NetResults ProblemTracker
Incoming Mail Configuration

Incoming Mail settings are used for the Add Record via Email feature. The Incoming Mail settings will not be displayed in the Email Configuration page of the Administration section unless an Email License Key has been entered into the ProblemTracker License Manager and the "Enable Add Record via Email" option is set to "Yes" in General Preferences.

To configure the Incoming Mail settings,

  1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
  2. Click on the Admin icon
  3. Click on the Email Configuration button
  4. Select an option in the Incoming Mail section (described below)
  5. Click on the Continue button


Set Global Mail Options

The following options are applied to all incoming mail processed by a particular workgroup:

Send Mail Processing Status (as Email) to User
Select a user who will receive email messages about the processing status of incoming mail for this workgroup. By default, this is set to Admin. Any user that is added to the workgroup and has a valid email address entered into the user profile information can be selected. Select <None> if you do not wish to send any status email messages.

Send Mail Processing Status (as Email) on
Select the condition which will send an email message about the processing status of incoming mail for this workgroup. By default, this is set to "Success and Failure", which will generate an email message every time ProblemTracker checks for email (even if there is no email to process). Warning: Since this setting will generate a status email every time ProblemTracker checks for email, we strongly recommend changing this setting (to Failure or None) once incoming email configuration is complete and connectivity to your mail server has been verified. Selecting "Failure" will generate an email message only when ProblemTracker gets an error attempting to check for email (e.g. can not connect to the mail server) or gets an error while attempting to convert an incoming message to a new record. Selecting <None> indicates that no email messages should be sent regardless of the processing status of each incoming message. These email messages will be sent to the user specified in the option "Send Mail Processing Status (as Email) to User".

Record Visibility for Unmapped Emails
Select the user groups which should be able to access records added via email that could not be mapped to a user account in ProblemTracker (there was no user account with a matching email address). To select multiple user groups, hold down the CTRL button on your keyboard while clicking on the user groups you wish to select. The Admins user group is not displayed on the list because all records added via email are made visible to the Admins user group. If the option "Action for Unmapped Emails" is set to "<Delete Email>" in the per-product Incoming Mail Configuration, this option does not apply since it is only used for unmapped emails. For further information please review the Record Visibility for Records Added via Email help section.


Set Default Mail Configuration

You can configure a set of default properties for incoming mail. These default properties can be applied to all products in the workgroup using the Push Default Mail Configuration to All Products option. By default, these properties will only be applied to any new products added to the workgroup. You will not be able to submit records via email until you set the Incoming Mail Configuration for each product. You can either do this by:

Mail Server Type
Select the type that corresponds to the mail server entered into the mail server name field below. The mail server types supported are POP3 and IMAP.

Mail Server Name
Enter the name of the mail server to be used by default to process the incoming email messages intended for this workgroup. The mail server name can be of the form "smtp.yourcompany.com" or can be the IP Address of the machine where your mail server is installed.

Save Email 'Subject' as
Select a field of Text type to which the contents of the email message's subject will be saved in the new record. Choosing <None> will not save the email message's subject in any field. A Text field must be selected, if “Enable Add Record via Email” is set to “Yes”. Please note that Field Visibility settings are not enforced when a record is created via email. Thus, if the Text field selected for this option is configured such that it is not visible to certain groups on the Add page, this restriction will not be enforced for records added via email.

Save Email 'Body' as
Select a field of BigText type to which the contents of the email message's body will be saved in the new record. Choosing <None> will not save the email message's body in any field. A BigText field must be selected, if "Enable Add Record via Email" is set to "Yes". If the body of an email is not plain text (for example, it's an image, audio, or HTML file), then it will be saved as a file attachment and a note telling the user that the body was saved as an attachment will be placed in the BigText field you selected. If the body of the email comes in multiple versions (MIME multipart/alternative format), the plain text version (if any) will be saved in the BigText field you selected and the other alternative versions will be saved as file attachments.

Please note that Field Visibility settings are not enforced when a record is created via email. Thus, if the BigText field selected for this option is configured such that it is not visible to certain groups on the Add page, this restriction will not be enforced for records added via email.

If the body of an email message exceeds the maximum number of characters supported in the BigText field for your database type, the body of the email may be truncated.

Default Initial State for Incoming Emails
When a new record is created by an incoming email, the Status field of the new record will be set with the state selected in this option. The state selected also determines the assignee of the new record. The user assigned to the new record will be the State Manager as determined by the Workflow Properties of the product to which this record pertains and the state selected for this option.

Set Reporter by Mapping 'From' Address
You can use the email address in the 'From' field of the incoming message to set the "Reported By" field for the new record. This is done by setting this option to "Yes", which will allow ProblemTracker to compare the email address listed in the 'From' field of the incoming message to the email addresses entered in the user profiles in the workgroup's User Administration section. If the address is not found or this option is set to "No", the incoming email will be processed according to the setting of the "Action for Unmapped Emails" option.

Action for Unmapped Emails
ProblemTracker can be configured to map the email address in the 'From' field of the incoming message to the email addresses entered in the user profiles in the workgroup's User Administration section. The result of this mapping will set the "Reported By" field for the new record. If the mapping does not find a match in the User Administration table OR if the option "Set Reporter by Mapping 'From' Address" is set to "No", one of the following actions can be selected to process the incoming message:

Send Reply to Unmapped Emails
Setting this option to "Yes" indicates that a confirmation (reply) email message should be sent to the email address from which the incoming message originated. The reply email will be sent to the sender only when the email address is not mapped against the email addresses of the user profiles. If it is mapped, then emails will be sent based on the standard email notification rules for the selected Product.

Save Email 'From' as
Select a Text type field to which the Email 'From' field will be saved in the new record. All Text type fields will be listed in the pulldown for this option. Selecting <None> will not save the 'From' field to any field in the new record. Please note that Field Visibility settings are not enforced when a record is created via email. Thus, if the Text field selected for this option is configured such that it is not visible to certain groups on the Add page, this restriction will not be enforced for records added via email.

Save Attachments in Email
If the incoming message contains any file attachments, these can be saved as files attached to the new record by setting this option to "Yes". Please note that the Add Attachments user group privilege is not enforced for records that are added via email. When this option is set to "Yes", any user will be able to create a record that contains an attachment using the Add Records via Email feature.

Save Raw Email as an Attachment
Select "Yes" for this option if you wish to save the entire incoming email as a file attached to the new record. The entire contents of the email including the attachments (raw email prior to processing by ProblemTracker) will be saved as a text file (with .txt as extension) and attached to the new record. This can be useful if some of the information in the email could not be stored in the ProblemTracker fields you've selected (for example, if the Subject line is very long and must be truncated to be stored in the Text field you've selected).

Stop Processing Emails on First Error
Incoming messages are processed in batches periodically by ProblemTracker's Email Processor. If there is an issue which prevents an incoming message from being processed successfully, you can choose whether ProblemTracker should attempt to process any remaining incoming messages. Setting this option to "Yes" indicates that ProblemTracker should not process any additional incoming messages once an error occurs (an incoming message cannot be processed successfully).


Set Mail Configuration for a Specific Product

Each product within the workgroup has its own set of incoming mail settings. The settings described below must be configured for each product where the Add Record via Email feature will be enabled.

To configure the incoming mail settings for a particular product:

  1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
  2. Click on the Admin icon
  3. Click on the Email Configuration button
  4. Select the option Set Mail Configuration for Product in the Incoming Mail section
  5. Select a product in the pulldown
  6. Click on the Continue button
  7. Make selections to the settings, then click OK to save your changes. Alternatively, you can apply the default settings by clicking on the Load Defaults button, make selections to the per-product incoming mail settings described below, then click OK to save your changes.

Per-product Incoming Mail Settings:

Enable Add Record via Email
In order to enable the Add Record via Email feature for each product, this property must be set to "Yes", which will allow records to be added to this workgroup via email.

Mail Account User Name
Enter a unique mail account (mailbox) on the mail server specified in the "Mail Server Name" field to receive the incoming email messages. Enter the User Name for this account.

Mail Account User Password
Enter the password that corresponds to the user account (mailbox) specified in the "Mail Account User Name" field above.

Warning: ProblemTracker deletes all emails that it successfully reads. It is possible that ProblemTracker could read (and delete) an email, but still be unable to store the full information from the email into your workgroup. If you need to keep a copy of all emails sent to a particular mailbox, do not use that mailbox for ProblemTracker. Instead, create a new mailbox and forward copies of email from the mission critical mailbox (or create a mailing list to distribute emails to both mailboxes). In general, this is a good idea, at least until you have made certain you have configured the Add Record via Email feature properly. Please contact your email administrator for information on how to set up email accounts.

Mail Server Type
Select the type that corresponds to the mail server entered into the mail server name field below. The mail server types supported are POP3 and IMAP.

Mail Server Name
Enter the name of the mail server to be used by default to process the incoming email messages intended for this workgroup. The mail server name can be of the form "smtp.yourcompany.com" or can be the IP Address of the machine where your mail server is installed.

Save Email 'Subject' as
Select a field of Text type to which the contents of the email message's subject will be saved in the new record. Choosing <None> will not save the email message's subject in any field. A Text field must be selected, if “Enable Add Record via Email” is set to “Yes”. Please note that Field Visibility settings are not enforced when a record is created via email. Thus, if the Text field selected for this option is configured such that it is not visible to certain groups on the Add page, this restriction will not be enforced for records added via email.

Save Email 'Body' as
Select a field of BigText type to which the contents of the email message's body will be saved in the new record. Choosing <None> will not save the email message's body in any field. A BigText field must be selected if "Enable Add Record via Email" is set to "Yes". If the body of an email is not plain text (for example, it's an image, audio, or HTML file), then it will be saved as a file attachment and a note telling the user that the body was saved as an attachment will be placed in the BigText field you selected. If the body of the email comes in multiple versions (MIME multipart/alternative format), the plain text version (if any) will be saved in the BigText field you selected and the other alternative versions will be saved as file attachments. Please note that Field Visibility settings are not enforced when a record is created via email. Thus, if the BigText field selected for this option is configured such that it is not visible to certain groups on the Add page, this restriction will not be enforced for records added via email.

Default Initial State for Incoming Emails
When a new record is created by an incoming email, the Status field of the new record will be set with the state selected in this option. The state selected also determines the assignee of the new record. The user assigned to the new record will be the State Manager as determined by the Workflow Properties of the product to which this record pertains and the state selected for this option.

Set Reporter by Mapping 'From' Address
You can use the email address in the 'From' field of the incoming message to set the "Reported By" field for the new record. This is done by setting this option to "Yes", which will allow ProblemTracker to compare the email address listed in the 'From' field of the incoming message to the email addresses entered in the user profiles in the workgroup's User Administration section. If the address is not found or this option is set to "No", the incoming email will be processed according to the setting of the "Action for Unmapped Emails" option.

Action for Unmapped Emails
ProblemTracker can be configured to map the email address in the 'From' field of the incoming message to the email addresses entered in the user profiles in the workgroup's User Administration section. The result of this mapping will set the "Reported By" field for the new record. If the mapping does not find a match in the User Administration table OR if the option "Set Reporter by Mapping 'From' Address" is set to "No", one of the following actions can be selected to process the incoming message:

Send Reply to Unmapped Emails
Setting this option to "Yes" indicates that a confirmation (reply) email message should be sent to the email address from which the incoming message originated. The reply email will be sent to the sender only when the email address is not mapped against the email addresses of the user profiles. If it is mapped, then emails will be sent based on the standard email notification rules for the selected Product.

Save Email 'From' as
Select a Text type field to which the Email 'From' field will be saved in the new record. All Text type fields will be listed in the pulldown for this option. Selecting <None> will not save the 'From' field to any field in the new record. Please note that Field Visibility settings are not enforced when a record is created via email. Thus, if the Text field selected for this option is configured such that it is not visible to certain groups on the Add page, this restriction will not be enforced for records added via email.

Save Attachments in Email
If the incoming message contains any file attachments, these can be saved as files attached to the new record by setting this option to "Yes". Please note that the Add Attachments user group privilege is not enforced for records that are added via email. When this option is set to "Yes", any user will be able to create a record that contains an attachment using the Add Records via Email feature.

Save Raw Email as an Attachment
Select "Yes" for this option if you wish to save the entire incoming email as a file attached to the new record. The entire contents of the email including the attachments (raw email prior to processing by ProblemTracker) will be saved as a text file (with .txt as extension) and attached to the new record. This can be useful if some of the information in the email could not be stored in the ProblemTracker fields you have selected (for example, if the Subject line is very long and must be truncated to be stored in the Text field you have selected).

Stop Processing Emails on First Error
Incoming messages are processed in batches periodically by ProblemTracker's Email Processor. If there is an issue which prevents an incoming message from being processed successfully, you can choose whether ProblemTracker should attempt to process any remaining incoming messages. Setting this option to "Yes" indicates that ProblemTracker should not process any additional incoming messages once an error occurs (an incoming message cannot be processed successfully).


Push Default Mail Configuration to All Products

You can apply some or all of the Default Mail Configuration settings to all products in the workgroup using the "Push Default Mail Configuration to All Products" option. This allows you to make changes to the incoming mail settings of all products in a single operation. However, the settings you choose when using the "Push Default Mail Configuration to All Products" option will overwrite the existing settings for all products.

To apply some or all of the default settings using this option:

  1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
  2. Click on the Admin icon
  3. Click on the Email Configuration button
  4. Select the option Push Default Mail Configuration to All Products in the Incoming Mail section
  5. Click on the Continue button
  6. On the next page, each default setting and its value will be displayed next to a check box. Check the box to apply a default setting to all products. This will overwrite any other values configured for the checked option in the settings for each product . Unchecked options will not be changed in the settings for each product.
  7. Click OK to complete the operation