Hi Sherry - I know this post is a couple of years old at this point but was just curious if you found any sort of solution in QB for this? Was looking for a similar solution and came across your post.
I have successfully done this for a client for an I.T. Ticketing application. In this case we have a dedicated user ID which is copied on automated emails sent from the application when a ticket is updated. The users are encouraged to simply reply to the email, as opposed to having through click through links to add a ticket status update.
There is a pipeline which monitors emails coming into this particular outlook email address and we are able to purchase out the ticket number from the subject line. That allows the pipeline to create a status update child wrecker to the ticket and it can also go and grab any attachment to the email and include that on the ticket status update.
So I think that this approach can work except that there has to be a particular Outlook email address which is connected to the pipeline. I don't know if a way to magically monitor all email boxes of all your employees.
---- Getting email to all or a specific subset of employees: In the Google Workspace universe you could look at some creative email routing before email is delivered to employee mailboxes. You can Look at specific senders, sender domains, or recipients, or recipient domains in a multi-domain environment, you could even examine subject lines or even email headers to make routing decisions.
That could be a way to say: all email with X in the subject line gets delivered according to some rules, one of those mailboxes could the special one monitored by pipelines.. kind of a limited "catch all" email address. (hidden to the sender).
SendtoQuickbase by SoftTech is what we are currently using. Its very customizable and reasonable in price.
SoftTechExperts - SendToQuickBase
Hi Carlos,
I like Mark's idea for using Pipelines. I do have a non-pipeline alternative as well.
I have an app where property owners can list their rentals and traveling caregivers can search, favorite and communicate with the property owners (think a Quickbase version of AirBnB). The messaging is set up with table to table relationships and using the "add record" button in the recursive relationship to reply to a message - changing the field/button label to "Reply to This Message". Listings have Messages and Messages have Messages (Replies). The messages and replies are all related to the listing, so you can group by the listing/sort by the message date and see the messages in a conversation view. There are notifications that send the email to the addresses in the to and Cc field. Roles/permissions limit owners and caregivers to only be able to view messages where they are either the From, To, or Cc, and only modify messages where they are the From.
Thank you Mark & Sherry. My main QB app is a scheduling / project management app and was looking to piggyback a more traditional CRM app where you can keep track of emails to potential clients. Was looking at something like HubSpot but since most of my data is in QB, was just looking for an efficient way to keep it in QB. I'll have to digest your responses in a little more detail but greatly appreciate your feedback.
I have friends who use Hubspot for their CRM and it works well for them. As I understand it, the sending of emails is really done through HubSpot so the communication with clients stays connected.
