Configure your organization's mail server to receive and process incoming emails. You can use email protocols (POP, IMAP, POPS, or IMAPs), Exchange Web Services (EWS), or Microsoft Graph to connect SupportCenter Plus with the mailbox.

Role Required: SDAdmin

Depending on the connection protocol selected, configurations vary. 

 

Beginning with the year 2023, basic authentication will not be supported to connect to Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) mailboxes. Click here to know more.

Configure Incoming Mail Server Protocol  

Configure Mail Server with Email Protocols

• Choose the Connection Protocol as POP/IMAP/POPS/IMAPS.
  

• Choose the Authentication Type. Use the pointers given below to configure the mail server based on the authentication type:

Field Name	Basic Authentication	OAuth Authentication
Server Name / IP Address	Provide the name or IP address of the mail server from where emails should be fetched.
Username	Enter the username to access the organization mailbox.
Password	Enter the password to access the organization mailbox.	-
Email Address	Enter the email address of the mailbox to fetch incoming emails as requests. You can also specify alias email addresses using a comma. The configured email addresses will not be populated in To/CC/BCC fields while replying to or forwarding emails from SupportCenter Plus.
Protocol	Select the protocol to connect to the mailbox. POP/POPS - Post Office Protocol/Post Office Protocol securely downloads email to your computer and then deletes them from the server. IMAP/IMAPS - Internet Message Access Protocol/Internet Message Access Protocol securely syncs the computer with the server, giving you the opportunity to access the server from several devices.     OAuth authentication supports IMAPS protocol only.
Port	Specify the port number as per the selected protocol.
Authorization Server Details (Client ID, Client Secret, Authorization URL, and Token URL)	-	Obtain Client ID, Client Secret, Authorization URL, and Token URL from the authorization server.
Scope	-	Define the accessibility of the obtained OAuth tokens in the mailbox. For IMAPS protocol, scope will be auto-populated for the following mailbox: Office365: https://outlook.office365.com/IMAP.AccessAsUser.All, offline_access Gmail: https://mail.google.com Know more about default values populated as scope.
Redirect URL	-	Configure Redirect URL in the authorization server to register the SupportCenter Plus and obtain tokens. Ensure that the application is accessed using the same host as the redirect URL for OAuth configurations to work.

If you are using Office365 GCC High mailbox, ensure that the TLD (top-level domain) is .us in the hostname, connect URL, authorization URL, token URL, and scope.

After setting up the configuration, click Save.

For OAuth Authentication, provide your login credentials and submit your consent for the mentioned permissions. The login credential should be the same as the username configured in the Mail Server Settings. Ensure that you have not blocked pop-ups and redirects in your browser to view the user consent window.

Configure Mail Server with Exchange Web Services

Configure your organization's mail server to receive and process incoming emails via Exchange Web Services (EWS).

• Choose the Connection Protocol as Exchange Web Services (EWS).

• Choose the Authentication Type. Use the pointers given below to configure the mail server based on the authentication type:

After setting up the configuration, click Save. 

For OAuth Authentication, provide your login credentials and submit your consent for the mentioned permissions. The login credential should be the same as the username configured in the Mail Server Settings. Ensure that you have not blocked pop-ups and redirects in your browser to view the user consent window.

Configure Mail Server with Microsoft Graph

• Choose the Connection Protocol as Microsoft Graph.

• Microsoft Graph supports only OAuth authentication. Use the pointers given below to configure the mail server:

After setting up the configuration, click Save.

For OAuth Authentication, provide your login credentials and submit your consent for the mentioned permissions. The login credential should be the same as the username configured in the Mail Server Settings. Ensure that you have not blocked pop-ups and redirects in your browser to view the user consent window.

Configure Incoming Mail Server Settings

• Fetch mails every - Enter the time interval(in minutes) to schedule the subsequent mail fetching processes.

• Enable proxy server - Process incoming emails through a proxy server. You can configure the proxy server in the application beforehand as discussed here.

• Enable Email Debug - Obtain debug prints of subsequent emails fetched in the application. Enable this option only if recommended by the support team.

• Disable new request creation by email - Restrict request creation via incoming emails. You can allow requests to be created from specific email addresses and domains by entering them in the given textbox.

• You can allow requests creation from certain email addresses. For example, heather@zylker.com.

• You can also allow request creation from certain domains by entering an asterisk (*) followed by @domain name. For example, *@zylker.com.

If request creation is disabled, only the specified email addresses/domains are allowed to create new requests. However, conversations can be added via emails.

• Click Save.

Moving Error Emails to a Different Folder  

In some cases, emails with processing errors can stop the mail fetching process. SupportCenter Plus enables you to move such error emails to a different folder, thereby ensuring seamless mail fetching process.

You can create a separate folder in the application mailbox and direct the error emails to be moved to this folder.  

Enable the Move Messages to error folder and configure as explained below.

Name of the error folder	Provide the name of the folder you have created.
Stop mail fetching after [ ] mails	Stop mail fetching when the number of error emails moved to the folder reaches the specified count.
Total number of mails in error folder	This displays the number of emails moved to the configured error folder. This count will be reset when all error emails are resolved and moved to inbox.
Move mails to inbox	Move the emails back to the inbox after resolving the errors.
Notify by email when a mail is moved from inbox to error folder	Notify support rep each time an error email is received. Ensure Send e-mail when an application error occurs notification is enabled under notification rules.

This feature is not applicable for mail servers configured with the POP/POPS protocol. In case of connectivity issues when processing emails, the ongoing mail fetching process will be skipped and emails will not be moved to the error folder.  

Resolve Error Emails  

When moving emails to the error folder, the details of each email and the exception will be saved as text files(.txt). These files will be encrypted as they might contain Personally Identifiable Information(PII) of the customer. Follow the steps given below to resolve the error emails.

1. Click Download next to Error Logs. The support files along with the error logs will be decrypted and downloaded in a zip file.

2. Send the files to support@supportcenter.com for analysis.

3. Once all emails in the error folder are resolved, click Move mails to inbox. The resolved emails will be further processed in the application based on your help desk workflow.

Edit Mail Server Settings

In build 13001 or earlier, stop the mail fetching process and make the necessary changes.

In build 13002 or above, administrators can edit the mail server settings as needed. If a mail fetching process is ongoing, the application will prompt to disable mail fetching temporarily. After saving the changes, enable the fetching process manually.  

Check Mail Server Connectivity

Click Fetch a sample mail to test the incoming mail server connectivity.

If the settings are configured right and the connection is successful, the oldest email from your mailbox will be fetched, along with its properties. If not, an error message will be displayed on the screen.

To learn more about troubleshooting mail server errors, click here.

Other Configurations

Configure Notifications for Connectivity Issues

This configuration applies only to versions 11206 and above

When an issue occurs while processing emails, notifications will be triggered to the support reps configured for error notifications in Admin > Notification Rules. However, if the application fails to connect to the mailbox, the current mail fetching schedule will be skipped and the application will try to reconnect to the mailbox during the next schedule. With every schedule, this process will recur in a loop and no emails will be fetched until the application connects to the mailbox.

SupportCenter Plus provides a default threshold value to track down the number of consecutive failures attempts to connect to the mailbox. When this threshold value is reached, SDAdmins and associated support reps can be notified via bell notifications and emails respectively.

The count of consecutive failure attempts will be reset after each notification.

 

To configure the threshold value,

• Connect to the SupportCenter Plus Database

• Execute the following query to know the configuration
  

The configuration is instance based and hence 2 rows for each instance.

1. The paramvalue of CONSECUTIVE_RETRY_THRESHOLD denotes the threshold value configured in the application.
   

• The paramvalue of NOTIFICATION_ENABLED denotes whether the notifications are enabled/disabled.

The given screenshot displays the default configuration, where 5 is the default threshold value and the notifications enabled by default.

• Use the following query to update the threshold value:
  

update mailconfig set paramvalue='X' where parameter like 'CONSECUTIVE_RETRY_THRESHOLD' and category like 'FETCHING_MAILBOX_CONNECTIVITY' and helpdeskid='<corresponding_helpdesk_id>'

Provide the required value in place of X.

• Use the following query to disable the notification:
  

• Use the following query to enable the notification:
  

• Restart the service to implement the changes. 

Notifications for Stripped Attachments  (version 13009 and later)

SupportCenter Plus validates the following entities in incoming email attachments:

• File Name

• Extensions

• Content Type

• Empty File

• File Size

If there are any errors in these entities, the attachment will be dropped. The sender and the support reps configured for error notifications will be informed by email.

The notification configuration is portal-specific, and it can be disabled by using the following query:

Errors and Solutions

The following section explains various errors and corresponding solutions.

1. Error: Attachment file name is invalid

Reason: File name of the attachment contains invalid characters.

Solution: Rename the attachment file. Use letters, numbers, dots, hyphens, and underscores in file names.

2. Error: Attachment files contain invalid content type

Reason: Content type in the attachment does not match the file extension. For example, an image file with the file name 'Alter.txt' will be dropped.

Solution: Ensure that the attached files have matching file content and extension.

3. Error: Attachment files contain invalid extensions

Reason: SupportCenter Plus enables you to allow/restrict certain file types in the application. If the email attachments include files of the restricted type, the attachments will be dropped.

Solution: Ensure that the file type is allowed under Admin > General Settings > Attachments Settings. In ESM setups, go to ESM Directory > General Settings > Attachment Settings.

4. Error: Attachment contains empty files

Reason: SupportCenter Plus does not allow empty files as attachments.

Solution: Ensure that the attachment file is not empty. If the file is not empty, it could have been dropped due to Antivirus/Firewall configurations. Please check with your IT administrator to check on antivirus/firewall settings.

5. Error: Attachment size exceeds the configured limit

Reason: Files that exceed the configured size will be dropped.

Solution: Check and modify the Maximum attachment size (MB) under Admin > General Settings > Attachment Settings. In ESM setups, go to ESM Directory > General Settings > Attachment Settings.