Configuring emails (inbound and outbound)

Email communication

The purpose of this manual is to cover 2 important aspects of a Kayako helpdesk:

• Incoming Emails (POP3/IMAP)
• Outbound Emails (SMTP)

 Incoming Emails

• Emails can be polled using the POP3 or IMAP protocols which need the username and password of an email address (the one which holds the required emails).

• Only an existing email address can be used with this method and the Mailbox Type (protocol) used to pull emails must be supported by the mail server.
• Proper connectivity between the helpdesk and the mail server is required so it needs to be made sure that the Firewall and other security settings at both the mail and helpdesk servers allow this.
• The protocols used have ports reserved for their working at the server and these ports must not be blocked.
•  The details (username and password, hostname and port number) must be correct for the email queue to work. After their verification, the connectivity between servers can be confirmed with the ‘Verify Connection’ option provided under each email queue.

Outbound Emails

• A Kayako helpdesk does not have an SMTP server of its own and needs an SMTP server for every outbound email activity ranging from ticket replies, notifications to survey emails among other things.
• Just like incoming emails, sending emails via an SMTP server requires a working email account with a username and password of its own. This also means that the firewall and other security settings must not interfere in its proper functioning.

• The SMTP details are mentioned under ‘Admin CP > Settings > Email > SMTP Settings’. Details should be mentioned here carefully. Hostname mentioned should resolve to an IP address, if not then the IP address can be specified.
• The sender of outbound emails can be anyone (address mentioned in the ‘From’ field of the message). If this address is of a different SMTP user then the SMTP user being used must have permissions to send on behalf of other users of the same domain.
• If the mail server supports open relay then mentioning the username and password part can be skipped. If it doesn’t then the username and password mentioned should be correct and must not require any additional security like 2 step verification or captcha.