Configuring email profiles and templates

BMC Helix Platform allows you to update the configured mailboxes, configure outgoing profiles, and create templates to use the following the capabilities:

• You can use several attributes from the incoming mailbox when creating rules or processes that run when an email is received.
• You can use the default outgoing mailbox configuration to send email notifications when certain events take place.
  For more information, see Automating tasks through emails.
• You can configure multiple outgoing profiles to send email notification to multiple lines of business.
• You can use the attributes of a template when you want to send a notification to the users by using the Send Message by Template element in the Process designer.
• You can whitelist HTML tags and domains within the message body of an email.

To update the incoming mailbox

You can use the incoming mailbox configuration to trigger a rule when an email is received in the configured mailbox. The rule can be used to run a process, such as the process to create a case.

1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and navigate to the Administration tab. 
2. Select Configure My Server > Email > Incoming Mailbox. 

3. Select the incoming mailbox that you want to update, click Edit, and update the fields: 

    Fields in the Basic Configuration tab and their descriptions

   Field name	Description
   Mailbox Name	Type the incoming mailbox name that describes the function of the mailbox. Example: Calbro helpdesk - incoming
   Status	Select one of the following values: Enabled—If you want to activate the mailbox. Disabled—If you do not want to activate the mailbox.
   Polling Interval (Minutes/ Seconds)	Enter the number of minutes after which the email engine will check for incoming emails for this mailbox. The minimum value is 1.
   Associated Mailbox Name	Select the name of the outgoing mailbox that is used to reply to incoming emails.

    Fields in the Action Configuration tab and their descriptions

   Field name	Description
   Email Action	To enable the email engine to detect and process instructions included in an incoming email message, select Parse. If you use templates to perform Submit, Modify, or Query actions, you must select Parse.
   Use Original Template Format	To enable original parsing system processing, select Yes. Original parsing ignores special HTML fields, XML formats, and data entered in an invalid format, such as a character string in a number field. If you use this option, the email engine displays an error message when it encounters these types of fields or formats. To use normal parsing, select No.
   Reply with Result	To enable the email engine to return the results of an action in an email, select Yes. This option allows the email sender to know if the incoming email succeeded or failed.
   Reply with Entry	To return the complete entry of a submit or modify action, select Yes.
   Enable Modify Actions	To enable the email engine to modify existing entries, select Yes.
   Default Workflow Form	Enter the name of the default form on which the email engine executes instructions such as queries, form-entry modifications, and form submittals, from the incoming email message.
   Force Default Workflow Form	To confine all instructions from the incoming email message to the form that you specified in the Default Workflow Form field, select Yes.
   Associated Mailbox Name	Select the outgoing mailbox that is used to send replies to the incoming emails.

4. (Optional) To verify the basic configuration of the incoming mailbox, click Test Connection.

   • If the mailbox is correctly configured, the following message is displayed: 

     "Successfully connected to the configured email server".
     

   • If the host name, port number, protocol, or credentials are incorrect, then an appropriate error message is displayed.

   To view the error logs, contact BMC Support.

5. (Optional) Based on the error message, rectify the incorrect configuration and test the connection again.
   To investigate the root cause for the failed connection, enable logging, retest the connection, and then analyze the error logs.
   

6. Click Save.

To update the outgoing mailbox

You can use the outgoing mailbox configuration to send an email notification or to send a reply to recipients by email. The outgoing mailbox configuration is used to run a process that contains the Send Message element. For example, you can use the outgoing mailbox to send an email notification when a ticket is created.

1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and navigate to the Administration tab. 
2. Select Configure My Server > Email > Outgoing Mailbox. 

3. Select the outgoing mailbox that you want to update, click Edit, and update the fields:

    Fields in the Basic Configuration tab and their descriptions

   Field name	Description
   Mailbox Name	Type the outgoing mailbox name that describes the function of the mailbox. The mailbox name is displayed as the From email address to the recipients.
   Status	Select one of the following values: Enabled—If you want to activate the mailbox. Disabled—If you do not want to activate the mailbox.
   Polling Interval (Minutes/ Seconds)	Enter the number of minutes after which the email engine will check for outgoing mails. The minimum value is 1.
   Associated Mailbox Name	Select the incoming mailbox that is used to receive replies to the outgoing emails.

    Fields in the Advanced Configuration tab and their descriptions

   Field name	Description
   Display Name	Type a name for the outgoing mailbox that appears in the <From:> field of the outgoing emails.
   Default outgoing mailbox	Select the value to make the current outgoing mailbox as the the default mailbox to send all outgoing emails if any other outgoing mailbox is not specified. Note: You can set only one default outgoing mailbox.
   Reply To Address	If you want the outgoing email recipients to reply to the emails, specify the email address to which the replies must be sent.
   Email Address	Type the email address of the server user. The email address appears in the <From:> fields of the outgoing emails along with the display name. Example: If the value in the Display Name field is BMC Helix Platform and the email address is system@innovationsuite.com, the <From:> line is From: BMC Helix Platform.
   Delete Outgoing Notification Messages	Select Yes, if you want to delete the outgoing emails from BMC Helix Platform after they are sent from this mailbox.
   Organization	If your email client displays the organization name, type the name.

    Fields in the Default Addressing tab and their descriptions

   Field name	Description
   Default To	If the recipient email addresses are not mentioned, type the default email addresses to which the outgoing email must be sent from this mailbox.
   Default BCC	If the recipients for blind carbon copy of the outgoing email are not mentioned, type the default email addresses to which the blind carbon copies must be sent.
   Default CC	If the recipients for carbon copy of the outgoing email are not mentioned, type the default email addresses to which the carbon copy must be sent.

    Fields in the Default Templates tab and their descriptions

   Field name	Description
   Header Template	Select the template you want to place at the beginning of the email message.
   Footer Template	Select the template you want to place at the end of the email message.
   Result Template	Select the template you want to use to send an email notification to the requester with the results of the approval action.
   Status Template	Select the template you want to use to send a notification when an error occurs while executing the approval response.

4. (Optional)To verify the basic configuration of the outgoing mailbox, click Test Connection.

   • If the mailbox is correctly configured, the following message is displayed: 

     "Successfully connected to the configured email server".
     

   • If the host name, port number, protocol, or credentials are incorrect, then an appropriate error message is displayed.

   To view the error logs, contact BMC Support.

5. (Optional) Based on the error message, rectify the incorrect configuration and test the connection again.
   To investigate the root cause for the failed connection, enable logging, retest the connection, and then analyze the error logs.

6. Click Save.

To configure email profiles

To use an email profile, you must map the incoming or outgoing profile to the appropriate mailbox. You can use the outgoing profile in your processes and rules to send email notifications to multiple lines of business, such as facilities, travel, legal, IT, and so on. The email profile enables you to update the mailbox without the need to modify the existing processes and rules.

1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and navigate to the Administration tab.
2. Select Configure My Server > Email > Email Profile. 
3. Click New. 
4. In Profile Name, enter the name of the outgoing profile.
5. From Mailbox Function, select the mailbox option for which you want to create a profile. 
6. In Mailbox, select the existing mailbox to which you want to map the profile.
7. In Application, select the application for which you want to use the outgoing profile.
8. Click Save.

After you create an email profile, you can use the outgoing profile while designing a process or a rule by using the Send Message and Send Message by Template actions in the Process and Rule designer. 

 To configure templates

You can create text and HTML templates that can be used to send a message in the notification bell and email. The HTML templates are filtered to adhere to the basic specifications defined in  Java HTML parser .

1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and navigate to the Administration tab. 
2. Select Configure My Server > Email > Templates.
3. In Name, enter the name of the template. 
4. In the Template Format, select the format of the template, such as Text or HTML.
5. In Description, enter the purpose of the template.

6. In Attachment, select a .txt or .HTML file that you want to use as a template. 
   

   Note

   The text templates can also contain functions with parameters that are parsed during run time.

   For example, in a notification email, to add a link to the source of a notification, you can use the OPENVIEW function with parameters.

7. Click Save.

The template name is used when configuring the Send Message by Template element in the Process designer. 

To whitelist HTML tags and domains in emails

Complete the following steps to whitelist HTML tags and domains within the message body of Send Message and Send Message by Template actions. You can also override the syntax of existing HTML tags.

1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and navigate to the Administration tab.

2. Select Configure My Server > Email > Email Whitelist.

   The Allowed HTML Tags, Attributes and Protocols field displays the whitelisted HTML tags along with the attributes and protocols that are allowed within the message body.

3. In the Override/Additional HTML Tags field, enter a new syntax of the HTML tag, which will override the default HTML tag (mentioned in the Allowed HTML Tags field). 

   The format for the overridden HTML tag is as follows:

   tagname1 (attrib=list of attribute separated by comma(,) $proto=list of protocols separated by comma(,)), tagname2(attrib,)

   
   The arguments attrib and proto are optional.

   For example, a(attrib=style,href,title$proto=href,ftp,http,https,mailto),

   This setting allows the HTML tags with the new syntax in the email message body.
   

4. In the Whitelist domain names field, enter the domains that are allowed in the message body.
   
5. Click Save.
   The following image shows how to navigate to the Whitelist page and complete the fields:
   

Related topics

Defining a trigger for a rule

Process designer elements

Configuring processes to send notifications to users

Troubleshooting incoming and outgoing email issues