Who can read whose email
Once someone's mailbox is connected, their emails with customers stop living only in their own inbox. They show up on the customer's account and in Communication, so whoever picks up the next call can see that the customer was promised a quote on Tuesday.
That's the point. But not every inbox should be an open book. The office's service@ mailbox should be read by everyone who answers customers. The owner's inbox, with pricing negotiations and the odd difficult conversation, probably shouldn't. This article explains how to set that up, one mailbox at a time.
When you'd use this
- A shared address like service@ or info@ that several people answer. You want everyone on it.
- An owner or manager whose customer emails should be kept with the customer, but read by nobody else.
- A salesperson with an assistant who needs to see their emails without seeing everyone's.
- Anyone new you'd like to start private and open up later.
How email gets in
Each person connects their own mailbox in their Email Settings (Administration → Team → Users, then Email Settings on that person's row). The IMAP tab brings their mail in; the SMTP tab lets them send from it.
Every few minutes, Suprata copies in the emails that went to or from a customer: any address on a customer or on one of their contacts. Vendor mail, newsletters and internal threads stay out.
Each email is kept with the mailbox it came through. That mailbox decides who can read it.
The two layers
1. The role says whether someone can see customer email at all:
- View Personal Email Communications: the emails in their own mailbox.
- View All Email Communications: other people's too, unless that mailbox says otherwise.
2. The mailbox says who else gets in. It's the Who sees it tab in that person's Email Settings:
| Setting | Who can read this person's customer emails |
|---|---|
| Them and people allowed to view all email (the standard setting) | The mailbox owner, plus roles with View All Email Communications. This is how it has always worked. |
| Only them | The mailbox owner. Nobody else, not even View All. |
| Everyone who can view customer email | Anyone whose role has either email permission, including people who normally see only their own. |
Two more controls on the same tab:
- Also let these people read them. Tick names to give specific people access, whatever their role allows. This is the assistant case.
- Keep a record on the customer's account (on by default). People who can view email but can't read this mailbox still see that an email came or went: the date and whose mailbox. They never see the subject or what it said. Turn it off and they see nothing at all.
What "keep a record" looks like
On the customer's account, and in the email conversation in Communication, the email shows as a locked line, for example Private email received · Jane Smith's mailbox · 2:14 PM. Searching never finds it by its subject.
We recommend leaving this on. When a colleague can see that the customer emailed Jane yesterday, they know to check with Jane before answering. Without it, the account looks like nobody has spoken to the customer in a week.
Recommended setups
- Shared mailbox (service@, info@): Everyone who can view customer email. Connect it in the Email Settings of the person who mainly answers it.
- Owner or general manager: Only them, record on. Their customer emails are kept with the customer, and the team knows a conversation happened.
- Sales staff and coordinators: the standard setting. Managers with View All can step in when someone is out.
- An assistant: leave the boss on whichever setting fits, and tick the assistant under Also let these people read them.
Replies follow the person who wrote them
When someone replies from Communication, the email goes out from their own mailbox. It's kept as one of their sent emails, so their mailbox's setting decides who can read it. A reply written by someone on Only them stays private, even in a conversation that started in the shared mailbox.
Common mistakes
- Expecting View All to override Only them. It doesn't. Only them means exactly that. To let a manager in, tick them under Also let these people read them.
- Turning off the record on every mailbox. Then nobody can tell the customer has been in touch, and two people end up answering the same question. Turn it off only where even the fact of contact is sensitive.
- Setting a shared mailbox to the standard setting. People without View All won't see the emails the whole office is supposed to work. Use Everyone who can view customer email.
- Forgetting about named people. Ticked names keep access when their role changes. Review the list when someone changes jobs.
- Expecting old mail to appear. A newly connected mailbox brings in the last few days, not years of history.