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Introduction to Email Functionality in Sugar

Overview

Some critical CRM functions rely on integrating Sugar with an email system. This article is an introduction to the options available for sending and receiving mail in Sugar.

Prerequisites

If you are not familiar with your email system and advanced email concepts, you should enlist help from the email administrator in your IT department before configuring Sugar to integrate with your email system.

Sending Email

Email messages can be sent through Sugar using an outgoing email account, which can include the default user email account, personal email accounts, as well as shared email accounts. In certain circumstances, the system email account may be available to use to send emails.

For more information on outgoing email accounts, please refer to the Emails documentation in the Application Guide. The following sections provide an overview of each outgoing email account type.

User Email Accounts

User email accounts can be created by all users via Emails > Email Settings and can consist of the user's personal email accounts (e.g., jane@example.com) as well as any shared email accounts (e.g., support@example.com, sales@example.com). Please note that user email accounts can only be edited by the record owner. In addition, the "Allow users to configure email accounts" option must be enabled in Admin > System Email Settings in order for users to create new outgoing email accounts. Reach out to your Sugar administrator if you do not see the Create button in the Outgoing Email Accounts list view. For more information on configuring outgoing user email accounts, please refer to the Emails documentation in the Application Guide.

  • Personal Email Accounts: Sugar users can configure one or more personal or work-related email accounts (e.g., jane@example.com, jane.smith@mycompany.com) to send email messages through Sugar. Personal email accounts will only be available for the current user since it is assigned to their private team.    
  • Shared Email Accounts: As of Sugar 9.0.x, shared email accounts can be created by any user and allows groups of users to send outbound email messages using the same email account (e.g., support@example.com). In order to share outgoing email accounts, the user must assign the email account to the specific team(s) who can use this account to send emails. Once created, the shared email account will appear in the Outgoing Email Accounts list view for all users belonging to at least one of the assigned teams.

Default User Email Account

A default email account is automatically created by Sugar for each user and uses the primary email address stored in the user's profile. To use this account, users need to make sure that the Username and Password fields are configured properly. 

For steps to configure your email account, please refer to the Emails documentation in the Application Guide.

Note: The users' default email accounts may be affected by the "Allow users to use this account for outgoing email" option in Admin > System Email Settings. If the administrator has enabled the option, users will not be able to configure their default email account and must instead utilize the system email account or create a new user email account. The system email account will display in the Outgoing Email Accounts list view with an asterisk (*) to indicate that it is a system account.

System Email Account

The system's outbound email setting is configured by the administrator via Admin > System Email Settings. Sugar uses this account to send campaigns and email notifications such as password reset emails, record assignment notifications, and workflow alerts. By default, administrators will see the system email account in the Outgoing Email Accounts list view. Though uncommon, the administrator may choose to allow users to send email using the system email account by enabling the "Allow users to use this account for outgoing email" option in Admin > System Email Settings. Once enabled, users will not be able to configure their default email account and must instead utilize the system email account or create a new user email account. In addition, users will see the system email account in the Outgoing Email Accounts list view with an asterisk (*) to indicate that it is a system account. 

Receiving Email

Emails arrive in the Sugar application when they get archived or if they are received by a group mail or bounce-handling account. The following sections provide a brief overview of these functions.

Archiving Emails

Users can archive emails they receive using one or more of the following techniques. Click on the linked content for more information on any of the functions.

Group Inbound Email Account

Group inbound email accounts allow multiple users, such as team members, to view emails from an external mail account. When emails are addressed to your organization but not to any particular user, you can route them to a Group mail account such as support@example.com or sales@example.com. Users can subsequently distribute emails in the Group mail account to other team members. Emails received to a Group mail account will have no assigned user unless Create Case from Email has been enabled for the account.

For instructions on setting up a group inbound email account, please refer to the Email documentation in the Administration Guide.

Bounce Handling Mail Accounts

Bounce handling email accounts catch campaign emails that are returned to the server, or "bounced" back due to incorrect email addresses or incompatible server settings on the receiving end. You can create a bounce handling inbox separately for each campaign, or you can create one that is common to all campaigns. The system tags every bounced campaign email with a unique identifier that enables you to identify the campaign.

For instructions on setting up a bounce handling account, please refer to the Email documentation in the Administration Guide.