Configuring Email Support / Email Piping

Now that you have installed the Email Support add-on, its time to configure it to collect emails from your support mailbox. To configure your first mailbox, go to the TICKETS->SETTINGS->EMAIL PIPING tab.

The first two sections – Connection Information and Advance Settings relate to your support mailbox. Your support mailbox MUST meet the following rules:

Be accessible via IMAP or POP3. The add-on does not support proprietary protocols such as Microsoft Exchange (though Microsoft Exchange is supported as long as it’s configured to be accessible via IMAP)
Be dedicated to support emails

This inbox must be dedicated to Awesome Support. When the add-on will check for new e-mail, all e-mails present in the inbox will be downloaded and deleted from the e-mail server. If the inbox contains irrelevant e-mail, they will be added in the “Unassigned” folder in Awesome Support.

Additionally, it is important that your WordPress server has the IMAP or POP3 ports open (generally 993 and 995 respectively but your email server might use different ports)

Here is an image of the connection information section of the configuration screen:

Settings

The Awesome Support E-Mail Add-On has very few settings related to the e-mail provider. If you set up a non-browser based email client in the past then you will immediately recognize the required fields.

NOTE: The add-on cannot handle passwords with special characters such as “(” right now. So please use a long combination of letters and numbers with upper and lower case characters for best compatibility. “#”, underscores and dashes are also allowed.

Connection Information

These are the basic settings, telling Awesome Support where to go to check the inbox and what credentials to use. The plugin will try to figure out the rest by itself, but if it can’t you might have to change some of the advanced settings.

Setting	Value
E-Mail Server	The address of the e-mail server that you’re using. This usually depends on the protocol you’re going to use
Protocol	The protocol to use when connecting to the e-mail server. We recommend using POP3, which most ESPs will support
Username	The username to use for logging in the inbox
Password	The password to use for logging in the inbox

With all these settings set Awesome Support should be able to log into your inbox, look for new e-mails, download them into WordPress and delete them from the e-mail server. Once again, the inbox should be dedicated to Awesome Support only.

Advanced Settings

Setting	Value
Port	The port to connect to the e-mail server through
Secure Port	Whether or not to use a secured connection to the e-mail server. This is defined by your ESP, it’s not for you to decide
Timeout	The delay after which a connection attempt is declared unsuccessful if Awesome Support hasn’t logged-in yet. This item is currently not used but might be used in a future release

Incompatible E-Mail Providers

None so far.

Settings Examples

Gmail / Google Apps

Please note that Gmail requires you to enable POP3 from your account settings. If you don’t know how to enable POP3 please read this guide from Google.

Setting	Value
E-Mail Server	pop.gmail.com
Protocol	POP3
Username	Your e-mail including the @ part (eg. johndoe@gmail.com or john@doe.com)
Password	Your account password
Port	995
Secure Port	Yes
Timeout	300

Outlook.com / Hotmail / Windows Live Domains

Please note that Outlook.com requires you to enable POP3 from your account settings. If you don’t know how to enable POP3 please read this guide from Microsoft.

While activating POP3, let the app delete the messages by checking “what the device or app says—if it’s set to delete messages, delete them.”. If you don’t select that option, all e-mails will be downloaded every-time Awesome Support checks your inbox.

Setting	Value
E-Mail Server	pop3.live.com
Protocol	POP3
Username	Your e-mail including the @ part (eg. johndoe@outlook.com or johndoe@hotmail.com or john@doe.com)
Password	Your account password
Port	995
Secure Port	Yes
Timeout	30

Yandex

Setting	Value
E-Mail Server	pop.yandex.com
Protocol	POP3
Username	Your e-mail including the @ part (eg. johndoe@yandex.com)
Password	Your account password
Port	995
Secure Port	Yes
Timeout	30

Checking Emails

After you have configured your inbox and tested it successfully using the TEST button, you should scroll down to the bottom of the page to the PIPING SETTINGS section. This is where you will configure how often the add-on should check for emails. Generally we recommend 20 minutes or greater. Smaller intervals are useful for testing and trouble-shooting but for production use 20 minutes or greater is best.

Importing emails automatically depends on WordPress’s CRON process being fired on a regular basis. Unfortunately it only gets fired whenever there is activity on the site (visitors or admin/user logins). So if you have your interval set to 20 mins but no one has used your site for 30 minutes then the email inbox will not be checked. However, once there is activity the email inbox will be checked immediately as WordPress will “catch-up” past-due processes.