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With an inbound mailbox, members can work with Collabase from their mail program. A mail to the mailbox creates a work item in a project. A reply to a mail from Collabase adds a comment to the work item it came from. Collabase reads the mailbox every minute.

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Before you start

  • A dedicated mailbox with IMAP access at your mail provider, for example collabase@example.com. Collabase moves every mail it reads, so do not use a personal mailbox.
  • Redis. The standard Docker installation includes it. If it is missing, the card shows The inbound mailbox needs Redis to read mail.
  • The Admin instance role in Collabase.

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Who can send mail to Collabase

Collabase accepts a mail only from an active Collabase member whose mail address matches the sender. The sender needs the same permissions as in the browser: to create a work item in the project, or to comment on the work item. Mails from anyone else are refused and show up in the list of recent mails.

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Set up the mailbox

1

Open the mail settings

Go to Administration → Mail Server and scroll to the card Inbound mailbox.
2

Enter the connection

3

Choose the folders

4

Test the connection

Click Test connection. On success, Collabase also proposes the server name for the authentication check (see below). Click Use to take it over.
5

Choose a default project

Under Project for mails without a target, pick the project that receives mails whose subject or address names no project. Leave it empty to refuse such mails.
6

Switch it on

Turn on Read this mailbox and click Save Settings.

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Test connection messages

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Sender authentication

Accept only mails the server authenticated (SPF/DKIM/DMARC) is switched on by default. Collabase then accepts a mail only when your mail server confirmed that it really comes from the sender’s domain. Your mail server writes that result into the mail, in a header called Authentication-Results, under its own server name. Collabase needs that server name in Server name in Authentication-Results so it only trusts results from your own mail server. Test connection reads it from the mailbox and proposes it.
If you switch the check off, anyone can send a mail in the name of a member and create work items as that member. Leave it on.

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Where a mail ends up

Collabase looks at the subject and the address in this order: The address with +KEY works only if your mail provider delivers plus addresses to the same mailbox. Most providers do.

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What Collabase takes from a mail

  • Text. Quoted earlier messages below a reply are cut off, so a comment holds only the new text.
  • Automatic replies such as out-of-office messages are ignored.
  • Attachments are not imported. A new work item notes in its description how many attachments the mail had.
  • Size. Mails larger than 10 MB are refused.

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Who is told

The sender gets a confirmation mail. When a mail creates a new work item, the project lead gets a notification in Collabase.

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Check what happened to a mail

The card lists the recent mails with their outcome. It also shows when Collabase last read the mailbox and the last error. Collabase tries a mail at most three times. After the third failure, it moves the mail to the folder Collabase/Failed in the mailbox, where you can look at it. The list keeps no mail addresses. Entries are deleted after 90 days.
Last modified on October 13, 2026