How to Manage Agency Emails

Agency Emails are the email addresses your agency sends from and receives replies to in eCourtDate. Each address carries its own outbound layout and theme, its own inbound forwarding rules, and its own delivery statistics.

### Overview

An Agency Email record is split across three tabs on its edit page: **Settings**, **Outbound**, and **Inbound**. Your agency can keep a single address for everything or create separate addresses for different departments, then choose which address a flow, bulk action, or scheduled message sends from.

- Create addresses on the shared ecase.io domain or on an email domain your agency has added.
- Verify addresses so eCourtDate can send from them.
- Control how outbound email looks with a **Layout**, a **Theme**, a **Header**, a **Logo URL**, a **Signature**, and a **Footer**.
- Route inbound email with an **Auto Response**, forwarding addresses, a chatbot, assigned staff, roles, client groups, and organizations.
- Preview and send a test message before you put an address into production.

### Prerequisites

Before managing Agency Emails, make sure you have the following:

- Access to **Admin** > **Settings** in eCourtDate
- Access to the inbox of any address you need to verify
- At least one role at **Admin** > **Users** > **Roles** if you plan to forward by role
- Groups listed in the **Default Groups** setting on the **Settings** page if you plan to forward by client group
- At least one organization at **Admin** > **Settings** > **Organizations** if you plan to forward by organization
- At least one chatbot at **Admin** > **Automations** > **Chatbots** if you plan to forward inbound email to a chatbot

### How-To Steps

#### Create an Agency Email

1. Go to **Admin** > **Settings** in the top navigation.
2. Click the **Agency Emails** tab.
3. Enter a **Name** in the **Create Agency Email** card.
4. Select a **Domain**. The list holds ecase.io plus any email domains your agency has added.
5. Edit the **Email** field if you want an address other than the one generated from the name and domain.
6. Select a **Gateway** if your agency has more than one email gateway. This field appears only when gateways exist.
7. Click **Create**. eCourtDate opens the edit page for the new address.

#### Verify an Agency Email

1. Open the address and stay on the **Settings** tab.
2. Look for the green confirmation "Email is verified and ready to use." No further action is needed when you see it.
3. Click **Retry Verification** when you instead see "Email is not verified. Please retry verification."
4. Open the inbox for that address and click the verification link Amazon Web Services sends.
5. Click the refresh icon beside **Retry Verification** to recheck the status.

Addresses on a domain your agency has already added as an email domain are treated as verified without this step.

#### Configure outbound email

1. Click the **Outbound** tab.
2. Select a **Layout**. The options are default, html, alert, branded, bulletin, emergency, event, minimal, outreach, plain, reminder, staff, standard, and survey.
3. Click a **Theme** swatch. The choices are Light, Dark, Ocean, Forest, Sandstone, Slate, Burgundy, Midnight, Coral, Sage, Steel, and Charcoal.
4. Enter a **Header** for the line at the top of the email.
5. Enter a **Logo URL** to place an image below the header.
6. Write a **Signature** in the rich text editor.
7. Write a **Footer** in the rich text editor.
8. Enter a **Reply-To** address to send replies somewhere other than this address.
9. Enter a comma separated list in **Carbon Copy (CC)**.
10. Enter a comma separated list in **Blind Carbon Copy (BCC)**.
11. Enter a **Default Subject** for messages that do not supply one.
12. Click **Save**.

Watch the **Email Preview** card on the right as you work. It redraws with every change.

#### Configure inbound email

1. Click the **Inbound** tab.
2. Enter an **Auto Response** to reply automatically to anyone who emails this address.
3. Enter a comma separated list in **Auto Forward to Emails**.
4. Select a chatbot in **Auto Forward to a Chatbot** to hand inbound email to that chatbot.
5. Check **Auto Forward to Assigned Users** to forward inbound email to the staff member assigned to the client.
6. Click role names under **Auto Forward to Users by Role**. Selected roles stay highlighted.
7. Click group names under **Auto Forward to Clients by Group**.
8. Click organization names under **Auto Forward to Clients by Organization**. You can select up to four.
9. Click **Save**.

#### Preview and test an Agency Email

1. Click **Expand Preview** to open the preview in a larger window.
2. Click **Download Preview** to save the preview as an .eml file.
3. Enter an address in the field below the preview. It is prefilled with your own login email.
4. Click **Send Test**.

#### Choose which address sends a message

1. Check **Primary** on the **Settings** tab of the address you want as the default sender.
2. Go to **Admin** > **Messaging** and click the **Flows** tab to override the sender for a flow.
3. Select the address in the flow's **Agency Email** field.
4. Click **Tools** > **Sync Messages** on the flow to apply the change to messages that are already scheduled.
5. Click **Options** on a bulk action to reveal its **Agency Email** field.
6. Select the address in the bulk action's **Agency Email** field.
7. Go to **Dashboard** > **Messages** and open a scheduled outbound message to change its **From** field.

### What to Expect

The **Layout**, **Theme**, **Gateway**, **Primary**, and **Auto Forward to Assigned Users** controls, along with the group and organization buttons, save the moment you change them and show an "Agency Email updated" alert. Text fields and the role buttons apply when you click **Save** or press Enter inside the field. The **Email Preview** card reflects your changes right away, while the **Email Stats** card counts outbound, inbound, and failed messages for the address and links to those messages through **View Outbound** and **View Inbound**.

### Best Practices

- Keep exactly one address checked as **Primary** so messages that do not name a sender always land on the same address.
- Point **Reply-To** at an inbox your staff monitor, since it defaults to the Agency Email itself.
- Click **Send Test** after changing the **Layout** or **Theme** so you see the real rendered message, not only the preview.
- Prefer **Auto Forward to Assigned Users** over a long **Auto Forward to Emails** list, because it follows client assignments as staff change.
- Verify a new address before you attach it to a flow or bulk action so scheduled messages are not built on an address that cannot send.

### Frequently Asked Questions

**Q: Which address does eCourtDate use when a message does not name a sender?**

A: The address with **Primary** checked. The **Settings** tab states that the primary address is used for outbound emails unless a different email is specified in a message or template.

**Q: Do I have to verify an address on my agency's own domain?**

A: No. When the domain is already added to your agency as an email domain, the address is treated as verified. Addresses on other domains need the **Retry Verification** step.

**Q: Why did my role selections disappear?**

A: The buttons under **Auto Forward to Users by Role** do not save on their own. Click **Save** after toggling them, unlike the group and organization buttons, which save immediately.

**Q: How many organizations can forward inbound email?**

A: Four. Once you select four, the page shows "Maximum of 4 organizations selected." and blocks further selections until you remove one.

**Q: Does changing a flow's Agency Email update messages that are already scheduled?**

A: No. Only newly created messages use the new sender. Click **Tools** > **Sync Messages** on the flow to rebuild the existing ones.

### Troubleshooting

**Issue:** An address cannot send outbound email.

**Symptoms:** The **Settings** tab shows the red alert "Email is not verified. Please retry verification." and a **Retry Verification** button.

**Solution:**

1. Go to **Admin** > **Settings** > **Agency Emails** and open the address.
2. Click **Retry Verification**.
3. Open the inbox for that address and click the verification link.
4. Click the refresh icon beside **Retry Verification** to recheck the status.

**Issue:** Staff are not receiving forwarded inbound email.

**Symptoms:** Clients reply to the Agency Email but nothing reaches your team.

**Solution:**

1. Open the address and click the **Inbound** tab.
2. Confirm **Auto Forward to Emails** holds the correct comma separated addresses.
3. Confirm the intended roles are highlighted under **Auto Forward to Users by Role**.
4. Click **Save**, since role selections are not saved until you do.

**Issue:** The role, group, or organization forwarding lists are empty.

**Symptoms:** The **Inbound** tab shows "No roles found.", "No groups found.", or "No organizations found." in place of the buttons.

**Solution:**

1. Create a role at **Admin** > **Users** > **Roles** when roles are missing.
2. Add groups to the **Default Groups** setting on the **Settings** page when groups are missing.
3. Create an organization at **Admin** > **Settings** > **Organizations** when organizations are missing.
4. Return to the **Inbound** tab and reload the page to see the new buttons.

### Related Articles

- [How to Configure Agency Email Settings](/how-to-configure-agency-email-settings)
- [How to Create a Custom Domain](/how-to-create-a-custom-domain)
- [How to Configure Email Gateways](/how-to-configure-email-gateways)
- [How to Create a Flow](/how-to-create-a-flow)
- [How to Create a Chatbot](/how-to-create-a-chatbot)
- [How to Manage Client Groups](/how-to-manage-client-groups)
- [How to Use Merge Tags](/how-to-use-merge-tags)