Incoming Mail

Incoming email functionality was introduced in activeCollab 2.1 and it enables the system to check any number of POP3 or IMAP mailboxes and read emails from there. Messages that are found in these mailboxes are then imported into activeCollab and sorted into the correct part of the system.

When a message is imported from the mail server, activeCollab does the following:

  1. Checks if the message is a reply to a notification previously sent by the system (eg. a notification about a new ticket, comment, status change etc.). If it is a reply to a notification, the message will be imported and posted as a comment on the relevant item. For example, if a user replies to a notification about a ticket being open, activeCollab will import the reply as a comment to that ticket.
  2. If an email message is not a reply to a notification, the system executes the default mailbox action. The default action can be the creation of a new ticket or discussion in the selected project. Read more about the default mailbox action here.
  3. When activeCollab creates a ticket, discussion or a comment, it will import all files attached to that email message and attache them to a newly created ticket, discussion or comment.
  4. Once imported, the original email message is deleted from the POP3 or IMAP server. Because of that, we do not recommend that you use your personal or business email addresses for incoming mail.
Dependencies

For incoming mail to work properly, the following conditions needs to be met:

  1. IMAP extension needs to be installed in your PHP setup.
  2. If you are checking mailboxes over a secure connection, PHP will also need to be compiled with SSL support.
  3. Inboxes are checked on frequently tasks, so Scheduled Tasks need to be configured.

You can learn how to setup Incoming mail from the scratch in How to setup Incoming Mail tutorial.

1. Configuring Mailboxes

activeCollab can check any number of POP3 and IMAP mailboxes. To define them, go to the Administration area and from the Mailing section click on the Incoming Mail icon:

On the following page, you will see a list of all defined mailboxes. Click the Add Mailbox button to define a new mailbox:

On the New Mailbox form you'll be able to define:

  1. Mailbox details, such as the email address that needs to be checked and the mailbox name that will be displayed in the list of mailboxes.
  2. Connection parameters like address and port; the mailbox that needs to be checked; security settings etc. When you set all the server and mailbox settings, you can use the Test Connection button to test the connection and see if everything works correctly before saving the mailbox.
  3. he default automated action that is executed when an email that is not a reply to a notification is received by activeCollab.

2. Automated (Default) Mailbox Action

When activeCollab receives a message that is not a reply to a previous notification, it will use the default mailbox action configured when the mailbox was defined to process the email:

These settings tell activeCollab to either create a ticket or a discussion in the given project.

Note

A single mailbox can create tickets or discussions in only one project, but this does not limit notification replies. When a user replies to a notification, comments will be created in the appropriate project and attached to the relevant item.

One important thing to note is that is that the mailbox enforces project permissions by default. This means that all messages sent by people who are not part of that project can result in a conflict that will need to be resolved by an administrator. If you don't wish project permissions to be enforced, you can enable the following options:

  1. Accept emails from all activeCollab users - eck this option if you wish to allow the mailbox to accept messages from all users registered in the system even when they are not involved with the target project.
  2. Accept emails from unregistered users - Check this option if you want the mailbox to accept messages from users who do not have accounts in your activeCollab installation.

3. Resolving Incoming Mail Conflicts

If, for any reason, activeCollab is not able to process an email message automatically, it will not discard it (like some other applications!). Instead, it will create a conflict notification to let an administrator resolve the problem. When there is such a conflict, the Inbox icon will show up in the toolbar and display the exact number of conflicts:

Click the Inbox icon to open the Conflicts page. This page lists all conflicts that need to be resolved and shows the reason why activeCollab was not able to handle the messsage automatically:

Click the Resolve icon on the right to open the conflict resolution tool and see message properties. activeCollab will pre-load fields based on the mailbox rules and let you change them:

The administrator has the final word regarding conflict resolutions. Once he or she submits the form, activeCollab will accept all the properties that are submitted regardless of permissions or restrictions.

Massages that resulted in conflict can also be deleted. To delete a message and remove it from Conflicts page, click on the Remove icon on the right.