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Akeeba Ticket System

#39127 Clarification on "Reply by" and "Only for managers" options in email tickets

Posted in ‘Akeeba Ticket System for Joomla! 4 & 5’
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Environment Information

Joomla! version
4.3.2
PHP version
8.0.28
Akeeba Ticket System version
5.2.7

Latest post by nicholas on Thursday, 22 June 2023 07:56 CDT

[email protected]

 

Hello,

Apologies for opening another ticket but I found something during my testing of the other ATS issues I am having and wanted to get clarification on this and avoid muddling the other open tickets.

Using a fresh installation of J4.3.2 and ATS 5.2.7 I was testing mailfetch with both IMAP and Gmail API integration.

In the testing I found that if mailfetch was configured as shown below new tickets would not be created. 

Reply by email: Yes

Only for managers: Yes

Create ticket by email: Yes

 

According to the documentation I see below, it reads like "only for managers" applies to email replies to existing tickets. However, I have found that I must set "Only for managers" to NO in order for non-managers to be able to create a new ticket. 

I have attached the debug log to confirm this is how mailfetch operates. 

You can see that the second test ticket is rejected as it is a new ticket but the sender is not a manager.

In the third ticket you can see that I have set "Only for managers" to NO and new tickets are now allowed.

Just an FYI and suggestion that either:

-The documentation is updated to at "reply to and create new" where appropriate

or

-Change the behavior of mailfetch so that when "Only for managers" is YES,  new tickets are allowed by non-managers  but replying to existing tickets is not allowed

 

Thanks for your consideration!

Eric

 

References:

https://www.akeeba.com/documentation/ats-for-joomla/receiving-emails.html#plugins-ats-mailfetch

The plugin options Reply by email

When enabled allows users to reply to their tickets by email.

Only for managers

When enabled the Reply by email feature is only available for managers (support staff)

Create ticket by email

When enabled allows users to create new tickets by emails. Obviously, the user needs to send the email from the email address they used to register on your site.

 

 

#Software: Joomla! 4.3.2 Stable [ Bora ] 30-May-2023 16:00 GMT   #Fields: datetime priority clientip category message 2023-06-21T17:50:29+00:00 INFO 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Beginning checking for emails 2023-06-21T17:50:29+00:00 INFO 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Attempting to connect to mail server 2023-06-21T17:50:30+00:00 INFO 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Checking for unread email sent after Mon, 19 Jun 2023 17:50:30 +0000 2023-06-21T17:54:37+00:00 INFO 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Beginning checking for emails 2023-06-21T17:54:37+00:00 INFO 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Attempting to connect to mail server 2023-06-21T17:54:37+00:00 INFO 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Checking for unread email sent after Tue, 20 Jun 2023 17:50:30 +0000 2023-06-21T17:54:39+00:00 INFO 24.96.32.174 ats.emails <CA+vBaBBwiiPcrCdcaDY+fLUcCoPfTdzFxg5Pr4nXtGFm7tdrGA@mail.gmail.com>. Eric Johnson <[email protected]> — Test ticket by email 1 2023-06-21T17:54:46+00:00 INFO 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Beginning checking for emails 2023-06-21T17:54:46+00:00 INFO 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Attempting to connect to mail server 2023-06-21T17:54:46+00:00 INFO 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Checking for unread email sent after Tue, 20 Jun 2023 17:54:37 +0000 2023-06-21T17:58:08+00:00 INFO 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Beginning checking for emails 2023-06-21T17:58:08+00:00 INFO 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Attempting to connect to mail server 2023-06-21T17:58:08+00:00 INFO 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Checking for unread email sent after Tue, 20 Jun 2023 17:54:46 +0000 2023-06-21T17:58:10+00:00 INFO 24.96.32.174 ats.emails <CA+vBaBDTNR3vRyizBWqPhP6b0PuU5B=EMm8bXNJkQQqLE_PFyg@mail.gmail.com>. Eric Johnson <[email protected]> — test ticket by email 2 2023-06-21T17:58:10+00:00 DEBUG 24.96.32.174 ats.emails No TicketID found: this email is not a reply to an existing ticket 2023-06-21T17:58:10+00:00 DEBUG 24.96.32.174 ats.emails New ticket. Trying to determine category from the email address it was sent to. 2023-06-21T17:58:10+00:00 DEBUG 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Got category ID 8 2023-06-21T17:58:10+00:00 DEBUG 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Attempting to load ticket category #8 2023-06-21T17:58:10+00:00 ERROR 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Reply by Email is only allowed for category managers (staff) but the person emailing us is not a manager. 2023-06-21T17:58:10+00:00 DEBUG 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Sending the mailgateway-noaccess email and aborting. 2023-06-21T17:58:10+00:00 ERROR 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Generic checks failed for this email. Skipping this email. 2023-06-21T18:02:28+00:00 INFO 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Beginning checking for emails 2023-06-21T18:02:28+00:00 INFO 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Attempting to connect to mail server 2023-06-21T18:02:28+00:00 INFO 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Checking for unread email sent after Tue, 20 Jun 2023 17:58:08 +0000 2023-06-21T18:02:31+00:00 INFO 24.96.32.174 ats.emails <CA+vBaBCMODGOzxukt_UrWdYBjYFwDbzY3WmBh9=weL_XcjMR1A@mail.gmail.com>. Eric Johnson <[email protected]> — test ticket by email 3 2023-06-21T18:02:31+00:00 DEBUG 24.96.32.174 ats.emails No TicketID found: this email is not a reply to an existing ticket 2023-06-21T18:02:31+00:00 DEBUG 24.96.32.174 ats.emails New ticket. Trying to determine category from the email address it was sent to. 2023-06-21T18:02:31+00:00 DEBUG 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Got category ID 8 2023-06-21T18:02:31+00:00 DEBUG 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Attempting to load ticket category #8 2023-06-21T18:02:31+00:00 DEBUG 24.96.32.174 ats.emails Posting a new ticket

 

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager

Reply by Email: YES + Only for Managers: NO = Both managers and clients can reply to existing tickets by email. Does NOT control creating of new tickets.

Reply by Email: YES + Only for Managers: NO = Managers can reply to existing tickets by email. Clients cannot reply to existing tickets by email. Does NOT control creating of new tickets.

Reply by Email: NO = Nobody can reply to existing tickets by email.

----

Create Ticket by Email: Yes + Only for Managers: NO = Managers and clients can create new tickets by sending an email. Does NOT control replies by email.

Create Ticket by Email: Yes + Only for Managers: YES = Managers can create new tickets by sending an email. Clients cannot. Does NOT control replies by email.

Create Ticket by Email: No = Nobody can create new tickets by sending an email.

----

What you want to do is not possible since the “Only for managers” option applies to both new tickets and replies. It does not make sense to allow users to create new tickets by email but not reply to them also by email. It will cause a lot of problems with your users.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

[email protected]

Nicholas,

I think you mis-understood. I understand now that the "Only for managers" option applies to both "Repy by email" and "Create ticket by email".

I am suggesting that the current documentation was not clear to me and/or I still don't correctly understand the feature. I also realize that it might just be me.

Also I understand that no one appreciates unsolicited suggestions. But here I go:

1.) See my screenshot regarding the documentation

2.) See my screenshot regarding the mailfetch configuration page

I truly appreciate your products and am only trying to contribute in any way I can.

Thanks for your patience and understanding!

Eric

 

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager

Oh! Sorry, now I understand what you mean. Yeah, the documentation text dates before the implementation of creating new tickets by email (this feature was used to be called “Reply By Email”). Thanks!

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

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