Turn inbox requests into work orders

This guide shows you how to review an inbox request and connect it to the correct work order.

Use your own request and property records for this workflow. H&R examples describe fictional maintenance work, not records included in every workspace.

#Inbox prerequisites

Before you triage email, confirm that:

• you are in the correct workspace
• the workspace has a receiving channel, such as connected Gmail or configured email forwarding
• the thread appears in Inbox

Email channels belong to the workspace, not to an individual operator's ATOM account. Team members work from the same workspace inbox. Connect only an approved operations mailbox.

Receiving and sending are separate capabilities. A forwarded message can reach ATOM even when the workspace still needs a ready send channel. For an established conversation without a send channel, open Settings → Integrations.

Manual threads do not need an email connection. Use them for phone calls, walk-ins, and other intake that you record yourself.

#Screens used in this guide

Use these screens:

• Inbox at /inbox
• the selected thread and its context panel
• the Create work order detail drawer, when the message is not already linked
• the linked work order
• Inbox audit trail at /inbox/audit-trail, when you need to inspect recorded decisions

#Open the inbound thread

Open Inbox and select the request in Chat or Table. Check the subject, sender, and latest message before taking action.

A blue dot marks a conversation with activity since you last opened it: a new email, or a note added for Everyone. Office-only notes don't add a dot. Opening the conversation clears the dot for you only, and also on the field app.

Email that is not yet grouped into or assigned to an established conversation remains available for review. You can use Link customer, Discard, or Block sender to triage it. This intake has no reply or office-note composer.

Use Link customer when the sender belongs to a customer. Wait for successful conversation resolution before expecting a composer. Linking does not automatically assign a property or work order, or grant permission to send email.

ATOM groups messages by their provider thread when ownership is clear. A reply to a known thread can link to its existing record. Ambiguous provider-thread ownership does not auto-link the message.

Wait for the context panel to finish loading after you change threads.

#Review the extracted details

Open Create work order when it is available. The detail drawer presents the reachable draft fields: Title, Description, Property, Priority, and service type.

Compare those fields with the message and attachments. Select the correct existing property, or create a property when the request supports it. The drawer does not present every parsed tenant or date detail, so do not treat an unseen extracted value as verified.

#Check the linked property and customer

Check the property and customer shown for the thread. Do not create work under a similar address or a sender from another customer.

ATOM can match a sender using existing workspace mappings. In the drawer, you must still confirm the Property selection before creating work. If the conversation has no customer, work-order creation is disabled with Assign a customer to this conversation before creating a work order.

#Create or open the work order

Use Open work order when an email thread is already linked. A linked manual conversation uses View work order.

Otherwise, open Create work order. Review Title, Description, Property, Priority, and service type, then select Create work order once.

Inbound matching happens before this manual drawer. Duplicate and update decisions at 90% confidence or higher finalize automatically. Other non-create_new decisions remain for review. Existing provider threads and exact repeated messages can also link or deduplicate without this drawer.

#Clean up the saved work order

Open the saved work order and compare its request, property, customer, priority, service type, and contact details with the source message.

Correct any value that the message does not support. Add a short office-only note when another operator must confirm a detail.

#Reply vs office-only note

These composer instructions apply only after the intake belongs to an established conversation. Unassigned email intake in Chat or Table has no reply or office-note composer.

For an established conversation, the composer separates email replies from conversation notes:

• Use the reply mode to send an email through the thread's connected send channel. Confirm the To and optional Cc recipients before choosing Send message.
• Use Office only to add an internal note. Owner and office users can see these notes. They are not sent by email.
• A note visible to everyone updates the ATOM thread. It is not a substitute for an email reply.

When the conversation cannot send from ATOM, use the connected inbox instead. The composer says Messages still open in the connected inbox.

After a successful ATOM send, the confirmation is Reply sent. This records provider acceptance, not recipient receipt. The Inbox does not show delivery or bounce status; confirm receipt separately when it matters.

If ATOM says the provider accepted the reply but the inbox timeline is still being updated, do not send it again. Record the thread and send time, then contact support.

#Work a manual thread

Choose New thread to record a phone call, walk-in, or manual note. Link the thread to a property or work order, add the contact details, and record the first note.

Choose Manual intake or Phone call. The current Inbox has no general SMS sending flow. Record outside phone or SMS conversations as manual intake.

Manual threads do not send email. Continue the external conversation through its original channel and use ATOM to keep the internal record.

#Work a manual conversation

A manual conversation is an internal coordination item already represented in the inbox.

Use Claim conversation before working it when the action is available. Use Release claim if you cannot finish it. Create a work order only after checking the linked customer and property.

The manual conversation itself does not provide an email send channel.

#Link sender to customer

Use Link customer when ATOM does not recognise the sender. The dialog is titled Link sender to customer. The context panel's No customer linked action opens a Link customer drawer.

Select an existing customer whenever possible. For an agency, when permitted, Remember @<domain> and retry blocked emails is selected by default, including for public domains. Untick it unless the entire business domain belongs to that agency. Homeowners and businesses have no domain mapping, so the option does not appear for them. Always untick it for public mailbox domains such as gmail.com or outlook.com.

Keeping the option selected saves the domain mapping and retries blocked emails. The mapping helps future matching, but it does not prove that every request belongs to the same property or work order.

#Link manual thread to a work order

Use Link to existing when a manual thread belongs to work that is already open.

Search for the work order, select the matching record, and confirm the link. Create a new work order only when the intake is a separate request.

#Merge duplicate threads

Use Merge from Thread actions when two email threads represent the same conversation. Choose the thread that should contain the combined conversation history.

Merge is offered for email-channel threads. Do not use it to attach a manual intake to a work order; use Link to existing instead.

The work-order matching decision and thread merge are different:

• work-order matching decides whether an inbound request creates, updates, or duplicates work
• thread merge combines two inbox conversation histories

#Use the context panel without stale data

The context panel shows records for the selected thread. After switching threads, check that the subject, sender, property, customer, and work order belong to that thread.

Stop if the panel shows another request's records. Reselect the thread or refresh Inbox before replying, linking, merging, or creating work.

#Close drawers before selecting another thread

Close any open creation, linking, or merge drawer before selecting another thread. A drawer retains the records selected when you opened it.

Before sending or saving, check the selected subject and the records panel again.

#Verify the inbox audit trail

Open /inbox/audit-trail when you need to inspect recorded inbox decisions or failed actions. Search for the relevant sender, record, or action, then open the matching row.

The audit trail shows recorded decisions. It does not confirm email delivery. Use Inbox or the linked record for follow-up work.

#Final check

You are done when:

• the selected thread and context panel describe the same request
• the thread is linked to the correct work order, or is clearly held for review
• the saved property, customer, request details, and contact details match the source
• internal follow-up is recorded as an office-only note
• any external reply was sent through the intended channel and was not duplicated after an uncertain result