The CRM forwarding address

Each workspace has its own forwarding address, in the form crm+…@…. When you receive in your mailbox an email from someone who is not in the CRM yet, a contact request for example, forward it to this address. It arrives in your “E-mails to handle” queue, with its attachments, and the AI can prepare its records. Illizeo never reads your mailbox: it only receives what you forward to it. This article is intended for the CRM administrator, who creates the address and follows discarded emails, and for the users who forward.

Before you start #

• The CRM module must be enabled for your workspace (see Enabling and administering the CRM module).
• Permissions in the role matrix, CRM menu: “CRM settings — View” to see the address; “CRM settings — Edit” to create it, regenerate it and set the maximum size.
• Forwarding requires “CRM accounts — Create”. Reading your queue in CRM › Microsoft 365 also requires “CRM contacts — View”. Preparing the records with AI requires “CRM accounts — Create”, “CRM contacts — Create” and the CRM AI being active in the workspace.
• The inbox that receives forwarded emails is run by Illizeo. If the page shows “Illizeo’s inbox is not in service on this platform yet: the address cannot be created, and no forwarded e-mail is collected.”, contact Illizeo.
• No Microsoft connection is needed to forward: the address works with any email service.

Creating and sharing the address #

1. Open Settings › CRM › Forwarding address.
2. If the page says “No address has been created for this workspace yet.”, click Create the address. The message “Forwarding address created.” confirms it.
3. Click Copy next to the address, then give it to your team.

Only people who can view the CRM settings see the address in Illizeo: it is up to the administrator to share it. Under the address, the page shows the Created or renewed on date and the number of emails discarded in the last 30 days, with their reasons.

Regenerating the address #

If the address has spread beyond the team or receives unwanted messages, click Regenerate the address, then Regenerate in the confirmation window. The previous address stops delivering at once: emails still forwarded to it are discarded. Give the new address to your team.

Forwarding an email #

1. In your email service, open the email you received and choose Forward. Forwarding in the body of the message and forwarding as an attachment are both recognised.
2. Send it from the email address of your Illizeo account: that is what identifies you.
3. If you wish, write a note above the forwarded message, for example the context of the request.
4. Address it to the workspace forwarding address and send it.

The forwarding mailbox is checked every 2 minutes. When the email is accepted, you receive the notification “CRM: forwarded e-mail received”: a click opens the email in your queue. No reply is sent, whether the email is accepted or discarded.

What is accepted or discarded #

An email is only accepted if it passes these checks, in this order:

1. it is addressed to a workspace’s current address;
2. the sending address is authenticated: the sender’s domain publishes SPF, DKIM and DMARC, and all three checks pass;
3. in that workspace, the CRM module is installed, and the sending address belongs to a single active user, whose Illizeo account is activated and who can create CRM accounts;
4. the email, attachments included, does not exceed the maximum size set by the workspace.

Otherwise, the email is discarded without reply. It is neither read by anyone nor kept: only its reason is counted. The administrator sees these reasons on the address page:

Where the email arrives #

The accepted email goes into the “E-mails to handle” queue of the person who forwarded it, and theirs only: open CRM › Microsoft 365. Without a Microsoft connection, the block only appears when the queue holds at least one email. The email carries the Forwarded by you marker.

The CRM finds the original email inside your forward: its sender, date, subject and body. Click Read to also see the original recipients, Your note when forwarding, and the attachments, which you can download. Images embedded in the body are not kept as attachments. If the CRM does not recognise the original email, it keeps the message as it arrived, with you as the sender and its subject without “Fwd:” or “FW:”.

What you do with it next #

• Prepare the records: the AI reads the email and its attachments, then suggests the organisation, the contact, an opportunity (or a follow-up case) and tasks. If the CRM AI is active for this use, preparation starts by itself on arrival; the email then shows “Records prepared, to review” and the button becomes Review the prepared records. This preparation counts towards the workspace’s AI consumption.
• Create the records, after reviewing and correcting them: the records kept are created or updated, the email moves to Handled and joins the contact’s and account’s timeline, as “E-mail received” on its original date. Its attachments can be downloaded from there. An email that involves an address or domain the workspace never logs (Never logged setting) creates its records without joining their timeline. If your workspace submits these creations for approval, the message “Proposal sent for approval.” appears and nothing is created before the approver agrees.
• Mark as handled or Ignore: the email is filed without any record.

Discarding the prepared records leaves the email in the queue. Nothing is ever created without your validation.

How long forwarded emails are kept #

• An email To handle stays in your queue until you file it.
• An email marked as handled or ignored without being attached to a record is erased, attachments included, 30 days after it was filed.
• An email attached to a record follows the retention periods of CRM contacts (see Protecting contact data (GDPR)).
• The count of discarded emails covers 30 days; it keeps no sender, subject or content.

Setting the maximum size #

In the Maximum size of a forwarded e-mail block, enter a value between 1 and 35 MB, attachments included, then click Save. The default is 20 MB. A larger email is discarded with the reason “Message too large”. Without the edit permission, the size is shown read-only.

Good to know #

• A forwarding address only delivers to its own workspace: an email never enters any workspace other than the address’s.
• The sending address must be exactly the email address of your Illizeo account. An alias, or an address shared by two active users, gets the email discarded.
• An email sent to a former address is no longer linked to your workspace: it is discarded without being counted on this page.
• The “CRM: forwarded e-mail received” notification is governed by the “CRM — Microsoft 365: connection expired” row in Personal Settings › Notifications: turning that row off also turns this one off.
• The CRM log keeps the creation and regeneration of the address, size changes and each reception (size and number of attachments); never the content.
• You can also bring emails into your queue through an Outlook folder (see Microsoft 365 in the CRM).

FAQ #

I forwarded an email and nothing arrives in my queue. #

Wait a few minutes. If nothing arrives, ask your administrator for the reason shown on the address page: most often, the email was sent from an address other than your Illizeo account’s, or your email domain is not authenticated.

Can my colleagues see the emails I forward? #

No, as long as they are in your queue. Once attached to a record, the email can be read in the timeline by anyone who can read that contact or account.