Support email forwarding & routes

Forwarding routes are how email reaches Helpin. Each route defines an inbound address, an optional source binding, and the mailbox it feeds.

Creating a route

Go to Settings → Inboxes & Routing → Email Forwarding.
Click Enable forwarding (first route) or Create team inbox to combine route creation with a new inbox.
Copy the generated inbound address shown for the route.
At your mail provider, set your support address (for example support@yourcompany.com) to forward all mail to the inbound address.
Helpin sends a verification email to complete the loop; the route flips to Verified when it arrives.

Route properties

Each route has:

Inbound address — the Helpin address that receives forwarded mail.
Source address (optional) — the customer-facing address this route represents (for example support@yourcompany.com). Setting it lets Helpin recognize which public address mail was sent to.
Mailbox — the inbox conversations from this route land in. Unbound routes feed the shared inbox.
Active — pause a route without deleting it.
Status timestamps — last inbound mail, verification state, and last forwarding error, so a broken forwarding setup is visible immediately.

Multiple addresses

Create one route per public support address (support@, help@, billing@…), each bound to the mailbox that should own it. All routes share the same sender-address resolution for replies (workspace default or per-mailbox sender).

Troubleshooting forwarding

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
No conversations appear	Forwarding not actually enabled at your provider	Check the provider's forwarding rule; send a test email.
Route shows unverified	Verification email not received	Confirm the forwarding rule forwards all mail, including from Helpin; resend verification.
Emails arrive in the wrong inbox	Route bound to the wrong mailbox	Rebind the route or move conversations via routing rules.
Threads fragment	Customer's replies go to a different address than the thread	Keep one address per route and reply from the matching sender.

Keeping the loop healthy

Forward all headers (true forwarding), not inline copy-paste — metadata is what keeps threads intact.
Avoid auto-responders on the forwarded address; they can create loops.
If you migrate addresses, keep old routes active during the transition so in-flight threads keep arriving.

Manual forwards without a route

Occasionally a teammate forwards a customer email into Helpin manually. With manual forwarded email detection enabled (and confidence at or above the threshold), these are recognized and threaded as conversations with the original participants — no route needed. Detection is deliberately conservative: below the confidence threshold nothing is created.

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