Advanced: endpoints, sending methods and routing rules

In short: The email wizard handles most situations automatically. If you want more control, for example multiple sender addresses in one organisation, a different sending method per address, or your own rules for which incoming email belongs to which address, use the Advanced mail configuration page. It consists of three sections: Providers, Email endpoints and Inbound routing rules.

Where to find this

Go to Organisation > Channels > Mail and click Advanced settings (top right in the Current setup overview, or at the bottom of the choice screen). The page is called Mail settings (Advanced); the box is called Advanced mail configuration with the explanation Manage endpoints, transports, and routing rules. Use Back to return to the wizard.

Who: from the Organisation admin role. Everything on this page applies per organisation.

If you arrive on this page through a link from a ticket or notification, the top shows You opened advanced settings for: with the email address concerned.

The Advanced mail configuration page (via Organisation > Channels > Mail > Advanced settings) with the three sections Providers, Email endpoints and Inbound routing rules.

The three building blocks

The tip on the page sums up the order: create an Email endpoint (identity) first, then select the active transport/provider for it.

Providers

The Providers section (Manage mail provider connections.) shows three cards with a status and a management button:

If something is wrong, the card shows the label Action required (something needs to be done by you, such as approval or reconnecting) or Warnings, with a short explanation. Examples: Inbound polling is temporarily paused (cooldown) for one or more mailboxes, Inbound polling failed for one or more mailboxes, Import failed for one or more mailboxes, One or more mailboxes may require reconnect or One or more SMTP connections have validation errors. Click the management button to resolve it. See Connect Outlook or Microsoft 365, Connect Gmail or Google Workspace and Send via your own SMTP server.

Email endpoints

The Email endpoints section (Create email identities (support@, info@) and bind an outbound sender to each identity.) shows a list with all endpoints of the organisation. Without endpoints you see No email endpoints with Create at least one endpoint to enable inbound/outbound email.

For each endpoint you see:

Buttons per endpoint: Make default (only for endpoints that are not the default yet), Edit and Delete. At the top is Add endpoint.

The default endpoint

The default endpoint is the sender aishaa uses when a ticket has no endpoint of its own, for example a ticket you create yourself. There is always exactly one default endpoint. Click Make default next to another endpoint to switch; you see Saved.

Creating an endpoint

1. Click Add endpoint. The Create email endpoint dialog opens (Create an endpoint and configure how outgoing mail is sent, in one step.).
2. Fill in the Endpoint block:

3. Fill in the Transport block. Under Send provider, choose one of the four options (see the table below). aishaa already chooses a suitable method itself if the address you entered belongs to a known connection. With SMTP, Outlook and Google you then choose the connection under Connection.
4. Leave the Inbound routing rules block switched on if you want email sent to this address to end up with this endpoint automatically. Choose the Match type, enter the value, set the Priority (at least 1, default 10) and leave Enabled on. This block is only visible if Enable inbound is on.
5. Click Save. You see Saved.

The Create email endpoint dialog with the blocks Endpoint (Email address, Display name, Enable inbound, Enable outbound, Make default endpoint), Transport (Send provider, Connection) and Inbound routing rules.

The four sending methods

If there is no suitable connection, the dropdown shows No matching connection for this endpoint. In that case, first create the connection via Providers.

Changing the sending method of an existing endpoint

In the Active transport column, each endpoint has a dropdown with the sending method and a dropdown with the connection. Choose the combination you want and click Set. You see Saved. If aishaa cannot save, a tooltip explains why: No matching connection for this endpoint., Select a connection or There are no connected Microsoft accounts available. If Outbound is set to No, the dropdowns are disabled.

With the Outlook method, a notice appears below the dropdowns: No Outlook mailbox binding has been set up for this endpoint yet. (in that case create one on the Outlook page) or the number of active mailbox bindings for this endpoint.

Editing an endpoint

Click Edit. The Edit endpoint dialog opens. You cannot change the address (Email endpoint); for a different address, create a new endpoint.

Click Save.

Archive copy (BCC)

With Archive copy (BCC) you automatically send a copy of every conversation email that aishaa sends from this endpoint to a fixed address. Explanation on screen: Every conversation mail sent from this mailbox also goes in BCC to this address, for example to file it in your dossier or CRM system. Don’t use an address that forwards to aishaa.

1. Click Edit for the endpoint.
2. Under Archive copy (BCC), fill in the address, for example the intake address of your dossier system.
3. Click Save. The list now shows BCC copy to with the address for the endpoint.

What you need to know about the archive copy:

• The copy goes along with replies to customers, messages from a workflow, forwarded messages and messages to external parties that leave from this endpoint. Each recipient gets their own email; the copy goes along with every email.
• Test emails and review emails do not get a copy.
• The address does not appear in the ticket as a recipient. It is a setting of the mailbox, not a recipient your colleague chooses.
• You cannot use one of your own mailboxes as the archive address. You then see This is one of your own mailboxes: the copy would come back in as a new message.
• If you no longer want a copy, clear the field and click Save.

Deleting an endpoint

Click Delete and confirm Are you sure you want to delete this endpoint? Routing rules that point to this endpoint then stop working; email sent to that address falls back to the endpoint of the aishaa Mail address. Do not delete the endpoint of the aishaa Mail address itself: it is the safety net for all incoming email.

Inbound routing rules

The Inbound routing rules section (Route inbound emails to an endpoint using match rules and priorities.) decides which endpoint an incoming email ends up with. Without endpoints you see No endpoints (Create an endpoint first, then you can add routing rules.); without rules you see No routes.

How aishaa routes an incoming email

1. aishaa determines which address the email was sent to (the To address, or the Cc address if needed). The aishaa Mail address itself does not count, so that forwarded email is assessed on its original address.
2. If that address is itself an endpoint with Enable inbound on, the email goes straight to that endpoint, even without a rule.
3. Otherwise aishaa goes through the enabled rules in order of Priority, from the lowest number to the highest. The first rule that matches wins.
4. If no rule matches, the email goes to the endpoint of the aishaa Mail address.

Adding or editing a rule

1. Click Add rule (dialog Add route) or Edit next to an existing rule (dialog Edit route).
2. Fill in the fields:

3. Click Save.

The Add route dialog with the fields Endpoint, Match type, the value, Priority and the Enabled switch.

The four match types

There can only be one enabled catch-all rule. If you try to create a second one, you see A catch-all rule already exists. Edit the existing rule instead. Always give a catch-all rule the highest priority number, otherwise it catches all email before more specific rules get a turn.

The list of rules

The list is sorted by priority. For each rule you see the priority number, the endpoint, Enabled: Yes or No, the match type with the value below it (or Applies to all inbound mail. for a catch-all), and the Edit and Delete buttons. Deleting asks for confirmation: Are you sure you want to delete this route?

Good to know

• Everything the wizard creates (endpoint, rule, sending method, default) appears on this page and can be adjusted here. The wizard never overwrites a routing rule or default endpoint that you set up here yourself.
• If you switch off Enable outbound on all endpoints or remove the last of your own sending routes, the aishaa Mail address automatically takes over sending again.
• If an endpoint already exists for an address, you cannot create a second one with the same address.
• An endpoint without an active sending method cannot send. When replying to a ticket you then see that no active transport has been configured for this identity.
• Routing rules only decide which endpoint an email goes to, not whether an email is blocked or closed. For that there are Incoming email rules.
• Which endpoint aishaa uses when replying to a ticket depends on the endpoint the ticket arrived on; the default endpoint is the safety net if that is missing.

Related

• Email setup: the options at a glance
• Connect Gmail or Google Workspace
• Connect Outlook or Microsoft 365
• Send via your own SMTP server
• Your aishaa Mail address and forwarding
• Assigning, support group, important and urgent