP correctly, the "on behalf of desk-mailer.zohodesk.eu" (or .com) wrapper can still appear on automated system emails specifically, such as the new ticket acknowledgement to the customer or the new ticket notification to agents. This happens because those specific automated emails are governed by their own Email Templates, separate from your general From address settings.
Fixing It on Automated System Emails
- Go to Setup, then Email Templates.
- Open the specific templates showing the issue, commonly "Acknowledge contact on receiving a new ticket" and "Notify all agents when a new ticket is created."
- In the From field of each template, explicitly select your custom email address rather than leaving it on the default.
If the wrapper still appears after this: This has been reported as a persistent, harder-to-resolve issue by some users even after updating templates correctly. If you're still seeing it, it's worth raising a support ticket with Zoho directly with specific examples, since this may need to be addressed on Zoho's side for your account.
Need help? 1 Cloud Consultants can help you configure custom SMTP and email templates correctly in Zoho Desk to present a fully consistent brand identity in outgoing email.
Book a discovery call with 1 Cloud Consultants.