Email importing retrieves support ticket email replies for your support ticket system. It can import email from multiple domains.

Service Providers #

WHMCS can import email through several different service providers, including POP3 or IMAP, Google, and Microsoft®. If you use WHMCS’s Google or Microsoft integrations, you can get the full benefit of those services’ additional features, including OAuth2, which provides more security than traditional username-and-password authentication.

• Microsoft email services are available in WHMCS 8.6 and later and support all Microsoft Entra® ID (formerly Microsoft Azure®) compatible email services.
• Google supports email via Gmail™.

Configuring Email Importing #

To configure email importing for a support department, you must set up the support department’s email account and then add that information to your support department configuration.

To do this:

1. Set up your email accounts:
   • For POP3 or IMAP, create a unique email account on your mail server for each support department.
     This must be a mailbox; an alias is not sufficient.
     For steps to enable email importing with Gmail, see Set Up Email Importing.
   • For OAuth 2 with Google or Microsoft, configure your mail service provider and create an app for it.
     • For steps to enable Google, see Set Up Email Importing with Google.
     • For steps to enable Microsoft, see Set Up Email Importing with Microsoft.
2. In WHMCS, go to Configuration () > System Settings > Support Departments.
   
3. Create a new department and enter the top section of information or, for existing departments, click Edit.
   
4. Enter the email information for the department:
   1. Select a service provider.
   2. Enter the appropriate details for your service provider.
   3. If you selected OAuth2 as your authentication type for Google, enter your email address and the ClientID and Client Secret values that you generated. Then, click Connect.
5. Set up a cron job to run the pop.php file using the Ticket Importing using Mail Importing (POP3/IMAP) command that displays at Configuration () > System Settings > Support Departments.
   
   We recommend that you set this to run every five minutes.

The system will delete email in the source mailboxes upon successful import into WHMCS.

Security and OAuth2 #

OAuth is a technology that authorizes apps or services like WHMCS to access another service, such as a Gmail account. It’s more secure than traditional username-and-password authentication. In addition to its security benefits, some mail providers require OAuth or have announced a requirement for it in the future.

• WHMCS includes OAuth authentication support for email importing through Gmail in WHMCS 8.1 and later.
• To use OAuth for Gmail email with WHMCS, you will need to both configure Gmail as your mail service provider and create an app for it in the Gmail Cloud console.

RFC 3834 #

In WHMCS 8.1 and later, the system sends support emails with RFC 3834-compliant headers by default.

• You can disable this at Configuration () > System Settings > General Settings in the Mail tab.
  
• Regardless of your settings, WHMCS will not accept email that contains the Auto-Submitted header via email piping or email importing.

Blocked Support Email Replies #

WHMCS may block email replies to existing support tickets for several reasons:

• The sender is unregistered.
• The sender is not a CC recipient.
• The sender is not associated with the support ticket’s client account.

As of WHMCS 8.3, blocking only occurs if you have disabled Allow Insecure Imports in the Support tab at Configuration () > System Settings > General Settings. If this setting is disabled and blocking does occur, you can still view these replies and add them to support tickets manually.

Last modified: November 21, 2024