Email-Reply Integration for Feedback (via POP)
This article applies to Team and Legacy editions.
Centercode offers a friction-free email-reply integration through POP. Once configured, users who can reply directly to new comment notification emails to have their replies posted directly into the comments section of the feedback ticket rather than logging into your Centercode implementation to leave a comment. There are two ways to configure your POP integration through Centercode via your email provider account, basic authentication and OAuth authentication.
If you would like to this integration enabled , please email the details below to help@centercode.com or just start a conversation using the chat widget and we'll get it setup ASAP.
Basic authentication
The information that we will need (assistance from your IT team may be required) in order to assist you in setting this up will be the following:
- POP server address *
- Email address (POP inbox)
- POP Username / Password
* This POP server must be accessible by our servers.
This may require changes to your Firewall and/or IP White-list rules.
OAuth authentication
In the case that OAuth authentication is required, the email account holder will first need to work with your IT team to set up credentials that the Centercode platform will need in order to set up POP email access via OAuth.
To obtain the necessary credentials to authenticate a POP connection using OAuth, review the configuration instructions as outlined here:
There are ultimately five pieces of information that Centercode needs in order to enable OAuth authentication for POP Email.
- Client ID
- Client Secret
- Authorization Endpoint
- Token Endpoint
- Scope
Within your email provider account you will need to set up and provide a Client ID and Client secret. Together, these credentials identify what entity is asking for authorization to the email inbox.
Additionally, the email provider account will need to be configured with the appropriate Redirect Url, which will be a URL that the email provider will use to communicate back with the Centercode implementation that is requesting access.
This should be entered as: https://<Customer Platform URL>/login/oauth/2/pop/callback
In your provider settings, you may also need to add the implementation domain as an authorized domain if your provider does not automatically do so when entering the Redirect Url.
Authorization Endpoint, Token Endpoint, and Scope are fixed values for each individual email provider.
The Authorization Endpoint and Token Endpoint instruct where the process should request certain credentials, and the Scope lets the process know how to request access to the email inbox.
Examples:
- Client ID: ABC123def.apps.myprovider.com
- Client Secret: 1ng6zpug0swDd2zgchghVysPsCIKy8zvpg7mY5P2r6pI
- Authorization Endpoint: https://accounts.myprovider.com/o/oauth2/v2/auth
- Token Endpoint: https://www.myproviderapi.com/oauth2/v4/token
- Scope (example): https://mail.mymailprovider.com/
Once you have acquired these data points, provide them to Centercode. We’ll use this information to enable the OAuth function within Centercode, enabling the Authorize POP Email button found in your Community’s Email Management.
Clicking the Authorize POP Email button will trigger the final step, logging into your email provider and authorizing the email-reply integration.
Notes
- Google and Microsoft (among other providers) do not support Basic Authentication as of October 1, 2022. Proceed with the OAuth Authentication option for those providers.
- Replies must be made from the email address to which the notification was originally sent. Comment notifications can not be forwarded to another user or email address.
- Replies must be made by clicking "Reply" within the user's email client. This causes the email client to add a specific "In-Reply-To" header to the resulting reply email and is used to relate the reply to the original post.
- Once this Integration is configured for your site, you will notice a new email footer automatically included in Follow (and Subscription) Notification emails.
- Centercode does not accept formatted replies. The platform will utilize copy that is provided in plain text format, including plain text sent alongside a formatted variant. For security reasons, if a plain text variant of this reply is not sent, Centercode will remove all formatting from the reply and utilize the remaining copy as the body of the resulting Comment.