Configuring Ticketing Email Monitors and Replies

This article describes how to configure Ticketing application Email Replies and Email Monitors in TeamDynamix. These services allow users to interact with TeamDynamix via email—creating tickets, adding comments, and updating work items — without logging in to the system.

Prerequisites

Before configuring email services, you must complete the prerequisite setup tasks.

• An email authentication account
• A TeamDynamix service account or user account with appropriate permissions
• A mailbox in your email provider

For Email Replies: Use a non-intuitive address (e.g., td-replies@example.edu) and hide it from your organization's global address list. This address is designed only to process replies to existing notifications that contain reply tokens. If users email it directly without a token, the system cannot process the message, which creates confusion and can add to the support burden. (The Email Monitor address is often intuitive and public (such as helpdesk@example.edu), encouraging users to email directly to create tickets.)

See the Getting Started with Email Service article for more details. 

In this article, we’ll cover:

• Configuring Required Folders in the Email Mailbox
• Configuring Ticketing Application-Level Email Replies
• Configuring Ticketing Application Email Monitors
• Monitoring and Maintenance

Configuring Required Folders in the Email Mailbox

Both Email Replies and Email Monitors require a specific folder structure in the email mailbox to process emails correctly. TeamDynamix reads emails from a designated folder and moves them to different folders depending on whether processing succeeded or failed.

Required Folder Structure

You will need to create three folders in your email mailbox:

Folder Configuration Options

Option 1: Simple Structure (Most Common)

Create three new folders at the root level of your mailbox alongside the Inbox:

• Monitored Folder: Create a new folder named Monitored
• Processed Folder: Create a new folder named Processed
• Unsuccessful Folder: Create a new folder named Unsuccessful

Option 2: Nested Structure

Create subfolders inside the Inbox to keep all email service-related folders organized together:

• Monitored Folder: Create Inbox/Monitored as a subfolder
• Processed Folder: Create Inbox/Processed as a subfolder
• Unsuccessful Folder: Create Inbox/Unsuccessful as a subfolder

Understanding Spam Risk: Email Monitors vs. Email Replies

The two email services handle unwanted emails differently:

• Email Replies are inherently protected against spam. The service only processes emails that contain valid reply tokens (unique identifiers embedded in TeamDynamix notifications). Spam emails and other unsolicited messages will not create comments in TeamDynamix because they lack these tokens. These emails will simply be moved to the Unsuccessful folder.

• Email Monitors will process any email in the monitored folder and attempt to create a ticket, making them vulnerable to spam. Without proper filtering, junk emails, spam, and other unwanted messages could create numerous unintended tickets in your system.

Preventing Spam and Junk Email from Creating Tickets

If you configure TeamDynamix to monitor the main Inbox folder, the Email Monitor will process every email that arrives in that mailbox—including spam, junk mail, and other unwanted messages. Each of these emails could potentially create a ticket in your system. To prevent this, we recommend using a dedicated "Monitored" folder that contains only legitimate emails from your organization.

By monitoring a separate "Monitored" folder instead of the Inbox, you can use email rules to automatically filter which emails TeamDynamix processes

Recommended Spam Prevention Setup

1. Create a "Monitored" folder (either at the root level or as Inbox/Monitored, depending on which folder configuration option you selected).
2. Configure TeamDynamix to monitor only the Monitored folder (not the main Inbox).
3. Create an email rule in your email system that automatically moves emails from your organization's domain into the Monitored folder.
   • Example rule: "If sender email address ends with @example.edu, move to Monitored"
4. Spam and junk emails will stay in the main Inbox folder, where they won't be processed by TeamDynamix.
5. Schedule periodic reviews: Have staff check the main Inbox regularly for legitimate external emails (from vendors, partners, etc.) that should be manually moved to the Monitored folder.

Separating Email Replies and Email Monitors

Important: Email Monitors and Email Replies cannot monitor the same folder in the same mailbox.

You have two options to keep Email Replies and Email Monitors separated:

Option 1: Separate Email Accounts (Recommended)

Use two different email accounts:

• Email account 1: Dedicated to Email Replies (e.g., td-replies@example.edu)
• Email account 2: Dedicated to Email Monitors for ticket creation (e.g., helpdesk@example.edu)

This approach provides the cleanest separation and avoids any potential conflicts or log noise.

Option 2: Separate Folders in One Account

Use a single email account with separate folders and email forwarding rules:

1. Create separate folder structures:
   • Inbox/Replies - monitored by Email Replies service
   • Inbox/NewTickets - monitored by Email Monitor service
2. Set up email forwarding rules in your email system to route emails to the appropriate folder based on the destination address or other criteria.
3. Configure Email Replies to monitor Inbox/Replies
4. Configure Email Monitors to monitor Inbox/NewTickets

Why separation matters: When Email Replies and Email Monitors scan the same folder, each service generates log entries for emails it skips (those intended for the other service). This creates unnecessary log noise and can make troubleshooting more difficult.

Maintenance Considerations

• Monitor the Unsuccessful folder regularly: Review emails that couldn't be processed to identify configuration issues or problems with incoming email format.
• Archive or purge the Processed folder periodically: Emails that have been successfully processed accumulate in this folder and should be archived or deleted in accordance with your organization's email retention policies.
• Clear the Monitored folder before activation: Before activating a new Email Monitor, ensure the monitored folder contains only emails you want to become tickets. The monitor will process every email in the folder when first activated.

Configuring Ticketing Application-Level Email Replies

Email Replies allow users to respond to TeamDynamix notifications via email. When enabled, the system processes incoming emails and adds them as comments to tickets, tasks, issues, and other work items.

Understanding Email Replies Scope

Email replies can be configured at two levels:

• Organization-level: A single email replies configuration that applies across all applications in your TeamDynamix environment
• Application-level: Custom email replies configurations for individual Ticketing, Client Portal, or Asset/CI applications

Most organizations configure email replies at the organization level. Application-level configurations are only needed when different applications require distinct reply-to addresses or processing rules. This article will cover only Application-level email replies. For details on configuring organization-level email replies, see the Email Replies article.

Application-level Email Replies

Each Ticketing application can override the organization-level email replies configuration with custom settings.

To configure Ticketing application email replies:

1. Open the Email Replies page in the Admin UI:
   • Ticketing Application Admins: In Work Management, go to the Ticketing Application > gear icon > Admin > Email > Email Replies
   • Global Admins: In TDAdmin, navigate to Applications > [Ticketing App Name] > Email > Email Replies
2. Under How should email replies be handled?, select Use custom email reply settings for this application.
3. Configure the reply token settings:
   1. Check the Enable reply-by-email tokens checkbox to enable the system to generate unique reply tokens when sending notifications.
      • In the Email token reply-to address field, enter the email address that will appear as the reply-to address in all notifications for this Ticketing application (e.g., td-replies@example.edu).
4. Enable and configure the monitoring service:
   1. Check the Enable email replies monitoring checkbox to activate the email reply monitoring service.
   2. From the Auth Account dropdown, select the Email Authentication Account that connects to your replies mailbox.
5. Configure folder settings:
   1. Monitored Folder Name: Enter the name of the folder where reply emails will be read (e.g., Monitored).
   2. Processed Folder Name: Enter the name of the folder where successfully processed emails will be moved (e.g., Processed).
   3. Unsuccessful Folder Name: Enter the name of the folder where emails that couldn't be processed will be moved (e.g., Unsuccessful).
6. If your Processed or Unsuccessful folders are nested inside other folders (like the Inbox), provide the full folder path using forward slashes, e.g.:
   • Inbox/Monitored
   • Inbox/Processed
   • Inbox/Unsuccessful
7. Configure error notifications and service account credentials:
   1. In the Error To Email field, enter the email address that should receive notifications if the email service encounters errors.
   2. In the TD Username field, enter the username for the TeamDynamix User Account that the email service will use to create comments and updates.
   3. In the TD Password field, enter the password for this TeamDynamix account.
8. Configure optional processing settings as desired:
   • Attachments - Enable to allow attachments to be added to tickets via email replies
   • Comments - Public comments will appear in the Client Portal
9. Click Save.

The email reply monitor will now begin processing replies from the configured mailbox.

Important: If you select "Use custom email reply settings for this application" but leave the fields blank, notifications from this application will not include reply tokens. Replies to these emails will go directly to the responsible person's email address and will not be captured in TeamDynamix.

Testing and Verification

After configuring email replies:

1. Create a test ticket in Work Management that is configured to send you a notification email.
2. Reply to the notification email.
3. Check the ticket feed to verify that your reply appears as a comment.
4. Navigate to the Logs tab on the Email Replies configuration page to review processing logs.
5. Look for entries indicating successful email processing.

If replies are not appearing as comments, review the Monitoring and Maintenance section for troubleshooting guidance.

Creating Email Monitor Rules

To set up email monitor rules:

1. On the Email Monitor page, click the Rules tab.
2. Click the +New button.
3. In the Name field, enter a descriptive name for the rule (e.g., "Password Reset Requests").
4. Configure the rule matching criteria:
   • In the Contains field, enter the text that must appear in the email subject for this rule to apply.
   • Leave this field blank to create a catch-all rule that applies to emails that don't match any other rule.

5. Configure the ticket settings that will be applied when this rule matches:
   • Ticket Type: Select the ticket type for created tickets.
   • Classification: Choose the ticket classification (Incident, Service Request, etc.).
   • Form: Select which ticket form should be used.
   • Status: Set the initial status for created tickets.
   • Priority: Assign a priority level.
   • Responsible Group: Assign the ticket to a specific group.
   • Configure any other available ticket profile fields as needed.
6. Click Save.
7. Create additional rules as needed, then arrange them in the desired processing order using drag-and-drop.

Best Practice: Always include a catch-all rule (with a blank Contains field) as your last rule. This ensures that all emails create tickets, even if they don't match specific criteria. Place this rule last in the processing order.

Example Rule Structure

Testing and Verification

After configuring your email monitor and rules:

1. Send a test email to the monitored mailbox that matches one of your rules.
2. Wait for the next monitoring cycle (typically runs every few minutes).
3. Check your Ticketing Application to verify that a ticket was created.
4. Verify that the ticket has the expected settings based on your rule configuration.
5. Check the Logs tab on the Email Monitor page to review processing activity.
6. Send additional test emails to verify that different rules work as expected.

Monitoring and Maintenance

Using the Logs Tab

Both Email Replies and Email Monitors include a Logs tab that displays processing activity and errors. Use the logs to:

• Verify that the service is running correctly
• Identify authentication failures (indicating expired passwords or incorrect credentials)
• Diagnose why specific emails aren't being processed
• Monitor overall service health

To view logs:

1. Navigate to the Email Replies or Email Monitor configuration page.
2. Click the Logs tab.
3. Use the date range picker to filter logs:
   • Click the preset options (Today, Yesterday, Last 7 Days, etc.) for quick filters.
   • Click specific dates to create a custom date range.
4. Review log entries for status updates, successful processing confirmations, or error messages.

Regular Maintenance Tasks

To ensure reliable email service operation:

• Monitor the Unsuccessful folder: Regularly review emails that couldn't be processed to identify issues with rule configuration or email content.
• Emails stuck in the monitored folder won't create duplicate tickets: If an email remains in the monitored folder after processing — for example, because the monitor couldn't move it to the Processed folder — the system marks it as already processed. The monitor won't try to create a ticket from it again. You can safely move or delete these emails manually without worrying about duplicate processing. To check whether a stuck email has already been processed, open the monitor's Logs tab and search by subject line.
• Password management: Set service account passwords to never expire or create a scheduled ticket reminder to update passwords before they expire. Password expiration is the most common cause of email service failures.
• Review logs weekly: Check logs regularly to catch authentication issues or processing errors before they impact users.
• Update rules as needed: Review and adjust monitor rules based on actual ticket creation patterns and user feedback.