[Google Apps] Add e-mail as item, not as a task

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12 comments

  • Gareth Jordan

    This would certainly improve the way Podio works. At the moment the Gmail integration is useful, but it would streamline the process if you could create an item directly from Gmail. At the moment it is a bit awkward because you have to go into Podio to create an item before you can append the email content. 

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  • Donald Thiery

    Hey there,

    I noticed that there are a lot of people asking for the same thing, e-mail directly to an item in a Podio App (Or for those where Podiotools is to complex).

    There is a simple workaround that you can use. Using this you can directly e-mail to a certain item in your Podio App. Just follow these steps;

    1. Set up a new e-mail account (e.g.  yourtestname@gmail.com not your company e-mail address) that you can use as a reference mail-address in Podio.

    2. Make this e-mail address a member of your Workspace. Podio will handle this as an 'External member' so no extra charges are made.

    3. This new member gets an invitation form Podio. Accept, log-in and go to 'Account settings' and set the E-mail notification settings marked only to   'I am given a task, @mentioned etc.'

    4. Modify your Podio App with two extra 'Building Blocks'; one Contact and one Text block. Name them whatever you want but choose a logical name. In my example (picture) it's called 'Postman' and 'Mail-client address'.

    5. If you edit an item or create a new one in your Podio App, choose your new external member in the contact block ('Postman' in my example). This external member gets an e-mail from Podio. The reply address is unique for your item in your Podio App, copy paste this address in the second new text-block ('Mail-client address' in my example).

    6. Your done!

    Now you can e-mail directly to a certain item in your Podio App. If you click on the e-mail address in the block 'Mail-client address' (or copy-paste) your mail client will open and you can sent messages, attachments etc.

     

    Hope this helped, good luck!

    (See attachments)

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  • Melvin Hines

    Hi Donald, Your information sounds interesting but I'm a little confused by the directions. Can I connect with you directly to found out how you did this?

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  • Donald Thiery

    Hi Melvin,

    No problem of course but if we maintain our conversation here others can learn from it too. Go ahead, ask your question!

    Donald

     

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  • Melvin Hines

    Sure thing. I've added in the way you said above, but I don't see how it allows me to add to an item. In my case, I'm trying to add the email to a client's contact information. When I emailed, the address I setup nothing seemed to happen.

     

    Thanks,

    Melvin 

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  • Melvin Hines

    As an update, what I have been able to do is use Google Apps to tag the "item" (in this case, the client contact) with a task request, where the emails seem to be stored. Though it sounds like your way may be more helpful if I cna figure it out how to make it work. The reason is that Google Apps only works for business accounts (which I have but typically prefer to be sent to my regular gmail account).

     

    So if you could help explain what to do to add to them item through the email workaround that would be great.

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  • Donald Thiery

    I think there is some misunderstanding. It has nothing to do with Google or Google Apps, in my case the usage of a Gmail address is just an example. It could be any e-mail address. Even within the same domain as you use for Podio but then you will be invoiced for that account by Podio. This e-mail address is just used to create an extra account which will be notified by Podio.

    So if you follow the steps as I described before you'll get a notification e-mail from Podio on that particular e-mail account. This e-mail contains a  unique e-mail address (if you reply this e-mail you will reply to that address). In the attached pics of my earlier post you see that I use this address for that Podio item. If you click on this item (the Podio e-mail address)  your own e-mail client will open with the right 'sent' e-mail address.

    Everything you e-mail to this account will be merged into that Podio item. So if you e-mail to somebody and use this address in the cc field your e-mail will be merged into Podio. So if you have certain e-mails that you want to merge in a particular app just forward it to his unique Podio e-mail address.

    I hope this will help you!

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  • Carl Bischoff

    so can i use this idea to manage tech support from clients? so they email support@us and it goes into Podio as ? task? for the tech team to pick up?

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  • Carl Bischoff

    Update just found out about Podio Tools so will investigate that

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  • Keller Baum

    Podio tools seems like it may work for this but this should be part of the core application.  Adding to an item from Gmail seems like it would be the best possible answer.

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  • Lawrence Dunn

    Hi Donald,

     

    Thanks for giving us this information on your workaround.  I am close, but I haven't quite gotten it to work properly.  I've followed your directions, but the only comments that appear in my app are in the subject line of the e-mails that I send to the "mail client address".  Whatever I write in the subject line appears as a comment in the app from the "post master". 

     

    Also, I only seem to be able to get these comments to appear if I send the e-mail from the "post master" e-mail address, as opposed to some other e-mail address.

     

    Any advice?

     

    Thanks and best regards,

    Larry Dunn

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  • Donald Thiery

    @Lawrence Dunn, Hi Larry,

     

    Not sure what's going wrong on your site.

    Normally the subject-line is not shown but the message itself is. And it's correct that all messages are from the Postman/master. In my example it's podio4ever@....

    If you've set it up as described you can click on the e-mail address (that is generated by Podio through podio4@....) and it should open your email client. If you then sent this message it should appear in your Podio app. but generated by your Psotman/master, podio4ever@... in my example.

    As said before it's a kind of workaround, with the disadvantage that all e-mail will be delivered by the Postman's e-mail address ...

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