General Settings
Understand how WindoorERP sends and receives email
What this does
Explains the mail model behind every record in WindoorERP, and what a self-hosted database has to be told before mail actually flows.
Communication in WindoorERP related to records such as CRM opportunities, sales orders, invoices, ... have a discussion thread called chatter, often displayed on the right side of the record.
On the chatter, you can send direct emails or WindoorERP notifications to the followers of a document (depending on their notification preferences), log internal notes, send WhatsApp messages or SMSes, and schedule activities.
If a follower replies to a message, the reply updates the chatter, and WindoorERP relays it to the followers as a notification. All emails - outgoing and incoming - appear in the same chatter.
On-premise users
If you are on-premise, you will have to completely configure your outgoing and incoming emails:
- For outgoing emails, you will need to use an SMTP server and a custom domain.
- For incoming emails, set the frequency at which you fetch new emails low enough for responsiveness but high enough in order not to stress your system or provider. Due to this reason and the simplicity of this configuration, we usually advise on using incoming mail servers. To use an SMTP server, check out the "Use a custom domain for inbound messages" documentation.
Using a third-party provider's mail server
WindoorERP's documentation also covers several popular mail servers. As they require specific authorizations and configuration, they add a layer of complexity. For this reason, using WindoorERP's outgoing mail server is recommended.
- Outlook documentation
- Gmail documentation
- Mailjet documentation
Note
Every provider has its own limitations. Research the desired provider before configuring it. For example, Outlook and Gmail might not be suitable for large marketing campaigns.
The chatter
Records that people discuss — opportunities, quotations, invoices, service requests — carry a discussion thread called the chatter. From it you can:
- send an email to the followers of the document, or a notification inside WindoorERP, according to each follower's preference;
- log an internal note that customers never see;
- send a WhatsApp message or an SMS, where those are set up;
- schedule an activity for yourself or a colleague.
When a follower replies to one of those emails, the reply lands back in the same chatter and is relayed to the other followers. Incoming and outgoing messages sit in one thread, in order.
What you must configure
WindoorERP runs on your own hosting, so mail is not wired up by magic. Two halves have to be set:
Incoming mail servers are the simplest of the three and are what we usually recommend. Set the fetch frequency low enough to feel responsive and high enough not to hammer your provider.
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01
Outgoing — an SMTP server and a sending domain, so your emails leave the database and survive spam filters.
-
02
Incoming — a way for replies to come back, using either redirections to the database, incoming mail servers that fetch mailboxes on a schedule, or DNS records on a dedicated subdomain.
Common mistakes
- Treating WindoorERP as a mailbox. It is not an inbox: anything unrelated to a record in the database is bounced, not quarantined.
- Configuring outgoing mail and forgetting incoming — customers reply, and nobody ever sees it.
- Sending from a domain whose DNS records were never published, and wondering why everything lands in spam.
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