Home > Administrative > Configure Email Settings
Configure Email Settings
Web Tracks can be setup to automatically send email notifications when a new ticket is created or an existing ticket is modified. Web Tracks can also be configured to monitor an email address and automatically create service desk tickets when new messages are received.
To start using the automated email feature you will need to configure your Email Settings. To configure the Email Settings, you must have Administrative access to Web Tracks. From the Admin Menu click 'Configure Email'.
MAIL SERVER TAB (outgoing mail)
From Email - Enter the email address from which the tickets will be sent (e.g., servicedesk@yourcompany.com).
IMPORTANT:
If you are using the Email-To-Ticket converter Web Tracks will not send emails to the account which is used to process the conversions (the incoming mail tab). It behaves in this manner to prevent the possibility of a circular email chain.
If you are using the Email-To-Ticket converter it is recommend that you use the same email account used in tab #4 (incoming mail).
Display Name - Enter a descriptive name for the "From Email" address (e.g., Service Desk).
SMTP Server - Enter the DNS name or IP Address of your SMTP Mail Server.
Port - Enter the Port for your SMTP Mail Server uses. This is typically port 25. If you are using SSL the port is usually 465. If you are using TLS the typical port is 587.
Encryption Method - Web Tracks supports Plain Text, TLS (Common in Office365), and SSL.
SMTP Server Requires Authentication - If your mail server requires a user ID and password you will need to check this option to display these fields.
User ID - Enter the User ID you wish to use to login to your SMTP Server (if authentication is required)
Password - Enter the password for your SMTP Mail Server (if authentication is required)
NOTIFCATION OPTIONS TAB
The following settings apply when a ticket is processed by a end-user (not a technician) or the Email-To-Ticket Converter:
Email assigned technician(s) when a ticket is created?
Text* assigned technician(s) when a ticket is created?
Email assigned technician(s) when a ticket is updated?
Text* assigned technician(s) when a ticket is updated?
Email requester and CC'd users when a ticket is created?
Email requester and CC'd users when a ticket is updated?
The following applies to tickets which are updated or created by a technician:
Email Technician(s) when assigned to a Ticket (applies to new and existing tickets)?
Text* Technician(s) when assigned to a Ticket (applies to new and existing tickets)?
Email Technician when unassigned from a Ticket?
Text* Technician(s) when unassigned from a Ticket?
Self Notify - This applies to technicians only. End-User notification settings are set above. If Self Notify is NOT checked the technician performing the action that triggers the email is excluded from the email list (presumably they are already aware since they were the one performing the action that caused the email to be sent). If this option is checked they will receive the email as well (assuming they would have been a recipient of the email).
* STANDARD DATA FEES AND TEXT MESSAGING RATES MAY APPLY BASED ON YOUR PLAN(S) WITH YOUR MOBILE PHONE CARRIER(S). Requires an email to SMS gateway email address in the technician's user record (Open Admin--Lookup Tables--Administrative Tables--Users to edit a users record).
Global Options:
Send Email in HTML format - Choose whether to send emails in HTML format (when checked) or plain text (when not checked).
Send Emails Asynchronously - If checked emails sent by Web Tracks are delegated to a background thread. This allows the program to be more responsive since it does not have to wait for the mail to be sent before continuing. In this mode email errors are not reported back to the user interface. You may wish to uncheck this option if you are debugging an email issue within Web Tracks.
Text Message Character Limit - Depending on the size of the text, your Mobile Carrier may break up large text blocks into multiple text messages (typically when a text exceeds 160 characters). Adjust this value to limit the size of text messages sent by Web Tracks.
MAIL TEMPLATE TAB
Email Subject - Enter the subject text you would like to see when automated emails are sent. The Ticket No. (event.eventNo database field) value will be appended to this value.
New Ticket Prebody Header - Default Value displayed before the Mail Body Template when a new ticket is created (technicians can override this value when manually initiating emails).
Update Ticket Prebody Header- Default Value displayed before the Mail Body Template when a ticket is updated (technicians can override this value when manually initiating emails).
Technician Change Prebody Header - Default Value displayed before the Mail Body Template when the technician of a ticket is changed.
Technician Unassigned Prebody Header - Default Value displayed before the Mail Body Template when a technician receives a notification that they have been unassigned from a ticket.
Mail Body Template (for regular email) - You may modify the mail template to include the fields of your choice. You may choose fields from the ticket, user variables or technician variables as dynamic values within the template. To select a field to include in the email template put your cursor at the desired location within the text area and then select a field from the 'Insert Database Field' drop down list.
You may also include the ticket comments, attachment count and the Ticket Url variable (useful for creating a link back to the ticket detail screen).
Ticket Comment Template (for regular email) - The Mail Body template has two options for displaying ticket comments (new to old, or old to new). If one of these are present the output of the comments will be displayed according to the template. You may choose any field within the Ticket Comments table to display. To select a field to include in the email template put your cursor at the desired location within the text area and then select a field from the 'Insert Database Field' drop down list.
Template for Emails sent as Text Messages -- When Web Tracks "Texts" it will use this template and not use the "Mail Body Template" or "Ticket Comment Template" above. Try to keep this template short to reduce the number of text messages required to get the message through. You may however still insert variables into this field.
EMAIL TO TICKET CONVERSION TAB (incoming mail)
NOTE: If you are using this feature the 'Web Tracks' Windows Service must be running. Messages from this service are registered in the Windows Event Log under the application 'Web Tracks'.
Server Settings
Mail Protocol - Choose either IMAP or POP3
Mail Host -
Enter the DNS name or IP Address of your Mail Server (this is usually the same as your SMTP Server).
Username - User ID of the mail account to monitor.
IMPORTANT: You should use a dedicated email account for Web Tracks. Email that is received in this manner is processed by Web Tracks and then deleted. It is recommended to not use auto forwarders or auto responders with this email account as it could potentially cause a recursive loop. Furthermore Web Tracks will never send an email to this account (again to avoid a circular email loop).
It is recommended that you use the same email account used in Tab #1 (outgoing mail).
Password - The password for the POP or IMAP User Account.
Port - The port used for Email Server (typically 110 for non SSL, or 995 for SSL)
Use SSL - If checked the connection will switch to Secure Socket Layer(SSL) when processing mail.
Test Settings - Click this button to test the server settings you have entered. If you perform this test on a browser on the computer where Web Tracks is installed you will receive a more verbose error message if the test is unsuccessful.
Reply Settings
Restrict replies to Technicians and the requester of the Ticket - if checked replies to the email are only accepted from technicians or the ticket's requester. If unchecked replies are processed regardless of whether or not the user who sent the email has access to view the ticket.
Use the Original Email's Subject for Automated Replies - Check this option if you would like to retain the original subject when a ticket is created via email. If the option is not checked the subject will use the Email Subject format as defined in the Mail Template tab.
Reply Separators - If the email includes the original message within a reply the reply separators are used to determine what is the new portion of the email. Replies to Emails sent from tickets are then processed by Web Tracks and the new portion of the email is added as a comment in the ticket. The Email-To-Ticket converter parses the subject and looks for the ticket number in the right most portion. If it finds a ticket to update it will do so. Otherwise a new ticket will be created.
SmartReply Settings
When replying to an email generated from a Web Tracks ticket you may update database fields for the underlying ticket.
Search Text - The text in the email body to find.
Field/Value Separator - The character(s) that separate the Search Text from the search value.
Database Field Update - The field in the database which will be updated by the search value.
Example 1: If the email body contains a line that reads "Hours=1.5", 1.5 Hours of work time will be added to the ticket (assigned to the technician who sent the email).
Example 2: If the email body contains a line that reads "Tech Group=All Technicians", the email will reassign the ticket to the 'All Technicians' Tech Group.
SmartReply Position within Email
Hidden - Stub out list not included in emails (may still use them but would have to manually type them in).
Top - Stub out list will be displayed at the top of the email body.
Bottom - Stub out list will be displayed at the bottom of the email body.
SmartReply Header Text - Typically a note describing the SmartReply fields and how to use them.
Note: When Web Tracks processes emails using SmartReply commands it does validate the data. To protect the integrity of your data, commands with invalid data are not processed. For example the commands "Hours=asdf" or "Tech Group=IdoNotExist" would simply be ignored.
Signature Remover
Signature remover helps keep your tickets "clean". If a ticket has 20 comments you most likely wouldn't want to see someone's signature cluttering up every comment. Most common email providers do not distinguish between what's in the body of an email and what portion of the email is a "signature". Therefore to remove signatures we need to do it programmatically by matching text to identify the signature.
Common Signature Text - Look at your company's standard signature. Maybe it contains a common phone number or address. If so this is how Web Tracks can identify the signature portion of the email.
Number of lines to remove above the Common Signature Text - When Web Tracks find the 'Common Signature Text' you can also have it remove a few lines above. See the following signature example:
John Doe
Sales Representative
100 Main Street
Phone: 616-555-1212 ext. 122
If this was a signature the "Common Signature Text" would be "100 Main Street". However we also want to remove the lines "Sales Representative" and "John Doe". Setting the Number of lines to remove to "2" would accomplish this.
NOTE: emails that are forwarded will not have their signatures removed.
Email to Ticket Rules
Rule Name
A descriptive name for the rule
Search Scope
The portion of the email on which to search. 'All Fields' will search the sender's email address, the email's subject, and the email's body.
Text to Match
Enter the text for which to search within the email. This is not case sensitive. If left blank the rule will always evaluate to true. This can be useful for a default 'catch all' type rule. If setting up a rule like this make sure its priority is set to a higher number than your other rules.
Ticket Type Assigned
The Ticket Type which the ticket will be assigned. If no value is entered it will use your default Ticket Type (if you have one set).
Ticket Priority Assigned
The Priority to which the ticket will be assigned. If no value is entered it will use the default priority (if you have one set).
Tech Group Assigned
The Tech Group to which the ticket should be assigned. If no value specified it will be determined in the following order:
- If the Ticket Type determined has an 'Auto Assign to Tech Group' this value will be used.
- If the email is from a technician which has a personal tech group (a group where he is the sole member) this will be used.
- If one of your Tech Groups is marked as default this will be used.
Priority Order
This is the rule priority. Rules with lower numbers will be processed first. Once a rule matches the rule processing exits. Values may range between 0 and 999.
Example:
RULE #1
Rule Name: Internet Problem
Search Scope: All Fields
Text to Match: Internet
Priority Order: 2
RULE #2
Rule Name: Internet Problem 2
Search Scope: All Fields
Text to Match: Internet Down
Priority Order: 5
In this scenario the 2nd rule would never be processed since 'Internet' would be found by the first rule. For this reason you should make rules with the most specific text searches have higher priorities than rules with generic text matches.
Active
If checked the rule will be used. If unchecked the rule will be ignored.
Notes
The Web Tracks Windows Service calls the Email-to-Ticket Converter Web Service. This service will assume the root of this website is:
http://%YourServerName%/WebTracks
If this is not the case (i.e., you changed the location in Internet Information Services) you should edit the WebTracksWinService.exe.config file located in C:\Program Files\Gritware\Web Tracks\WinService and adjust the value of the WebServiceUrl key to point to the proper location. See comments in the WebTracksWinService.exe.config file for further instructions. Note that the above Url will not change to reflect that you have customized this.
Service Status
This is an indication of whether or not the Web Tracks Windows Service is running. It must be running or email-to-ticket conversions will not be processed.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING AUTOMATED EMAIL
By default when a ticket is initially created emails are sent to the requester, CC'd users, technician(s) as well as any email addresses specified for the given 'Ticket Type' (you can edit Ticket Types by choosing Admin--Lookup Tables--Ticket Types from the main menu). However since Web Tracks now supports Tech Groups it is no longer advised to use the email field within Ticket Types for the primary means of notifications. This field is mainly used for backward compatibility.
After the initial email is sent, future emails (i.e., when a ticket is updated) are only sent to the technician(s), CC'd Users and the requester.
See also
|