Configuring processing rules

Updated in 2022.1

Use the Processing tab of the Mail Connector window to view, modify, or create rules that define how the Mail Connector processes incoming e-mail.

The Processing tab is divided into these sections:

• Operations - Define how the Mail Connector creates objects from new email messages and updates objects (for example, adds entries to the object's Activity Log) when the email message is part of an object's communication thread. These operations are performed through workflow Service Actions configured for the Mail Connector.

  NOTE: When the Mail Connector creates or updates objects, it extracts attachments from incoming email message and adds them to created objects or object Activities. This behavior is hard-coded and does not depend on Service Actions.

• Incoming E-mail Handling - Define how the Mail Connector treats original email messages after processing.

TIP: To access the Mail Connector window, navigate to E-Mail Processing > Mail Connector from the Sidebar and click New to create a new job or double-click an existing one to modify it. The Mail Connector window appears.

Configuring workflow operations

When you create a Mail Connector job, Alloy Navigator automatically populates the Operations section of the Processing tab and places existing Service Actions for the Mail Connector in the default conditional statement.

The first criteria (IF %[EML ObjectRef]% is not blank) checks whether the message is part of a thread initiated for an existing Alloy Navigator object, i.e. whether the system parsing rule has detected the ID of an active object in the email Subject. If the first criteria return TRUE, Alloy Navigator checks the nested IF and ELSE IF criteria to find out the class of the object to update, and updates that particular object using the corresponding Update Service Action. If the first IF criteria return FALSE, Alloy Navigator creates a new object using the corresponding Create Service Action.

NOTE: The ObjectRef virtual field contains the ID of an active object. When the object is inactive (closed Ticket, retired Computer, inactive Person, etc.), its ID is placed in the InactiveObjectRef virtual field.

TIP: Click the plus icon (+) to expand and the minus icon (-) to collapse a node in the statement. To expand or collapse all nodes, click Expand All or Collapse All.

In addition to operations in the conditional statement, the Mail Connector creates new Person records when the message sender cannot be matched to an existing Person record.

• To specify the Service Action for updating existing objects:

  Alloy Navigator updates objects if the first IF criteria returns TRUE.

  1. In the group of nested criteria, click the IF or ELSE IF criteria that returns TRUE for the desired object class and click New > Update Object. The Update Object window opens.

  2. In the Update Existing drop-down list, select the class of objects to update.

  3. In the [Object Class] field, view the default expression %[EML ObjectRef]%, which returns a reference to the particular active object whose ID the system parsing rule extracts from incoming email.

     NOTE: If you need to customize the default expression, click the Expression Builder button and make your changes using the Build Expression window. To insert a placeholder for an email field, use the E-mail Fields category of placeholders. In addition to standard email fields such as To and Subject, this section contains virtual email fields that you have defined in the Parsing section.

     NOTE: The ObjectRef virtual field contains the ID of an active object. When the object is inactive (closed Ticket, retired Computer, inactive Person, etc.), its ID is placed in the InactiveObjectRef virtual field.

  4. Click the ellipsis button in the Using Action field and double-click the Update Service Action for the Mail Connector that you want to use.

  5. Click OK to close the Update Object window.

• To specify the Service Action for creating objects:

  Alloy Navigator creates objects if the first IF criteria returns FALSE.

  1. Click the ELSE criteria and click New > Create Object. The Create Object window opens.

  2. In the Create New drop-down list, select the class of objects to create.

  3. Click the ellipsis button in the Using Action field and double-click the Create Service Action for the Mail Connector that you want to use.

  4. Click OK to close the Create Object window.

• To disable or enable workflow operations:

  • To temporary disable the execution of a Service Action used in the IF...ELSE IF...ELSE...END IF conditional statement, right-click the operation and choose Disable Operation from the pop-up menu. To re-enable disabled operations, choose Enable Operation.

• To modify the default conditional statement:

  • You can modify any of the default IF or ELSE IF criteria, change the execution order of operations or statements, remove operations or statements, or create your own IF...ELSE IF...ELSE...END IF statement, if you need to. For instructions on building conditional statements, see Building IF...ELSE IF...ELSE...END IF conditional statements.

    NOTE: To insert a placeholder for an email field, use the E-mail Fields category of placeholders. In addition to standard email fields such as To and Subject, this section contains virtual email fields that you have defined in the Parcing section. For details, see Configuring parsing rules.

• To specify the Service Action for creating Persons for new senders:

  Alloy Navigator creates Person records when a message sender cannot be matched to an existing Person record.

  • Click the ellipsis button in the Create Persons field and double-click the Create Service Action for the Mail Connector that you want to use.

• To attach the original email message to corresponding objects:

  • Select the Attach original e-mail message to object/activity check box.
    
    When the Mail Connector creates objects, the message will be attached to those objects. If it updates objects by adding entries to the object's Activity Log, the original email message will be attached to the respective Activity records.

    NOTE: Regardless of the check box state, the Mail Connector extracts attachments from incoming email message and adds them to created objects or object Activity records.

Configuring incoming email handling

The Incoming e-mail handling settings tell the Mail Connector what to do with original email messages after processing. These settings apply to all processed messages, regardless of if they have been actually used in the Mail Connector workflow or not.

Depending on the type of email account you use, the Mail Connector can handle processed mail differently. The default settings are recommended for optimal performance. You can keep the defaults, or you can customize them to your needs.

To configure Microsoft Exchange or IMAP4 email handling:

1. Under When an object is created or modified successfully:

• To mark processed email messages as read and keep them on the mail server, select the Mark the message as read check box. Otherwise the Mail Connector will attempt to process those messages again next time the task runs.

• To mark processed email messages as deleted, select the Mark the message as deleted check box. Otherwise they will remain in the mail folder in Read state.

2. Under When a workflow item rejects the message:

• To mark failed email messages as read and keep them on the mail server, select the Mark the message as read check box. Otherwise the Mail Connector will attempt to process those messages again next time the task runs.

• To mark failed email messages as deleted, select the Mark the message as deleted check box. Otherwise, it will remain in the mail folder in Read state.

3. To purge deleted messages from the mailbox at the end of the session, select the Purge the deleted messages at the end of session check box. Otherwise, messages marked for deletion will remain in the mailbox’s Deleted folder.

• To configure POP3 email handling:

  1. Under When an object is created or modified successfully, the only available option is Delete the message from the mailbox. This means that once email messages have been successfully processed and converted to objects, they are permanently deleted from the inbox.

  2. Under When a workflow item rejects the message, select the Delete the message from the mailbox check box if you want to delete failed email messages. Otherwise, rejected messages will remain in the inbox.

Next Steps

After you have configured processing rules for the Mail Connector job, you can test the job and check its results to make sure it works correctly. You can test even a disabled job. For instructions, see Checking Mail Connector job results.

You may have multiple Mail Connector jobs that process several email accounts. By default, all Mail Connector jobs run using the Automation Server startup account and connects to the database using the Automation Server database connection. If you consider having all resources available under the same Automation Server startup account a security risk, you can configure to use a dedicated Windows account for every job. For instructions, see Configuring Mail Connector settings.

Related Information:

Understanding the Mail Connector

Configuring Mail Connector settings

Configuring parsing rules

Configuring preprocessing rules