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[Feature Request] - Email Capturing #484
Description
Hi,
Apologies if this is already on the roadmap, but I wanted to suggest a few features around email integration and the helpdesk.
- Email-to-ticket integration
It would be great if Windshift could connect to a shared inbox and automatically:
Create a ticket when a new email arrives, so the team can pick it up in Windshift
Move the processed email into a separate folder in the inbox
-
Email conversation threading
When the requester replies to the email, Windshift could add the reply to the existing ticket’s conversation, matched by a ticket ID in the subject line. This would keep a full record of the conversation in one place. -
Replying from a ticket
An option within a ticket (e.g. a “Send email to requester” checkbox or button) that opens a popup to write the message, which Windshift then sends to the original requester and logs on the ticket. -
Closing tickets
When a ticket is marked complete, Windshift could move any related emails (identified by the ticket ID in the subject) into a “Completed” or archive folder. -
Merging tickets
If a requester replies with a changed subject line, a new ticket would probably be created by mistake. The ability to merge tickets would let us combine these back into the original. -
Combined workspace and helpdesk
I believe a workspace is currently either a standard workspace or a helpdesk. My project needs the standard workspace functionality, but the helpdesk features would be really useful for it too. Rather than running two separate workspaces, would it be possible to have a helpdesk tab within a standard workspace so users can switch between the two views?
Kind regards,
Jay
Activity
stefan-ernst commentedon Nov 12, 2026
Hey, much of this already works
https://windshift.sh/docs/05-customer-portals/03-email-intake
The only pieces missing are mailbox operations like moving messages in the mailbox - not sure if this should be done by Windshift, it could also be a mailbox rule when the mail is set to read only or when windshift sends a closing receipt (possible via Windshift Action)
Jayden-SysData commentedon Nov 12, 2026
@stefan-ernst
unfortunately our email system cannot do automatic rules as such however using what windshift already has, we have figured out a way we can at least read the emails and create a work item. Howver the description of said work item is unreadable as its in markdown. What would help with this is if windshift could render HTML for work items created by email?
cs-tsg commentedon Nov 12, 2026
I've got a couple of requests to @stefan-ernst 😅
@Jayden-SysData is my colleague, we use the same in house email system (bespoke).
I like the idea of linking email intake to a portal, however, we can not add rules to shared mailboxes on our email system. It would be good if the email intake could process rules - like Subject starts with etc and that can then decide which portal / workspace is used?
Also, if we start working on a work item, I'm guessing windshift does not send emails to the "requester" ? - we have used GLPI in the past and GLPI has a feature where if you mark a comment as private or internal, it does not send an email / update to the "requester" - it would be good if windshift could do this as well? (I know it can already do Internal comments) 😄
stefan-ernst commentedon Nov 12, 2026
Hey, there is a lot to unpack here 😉
Regarding the html rendering - that would be off the table because it introduces all kinds of problems with XSS vectors. However, the linked PR introduces a basic html -> markdown conversion so that the output is readable.
The internal comment does not produce a notification or an email to a customer, so this would be an option not to send outside comment notifications. The requester gets an optional confirmation email if you enable it on the intake channel and otherwise only public comment events are sent.
mrtfn commentedon Nov 12, 2026
Not sure about it but maybe a triage agent of windshift could solve the text problem you got(also it may hallucinate but you can give it a shot if it supports such thing)
cs-tsg commentedon Nov 13, 2026
@mrtfn A triage agent is a great idea actually, but from what I can see, we would have to create an agent per workspace? @stefan-ernst is there a way to open up the agents feature to be able to work at 'top level'? i.e if we wanted to create a triage agent, it would be quite cool if it had the capability to decide which work space something belongs in?
Jayden-SysData commentedon Nov 13, 2026
@stefan-ernst Would it be possible to add an action to move email into a defined folder as part of the after processing action? I appreciate you have said you are not sure it should be a part of windshift but since we can do the other actions, it would be a great help if moving an email to a defined folder is also an action :)
stefan-ernst commentedon Nov 13, 2026
@cs-tsg on the triage itself - currently Windshift does not have a "workspace hub" concept but it will come in the future. for example to support portfolio management. This is one of the things that would also enable an intake for multiple workspaces or a pre-backlog staging area (similar to what Jira Product Discovery does today).
In today's version, nothing prevents moving a workitem between workspaces (as long as the workflow and fields are compatible). One of the things I am not sure off the cuff is if the agent is able to do this with the standard tools, I will check this
stefan-ernst commentedon Nov 13, 2026
@Jayden-SysData yeah I think this is sensible. The move to folder action would be fairly narrow. Since we already support intake folders, the only thing to prevent is not accidentally building intake loops with the feature 😉