This guide covers the day-to-day tasks for working with channels in the SendOps dashboard — creating new channels, syncing with AWS SES, configuring settings, and managing channel defaults.

## Creating a channel

Channel creation uses a three-step wizard: Details, Settings, and Review.


  <Step title="Open the Channels page">
    Open **Infrastructure** in the left sidebar of the SendOps dashboard and select the **Channels** tab.
  </Step>
  <Step title="Click New Channel">
    Click the **New Channel** button in the top-right corner of the page.

  </Step>
  <Step title="Step 1: Enter a name and select a purpose">
    Give the channel a descriptive name and select its **Purpose** using the radio group. Available purposes are:

    - **Default** — general-purpose channel for all email types
    - **Transactional** — password resets, receipts, and system notifications
    - **Marketing** — newsletters, promotions, and campaigns
    - **Onboarding** — welcome emails and activation flows
    - **Custom** — custom channel with manual configuration

    Click **Next** to proceed.

    
  </Step>
  <Step title="Step 2: Review and adjust settings">
    Settings are pre-filled based on the selected purpose. You can adjust any of them before creating the channel. See [Channel settings](#channel-settings) below for details on each setting.

    Click **Next** to proceed to the review step.
  </Step>
  <Step title="Step 3: Review and create">
    Review the channel name, purpose, SES config set name, and all settings. Click **Create Channel** to save.

    The new channel appears in the list and a corresponding SES configuration set is created in your AWS account.
  </Step>


## Configuration set mapping

Each channel in SendOps maps to an **AWS SES configuration set**. When you create a channel, SendOps creates a configuration set named `sesmail-{namespace}--{channel-slug}` (note the double dash) in your connected AWS account — for example `sesmail-acme--transactional`. The `{namespace}` segment is unique to your workspace, so channel names never collide even when multiple workspaces share a single AWS account. This configuration set controls how SES processes emails sent through this channel.

You can view the mapped configuration set name on the channel detail page, displayed beneath the channel name.

## Integration header

The channel detail page includes an **Integration** section that shows the `X-SES-CONFIGURATION-SET` header value for this channel. Use this header when sending emails through the SES API to route them through the channel. A copy button is provided to copy the full header to your clipboard.

If the channel is set as the default, emails sent without a configuration set header automatically use this channel.

## Syncing with AWS

Channels have two aspects of sync with AWS:

### Settings sync

When you change a channel's settings in SendOps, those changes are pushed to the corresponding SES configuration set in AWS. The channel shows a **sync status** icon:

| Sync status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| **Synced** (check icon) | The channel and its SES configuration set are in sync. |
| **Syncing** (spinner) | Changes are being applied to AWS. |
| **Error** (warning icon) | The sync failed. A "Sync Error" badge appears. Check the error details and retry. |

If a sync fails, an error banner appears on the channel detail page showing the error message, along with a **Retry Sync** button.

### Account sync

SendOps regularly syncs with your AWS SES account to detect changes. If a channel's underlying SES configuration set is removed from AWS, the channel is marked as **Detached**. If a new configuration set is found in SES that SendOps wasn't tracking, it appears as a **Discovered** channel with a "New" badge.

For full details on how account sync works, see [AWS Account Sync](/aws-setup/account-sync).

## Detaching and reattaching a channel

On a **shared AWS account** — where more than one SendOps workspace connects to the same SES account — each workspace's sync discovers *every* configuration set in the account, including ones that belong to a sibling workspace. **Detach** lets you remove such a channel from your own view without touching AWS at all.

Open the channel and use the **Detach** action to hide it. Unlike the sync-driven **Detached** state (which appears when a configuration set genuinely disappears from SES), a manual detach is **sticky**: the configuration set still exists in AWS, so SendOps deliberately will *not* auto-reattach it on the next sync, and it won't reappear in your channel list. Detaching makes no changes in AWS — the configuration set and any sibling workspace using it are unaffected. Detach is available for non-default channels in the active or discovered state.

If you later want the channel back, use **Reattach**. This clears the sticky marker and returns the channel to the **Discovered** state so you can adopt it again through the normal flow.


  **Detach** only affects your own SendOps view — it never changes AWS, and it's reversible with **Reattach**. **Delete** permanently removes the channel and its SES configuration set from AWS. Use detach to tidy up channels that belong to another workspace on a shared account.


Detaching and reattaching require the **channel detach** permission.

## Archiving and restoring channels

Channels that become **Detached** (their SES configuration set no longer exists in AWS) can be **Archived** to hide them from your channel list. Archiving does not delete anything from SES.

To view archived channels, enable the **Show archived** toggle at the top of the Channels page. From there, you can **Restore** any archived channel to make it visible again.


  **Archive** hides a channel from your list without affecting SES — you can restore it later. **Delete** permanently removes the channel and its SES configuration set, and reassigns all linked identities to the default channel.


## Channel settings

From the channel detail page, you can configure the following settings. Each setting is saved individually and synced to AWS SES immediately.

### Sending enabled

Toggle whether emails can be sent through this channel. When disabled, SES will reject any emails sent through the channel's configuration set. Disabling sending requires confirmation through a dialog.

The channel list page shows the status as **Enabled** or **Disabled** based on this setting.

### Auto validation

Control automatic email address validation before sending. Options are:

- **SES Managed** — AWS determines when to validate (default)
- **High** — validate more aggressively
- **Medium** — moderate validation
- **Off** — no automatic validation


  Auto validation incurs an AWS charge of approximately $0.01 per 1,000 emails validated.


### TLS policy

Toggle between **Require** and **Optional** TLS encryption for outbound connections:

- **Require** (default) — require TLS encryption for all outbound connections
- **Optional** — attempt TLS but fall back to unencrypted if unavailable

### Max delivery duration

Set the maximum time SES will attempt to deliver a message before giving up. Available options:

- 5 minutes
- 30 minutes
- 1 hour
- 14 hours (default)

### Suppression override

When enabled, this overrides the account-level suppression list with channel-specific settings. You can select which suppression reasons to apply:

- **Bounces** — suppress addresses that have previously bounced
- **Complaints** — suppress addresses that have previously filed complaints

### Tracking

A single toggle that enables or disables open and click tracking for emails sent through this channel. Tracking settings are applied at the SES configuration set level and affect all identities assigned to the channel.


  Tracking incurs an AWS charge of approximately $0.0001 per event.


### Event destinations

SendOps automatically configures an **EventBridge** event destination on each channel's configuration set. This routes SES events (bounces, complaints, deliveries, etc.) to your AWS EventBridge default event bus, which SendOps uses for reports and notifications. No manual configuration is needed.

## Default channel

The channel detail page includes a **Default Channel** section. If the channel is already the default, a badge indicates this. Otherwise, a **Set as Default** button lets you make the channel the default. Emails sent without specifying a configuration set header will use the default channel.

## Renaming a channel

You can rename a channel from the **Danger Zone** section on the channel detail page (available for non-default channels).


  If the new name produces a different slug, SendOps creates a new SES configuration set, reassigns all linked identities, and deletes the old configuration set. Any integrations referencing the old config set name will break.


## Deleting a channel


  When you delete a channel, all identities currently assigned to that channel are reassigned to the **default** channel's SES configuration set. The channel and its SES configuration set are permanently deleted. This action cannot be undone.


To delete a channel:

1. Open the **Channels** tab (under **Infrastructure**) and select the channel.
2. Scroll to the **Danger Zone** section.
3. Click **Delete Channel** and confirm.

You cannot delete the default channel. If you need to remove the current default, first set a different channel as default.

## Auto-provisioned channels

After your first domain is verified during onboarding, SendOps automatically provisions four channels:

- **Default** — general-purpose, set as the default channel
- **Transactional** — optimized for transactional emails (tracking off, bounce suppression)
- **Marketing** — optimized for marketing emails (tracking on, bounce and complaint suppression, high auto validation)
- **Onboarding** — for welcome and activation emails

## Best practices

- **Match channels to your email streams.** Create channels that reflect how your organization segments its email traffic — transactional, marketing, onboarding, and so on.
- **Use purpose badges consistently.** The purpose badge helps your team quickly identify what kind of traffic flows through each channel.
- **Review sync status regularly.** If a channel shows an error sync status, investigate and resolve it promptly to ensure your SES configuration stays accurate.
- **Use channels for alerting.** Set up [notifications](/notifications/configuring-notifications) per channel so the right team gets alerted about the right metrics.

## What's next?

Now that your channels are set up, learn about [How Email Flows](/sending-email/email-flow) through SES and into SendOps, or explore [Deliverability Reports](/reports/deliverability-reports) to see channel-level analytics in action.