Feature Availability

Introduction

​Vtiger Inbox
The Inbox allows you to manage all your emails from the CRM. You can easily establish a two-way sync with multiple email accounts and receive emails (from them) in the Inbox. You can also create individual or group inboxes. 

Why must I use Vtiger's Inbox, you ask?
With Vtiger CRM’s Inbox, you can do much more than send and receive emails! It puts you at ease with the following possibilities: 

• Email assignment: Team members can view their emails in group mailboxes. These emails can be assigned to a group member directly from the mailbox. 
• Marking emails as Done: When work on an email is complete, mark the email as ‘Done’ and move it out of your inbox. Emails marked as ‘Done’ go to the Done folder.
• Reply-to email IDs: Select reply-to email IDs dynamically while composing emails! You can select any of your email IDs set up in Inbox as a reply-to email.
• Comments in emails: Collaborate with your team members on a group mailbox through comments! Mention your team members in an email, and they can view it when they open the email.
• Email syncing: Two-way sync makes it easy to sync emails between your CRM inbox and email client and view them all in the CRM.
• Automated email linking: When an email is received, you can automatically link it to the contact who sent it by setting up Mailroom rules.  

• My Mailbox  - to configure your inbox as an individual user and receive emails to your inbox.
• Group Mailboxes - to configure a shared mailbox for your team and receive group emails.

Inbox Features

•  Folders: The Inbox has separate folders for different email categories. 
  • Open: Emails that have just arrived or emails that have not been opened stay in this folder. 
  • Drafts: Emails that are composed but not sent are present in the Drafts folder.
  • Done: Emails marked as Done are sent to this folder. When work on an email is complete, or an email conversation is closed, it is marked as done. When a reply comes to a conversation in the Done folder, it is reopened and moved to the Open folder.
  • Sent: Emails that were sent can be viewed in this folder. 
  • Reminders: Emails with reminders are sent to the Reminders folder.
• Trash: Deleted emails go to Trash. Skip the ‘Email Actions’ section to learn more about deleting emails. When a reply comes to a conversation in the Trash folder, it is reopened and moved to the Open folder.
• Filters: Use the Search bar at the top of the email list to find an email. You can type keywords such as sender’s name, email subject, etc., to find emails.
• Mass-select: You can select all emails on the current page by clicking the Mass-select radio button and perform actions such as Mark as Done, Assign, Mark as Read, Mark as Unread, and Delete. 

Actions possible in the Inbox

• Assign option: When an email arrives from a customer, you can assign it to a user, who will be responsible for following up with the customer. You can mass-select emails and assign them to any user.  

• Configuration: The Settings icon is on the top-right corner of a mailbox and lets you add or delete personal and group mailboxes, edit mailbox settings, and view or edit mailroom rules.
• Drop-down: The drop-down on the top left allows you to switch between My Mailbox and group mailboxes. Click the drop-down and select a mailbox to view emails. 
• Pagination: Your search for specific emails becomes easy with the pagination in Vtiger CRM. You can find it in the top right corner above the email list.

Benefits of using Vtiger Inbox

The benefits of using Vtiger inbox are as follows:

• All emails from multiple accounts can be managed in a single location.
• Seamlessly synchronize emails between your CRM and email client.
• Share emails with team members for collaborative work and better communication.
• Assign emails to specific team members for efficient task accountability.
• Automatically associate incoming emails with relevant contacts.
• Organize emails by status, easily identifying completed tasks.

Actions you can perform on an email

• Reassign email: You can assign emails to another user by using the option displayed beside the email subject. 
• Open contact record: This option is visible beside the reassign email option only if you have the sender’s details saved as a contact. You can use it to open the contact record.
• Edit Reminder: You can create a reminder to reply to or follow up with an email by clicking the Edit Reminder option. Emails with a reminder appear on top of the email lists in a folder.
• Mark as Done: After an email conversion ends, you can mark it as done using the Mark As Done option. Emails marked as Done are moved to the Done folder.
• Mark as Read: You can use the Mark as Read option to mark an email as Read. 
• Make Private: Mark a conversation as Private by using the Make Private option displayed under the ellipsis. Private conversations are only viewable for users of the mailbox. You can identify private conversations with a Lock icon when you hover over them.
• Delete: This option deletes a conversation. Deleted conversations are sent to Trash.
• Create or link record: This option helps you use the details in the email; you can create a record in the CRM or link the email to a record in the CRM.

• For instance, a customer requests a discount greater than the usual discount margin. As a sales rep, you can directly mention your sales manager in the email conversation, which benefits from transparency. 
• Your manager will get a notification under the @mentions tab on the Actions page. They can reply to your comment directly from the notification in @mentions.
• To learn more about comments and @mentions in Vtiger CRM, click here.

• Setting up an Inbox
• Setting up a Group Inbox
• Establishing Two-Way Sync Between Vtiger and IMAP Providers
• Automating tasks in a Mailroom
• Deleting a Mailbox
• Editing a Mailbox
• Compose an email

Setting Up Your Inbox

1. You must have configured the Server Type and Server Name in Vtiger Mail Server Settings.
2. Not all email service providers are displayed on the screen. Select Other if your email service provider is not displayed. 
3. If you have configured your email server provider, details such as user names will automatically be filled in. 
4. In case the name of the email service provider is not displayed on the screen, then select Other. If you select other, the system will fetch the user name that you have provided while configuring email settings (Settings > Email Settings > Mail Server Settings (SMTP)). 

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Sales.
4. Select Inbox.  

5. Select the Configuration icon in the top right corner. The Mailbox Settings window opens.

6. Select one of these options: 
   1. My Mailbox - to configure your inbox as an individual user and to receive emails to your inbox.
   2. Group Mailboxes - to configure a shared mailbox for your team and receive group emails. 

Setting up My Mailbox

• Auto-forwarding (or one-way sync)
• Two-way sync

Setting up My Mailbox with auto-forwarding or one-way sync

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Sales.
4. Select Inbox.

5. Select the Configuration icon in the top right corner. A Mailbox Settings Dialog box opens.

6. Click My Mailbox.
7. Click +Add My Mailbox. The My Mailbox Setup window opens.

8. Choose the Forward incoming emails and CC Vtiger address on the outgoing emails option and click Go >. An Adding My Mailbox dialog box appears.

9. Select or enter the following details in the Adding My Mailbox dialog box:

• Address: Enter your email address.
• Add BCC address for replies: Enter your BCC email address (optional).

10. Click Save.

OAuth for SMTP Outgoing Server​​​​​​

OAuth has been enabled for SMTP Outgoing server and Inbox (IMAP sync) configuration for public email service providers like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo.

While configuring the SMTP details (username and password), you can now use the OAuth login feature for app-specific passwords.

Two-way sync

Two-way sync syncs emails between your email client and Vtiger CRM. By enabling two-way sync, you can bring emails from your email client into your mailbox and emails from your mailbox into your email client. This makes accessing your emails easy for you.

Setting up My Mailbox with two-way sync

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Sales.
4. Select Inbox.

5. Select the Configuration icon in the top right corner. A Mailbox Settings Dialog box opens.

6. Select My Mailbox.
7. Select +Add to My Mailbox.

8. Choose 2-way sync and click Go >. The 2-way Sync Setup window opens.

9. Enter your email address in the Please Enter Your Email Address field.
10. Click Proceed.

 

11. Choose your email address and sign in to your email client. The My Mailbox Setup window opens.

12. Enter or select your inbox settings:

• Folders: The folders you want to see in your inbox.
• Choose time period: The period from which you want to sync emails.
• Sync emails from: Select other mandatory fields. Note: The information you enter in this step depends on the email client you are using.

13. Click Save.

Setting up a Group Mailbox

You can have a default name for your Group Mailbox. You can allow users to set a default From name when creating and editing a Group Mailbox and allow the from name to be overwritten from the mail composer window for ad-hoc emails.

If a default name is not set, the system will display the user's First and Last names.

You can set the Default name when adding a New Group Mailbox.

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Sales.
4. Select Inbox. 

5. Select the Settings icon on the top right corner. The Mailbox Settings window opens.

6. Select Group Mailbox.
7. Select +Add Group Mailbox.

8. Enter or select the following information in the Adding New Group Mailbox window:
   1. Address - The email ID of the group. 
   2. You can enable the Mark incoming emails as private by default checkbox to ensure that private emails to group members are visible only to the receivers.  
   3. Mailbox name - The group name.
   4. Who should have access to this group mailbox? - The users or teams that have access to the mailbox
   5. Does this account have a password? - Select the second option, as Group Inboxes do not have passwords.
      1. Yes (Individual accounts have passwords
      2. No (Group accounts and aliases do not have a password)
   6. Add BCC address for replies - Add a BCC address.
9. Click Save.

Establishing Two-Way Sync Between Vtiger and IMAP Providers

1. Not all email service providers are displayed on the screen. Select Other if your email service provider is not displayed. 
2. In case the name of the email service provider is not displayed on the screen, then select Other. 

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Sales.
4. Select Inbox.

5. Click the Settings icon on the top right corner.

6. A Mailbox Settings window appears.
7. Click Add My Mailbox.

8. Select 2-way sync and click Go >.

9. Enter the Email address.
10. Click Proceed.

11. Click Other.
    1. Note: The screen displays different email accounts listed with Vtiger CRM. If your email service provider is not listed on the screen, click Other.
12. Click Proceed. My Mailbox Setup window opens.

13. Enter or select the following information:
    1. Credentials
       1. Email Provider: Choose your email provider.
       2. Username: Enter your username. 
       3. Password: Enter your password. 
       4. Certificate: Choose Validate certificate or Do not validate the certificate.
          1. Validate certificate: You can choose this option if your email server is with an external service provider. Vtiger CRM will validate your credentials with the email service provider to enable the sync process.
          2. Do not validate the certificate: You can choose this option if your server is hosted internally, as the email server domain is not accessible to outside resources. 
       5. IMAP Server: Enter IMAP server information.
       6. SMTP server: Enter SMTP server information. 
       7. Requires Authentication: Select this option if you have chosen Other as the service provider. The CRM will validate your credentials with the service provider.
       8. SSL Peer Verification
14. Click Verify Credentials & Fetch Folders.

 

14. Enter or select the following information.
    1. Folders (Folders will be displayed only if your credentials are validated. Folders displayed are the folders available in the Inbox of your email service provider. For example, the folders in your Aruba email account will appear here.)
       1. Choose the folders that you want to sync with the Drafts, Sent, and Trash folders. 
       2. Select the Sent folder.
       3. Select the Trash folder.
       4. Note: By default, Vtiger will provide 5 folders in your Inbox. You can select three more. 
    2. Choose time period 
       1. Sync emails from - select from the following options.
          1. Now - to receive emails from the time and date you set up the Inbox.
          2. 1 month - to receive emails from the past month (from the date of Inbox setup).
          3. 3 months - to receive emails from the past 3 months (from the date of Inbox setup).
          4. 6 months - to receive emails from the past 6 months (from the date of Inbox setup).
       2. Mark incoming emails as private: Selecting this option will ensure only the designated Inbox user will be able to see Activity section updates. Else other users will also be able to see the updates to the Activity section.
       3. Note: You need to provide consent about mails being delivered by the Outgoing Server configured by your admin if Vtiger cannot connect to your email account.

Now that you have learned about the different functions of the Inbox, you can start receiving your emails. You can also send emails to others from your Inbox using the Compose button.
​

Automating Mailroom Tasks (Mailroom Automation)

Setting up mailroom rules from Inbox

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials.
4. Select Inbox. 

5.  Click the Settings icon on the top right corner.
6. Click the Automate Tasks tab in the Mailbox Settings window.
7. Click:
   1. Add New Action to add a new mailroom rule.
   2. The Edit icon to edit a mailroom rule.

​

Editing or Adding Mailboxes

You can edit your mailbox settings by following these steps:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials.
4. Select Inbox.
5. Click Configure on top right of the screen.
6. Click on Edit.
7. Edit the required details.
8. Click Save.

You also have the option to add a mailbox under Mailbox Settings.

Deleting Mailboxes

Deleting My Mailbox address

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials.
4. Select Inbox. 

5.  Click the Settings icon on the top right corner. 

6.  Click the My Mailbox tab in the Mailbox Settings window.
7. Select Delete Mailbox. 

8.  Type ‘My Mailbox’ in the textbox provided.
9. Click Delete. 

Deleting a Group Mailbox address

1.  Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials.
4. Select Inbox.  

5.  Click the Settings icon on the top right corner. 

6.  Click the Group Mailboxes tab in the Mailbox Settings window.
7. Click the Delete icon located on the right. Note: To prevent accidental deletion, transfer emails to another group mailbox address. 

8.  Select an email address from the Transfer Mails drop-down to transfer your emails.
9. Type the mailbox name in the textbox to confirm the deletion.
10. Click Delete. 

Composing an Email

To compose an email, click the Compose button located on top of a mailbox.

The Compose Email window has the following actionable items:

Step 1: Selecting modules for the To email address
You can manually enter the recipient’s email ID for the To address or use the drop-down to select a CRM record to fetch the email ID.
Follow these steps to insert a To address using the drop-down:

1.  Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Sales.
4. Select Inbox.   

5.  Click the Compose button. 

 

6.  Click the drop-down located beside the To address in the Compose Email window.
7. Click the Magnifier icon to view records in the selected module. 

8.  Click on a record to select it as the To address.  

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials.
4. Select Inbox.
5. Click the Compose button. 

6.  Click the More button on the right side. 

7. Click the Reply to drop-down to choose a Reply To email address. 

1.  Insert Appointment Link

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Sales.
4. Select Appointment Pages.

2. Insert Survey Link

3. Vtiger Document

4. Upload and Insert

5.  Merge Template

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials.
4. Select Inbox.
5. Click the Compose button.
6. Click Insert Link in the Compose Email window. 

7.  Select Merge Template. 

8.  Choose a module from the Select Module drop-down.
9.  Choose a template from the Select Template drop-down.

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials.
4. Select Inbox.
5. Click the Compose button.

6. Click Select Email Template.

7. Select the parameter you want to base your search on; for example, module name, template subject, and template description. 

8. Select an email template.

1.  Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials.
4. Select Inbox.
5. Click the Compose button.
6. Click the Attach Files drop-down.
7. Choose: 
   1. From Computer to browse to your local computer to attach a file
   2. From CRM to browse through your documents in the Documents module 

1.  Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials.
4. Select Inbox.
5. Click the Compose button. 

6.  Click the drop-down beside the Send button.
7. Pick a date and time.
8. Click Send.

The email gets scheduled for the date and time you select. 

Troubleshooting 

Here are some common issues users encounter while using a Vtiger Inbox.

1. If a user changes their password for a linked account or severs their connection to Vtiger, they will need to reauthorize their access. 

Follow these steps to sync the inbox:

1. Go to Inbox.
2. Click on the reauthorize button.
3. Add the email and password in the pop-window that appears.

Now, it will redirect you to the inbox and be ready to sync again.

2. When a user enables auto-forwarding on their inbox but isn’t verified by email client.

Follow these steps to verify your inbox:

1. Go to client email.
2. Open Sent email.
3. Click on the Activate button.
4. The inbox will now be verified.

3. While a user may have verified the auto-forwarding option in their email client, they must also set up a forwarding rule to redirect incoming emails to the desired address.

Follow these steps to set up the auto-forwarding option:

1. Copy mailroom address.
2. Go to client email.
3. Click on Settings.
4. Go to forwarding and POP/IMAP settings.
5. Add auto-forwarding mailroom address: This will send a verification email to the mailroom address.
6. Go to the mailroom.
7. Open Sent email
8. Copy the link that appears in the window and paste it in a new tab.
9. Click on Confirm button.
10. Navigate to email settings and refresh the page.

Now, it shows the mailroom address as an auto-forwarding address, and click on Save.

4. Only the inbox folder is synced when a user sets up auto-forwarding in the inbox.

Auto forwarding inbox syncs only the Gmail client's inbox folder. To sync all other folders, set up a two-way sync inbox.

5. For newly created records, the source is indicated as "Gmail - inbox".

When a two-way sync inbox is set up, it will also check all the mailroom actions, and the record created will show the source as Gmail-inbox / Microsoft-Inbox. However, emails will not land in the mailroom. 

6. Emails sent from the inbox are not delivered to the recipient’s inbox.

Users who haven't added Vtiger as a trusted application in G Suite will experience this problem. To resolve this, you'll need to whitelist Vtiger in G Suite.

7. What email IDs are listed in the from and reply to address drop-down?

• The From tab displays the following email address: User’s primary email address, My mailbox email address, Group mailbox email address.
• The Reply to address will display the user’s primary email address, My mailbox email address, and Group mailbox email address.
• If the server is other than Vtiger, the From tab will show only the server-set email address.
• If a two-way sync inbox is set up, the From tab also shows the two-way sync inbox address.

8. Users are unable to map more than three folders.

Vtiger's two-way inbox synchronization feature automatically includes the draft, sent, and trash folders. Users can additionally choose to sync up to three other folders with their Vtiger inbox.

9. Users facing issues in accessing the mailboxes

The inbox will not be visible when accessing CRM settings and logging in as another user. To view the inbox, you must log in using your username and password.

10. Setting up automation from the inbox.

When an email is received in the inbox, it checks mailroom actions, and if the received email satisfies the condition, it performs the actions. 

Note: Emails received from the 2-way sync inbox will not show in the mailroom's show emails tab, but it will check the mailroom actions and perform them.

11. What actions can be performed in a received email?

Once an email is received, you can perform the following actions:

For personal inbox: Mark as done, set reminders, create and link records, delete emails, Add comments in threads. Create draft records.

For the group mailbox: Assign to other members of the group, Mark as done, set reminders, create and link records, delete emails, Add comments in threads, create draft records, and move emails from one group inbox to another.