Sometimes a customer writes to you personally instead of to your support address. Forward their email to your support address (or straight to the category's forwarding address) and Tender files it as if the customer had written in: the discussion is theirs, they get the replies, and it shows up in Pending like any other new request.
Who can forward
Only forwards from these addresses are treated as forwards:
- your support staff's email addresses, and
- the addresses listed under Email Addresses Approved for Forwarding, in Account & Settings › Email Setup (Sending & Receiving).
Add an address there for people who forward customer mail but don't answer in Tender, such as a sales team. Type the addresses (separated with commas) into Additional Emails and click Add approved emails. Be careful: anyone on the list can start a discussion in a customer's name.
An email forwarded by anyone else is posted as their own message.
How to forward so Tender understands it
Use your mail program's normal Forward button and keep the forwarded part unchanged. Tender recognises a forward by its subject (starting with Fwd:, Fw: or Tr:) or by the forwarded message's header block: Gmail's ---------- Forwarded message ---------, Apple Mail's Begin forwarded message:, Outlook's From: … Sent: … lines, and their translations.
Tender then takes the customer's name and address from the forwarded From: line, removes the Fwd: from the subject, and posts the customer's message as the first message of the discussion.
Adding a note
Anything you write above the forwarded message is kept, as an internal note from you that only your staff can see. It's a good place for context ("Called me about this yesterday"). You can also put email commands there, such as #queue Billing.
Keep the note short: Tender looks for the forwarded From: line near the top of the email, and a long note can push it too far down. If that happens, the email is posted as your own message instead of the customer's.
When a forward isn't recognised
If a forwarded email shows up as a discussion from you rather than from the customer, it doesn't appear in Pending (Tender doesn't flag discussions your own staff start). Check that you used Forward (not Redirect or a copy-paste), and that the original From: line is still in the email. If your mail program writes forwards in a way Tender doesn't recognise, start a discussion and attach the email as a file; we'd like to see it.