How to create email rules to automatically process collected emails into new items

NetSupport ServiceDesk includes a feature that allows for emails that are collected by the ServiceDesk Server to be read and, if the required email rules are in place, to be automatically processed into new items.

Creating the required rules

1. Log into the ServiceDesk system with a user account that has Administrator rights.
2. Go to Admin | Email | Rules.
3. Expand the Rules for creating a new item from the Mail section.

There is a minimum of three email rules that need to be created in the ServiceDesk system for the automatic item creation to be enabled.

Contact email address
Click New Rule and enter a name for the rule.
Choose The From Address from the Where to look for the data drop-down field.
Choose The Contacts Email Address from the Destination Field drop-down field.
From the How to find the data drop-down field, select the option Entire Field.
Ensure this rule is enabled and click Save.

Category description
Click New Rule and enter a name for the rule, e.g. Print Types.
Choose The Subject and Body from the Where to look for the data drop-down field.
Choose The Description of the Category from the Destination Field drop-down field.
From the How to find the data drop-down field, select the option Find the Value of Data1 and set to Data2. Two new fields will appear.
For example, to log emails relating to paper jams in the Data1 field, enter Paper Jam.
Then choose the relevant Category from the Data2 drop-down to use.
Ensure this rule is enabled and click Save.

Item description
Click New Rule and enter a name for the rule.
Choose The Body of the Email from the Where to look for the data drop-down field.
Choose The Description from the Destination Field drop-down field.
From the How to find the data drop-down field, select the option Entire Field.
Ensure this rule is enabled and click Save.

When a user sends an email to the ServiceDesk email address, as long as this includes the text ‘paper jam’ in the email, and the user exists in the ServiceDesk system, the email will automatically be processed, and a new item will be created for that Contact. You can then create additional category description rules to process common issues sent to you via email.

It is also possible to enable full logging of the POP3 Mail process to identify why the ServiceDesk system was not able to collect/process the waiting emails if this is an issue.

1. Run regedit and go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\NetSupport Ltd\DNA Helpdesk\POPMail location.
2. Double click the LogLevel entry in the right-hand pane and change the value to 9 (decimal).
3. Restart the NetSupport Service Desk POP3 Mail Service service.
4. Navigate to the C:\Program Files (x86)\NetSupport\NetSupport Service Desk\LogFiles and you should see an HDPOPMailxx-xx-xx.log file.

Check this log file as it will contain the reason why the emails could not be collected/processed. A copy of the POP3 Mail log file can be emailed to [email protected] if you would like to raise a call for us to check the entries for potential issues.