How to Set Up Automatic Ticket Creation with Email Forwarding

Manually copying customer emails into your support system is tedious and error-prone. With Clear Slate's email routes feature, you can automatically convert incoming emails into support tickets—complete with threading, attachments, and seamless agent responses. Here's how to set it up in under 10 minutes.

What You'll Achieve

By the end of this guide, you'll have:

• A dedicated support email address (e.g., your-company@clear-slate.com)
• Automatic ticket creation when customers send emails
• Full email threading so conversations stay organized
• The ability to respond to customers directly from Clear Slate

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have:

• Admin access to your Clear Slate organization
• Access to your email provider (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) to set up forwarding
• A few minutes to complete the setup wizard

Step 1: Navigate to Email Settings

Log in to Clear Slate and go to Settings → Email Configuration. You'll see the Email Setup Wizard if you haven't configured email routes yet.

Click Get Started to begin the setup process.

Step 2: Create Your Email Route

Click Create Email Route to generate your unique inbound email address. Clear Slate will automatically create an address based on your organization name—something like acme-corp@clear-slate.com.

This address is unique to your organization and will be the destination for all forwarded customer emails.

Tip: Copy this email address to your clipboard using the copy button. You'll need it for the next step.

Step 3: Configure Email Forwarding

Now you need to tell your email provider to forward messages to your new Clear Slate address. The wizard provides specific instructions for popular email providers.

For Gmail Users

1. Click the Open Gmail Settings link in the wizard (or go to Gmail → Settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP)
2. Click Add a forwarding address
3. Paste your Clear Slate email address (e.g., acme-corp@clear-slate.com)
4. Click Next → Proceed → OK
5. Gmail will send a confirmation email to verify the forwarding address

For Outlook/Microsoft 365 Users

1. Go to Settings → Mail → Forwarding
2. Enable forwarding and enter your Clear Slate email address
3. Optionally keep a copy of forwarded messages
4. Save your changes

For Other Email Providers

Most email providers support forwarding. Look for "Forwarding," "Mail Rules," or "Auto-forward" in your email settings. The destination address is always your Clear Slate email route.

Step 4: Verify the Connection

Once forwarding is configured, return to the Clear Slate wizard and click Send Verification Email. This sends a special email to your configured address that, when forwarded, automatically verifies the connection.

The wizard will poll for verification automatically—you'll see a loading indicator while it checks. When the forwarded verification email arrives, the wizard advances automatically.

Note: Verification typically happens within 30-60 seconds. If it takes longer, check that your email forwarding is properly configured.

Step 5: Test Ticket Creation

With forwarding verified, it's time to test the full workflow. Click Send Test Email to send a sample customer inquiry to your support address.

Watch as the test email arrives and automatically creates a ticket in Clear Slate. You can view this ticket in your Tickets dashboard.

Step 6: Activate Your Email Route

Once testing is successful, click Activate to enable the integration. From this moment on, every email sent to your Clear Slate address (or forwarded to it) will automatically create a support ticket.

Configuring Email Processing Options

After activation, you can customize how emails are processed. Go to Settings → Email Configuration to access these options:

Auto-Create Tickets

Default: Enabled

When enabled, every incoming email creates a new ticket (or adds to an existing thread). Disable this if you want to manually review emails before creating tickets.

Include Attachments

Default: Enabled

Automatically processes and stores email attachments with tickets. Attachments up to 25MB are supported, including PDFs, documents, and images.

Default Priority

Default: Normal

Set the default priority level for auto-created tickets. Options include Low, Normal, High, and Urgent.

Thread by Subject

Default: Enabled

Groups related emails together based on subject line similarity, keeping conversations organized in a single ticket thread.

How It Works Once Set Up

Here's the complete flow once your email route is active:

1. Customer sends email to your support address (directly or forwarded)
2. Clear Slate receives the email via webhook
3. Ticket is created with the email content, sender info, and attachments
4. Thread tracking links follow-up emails to the same ticket
5. Agent responds in Clear Slate
6. Customer receives the response as a normal email reply
7. Conversation continues seamlessly between email and Clear Slate

Best Practices

Use a Dedicated Support Address

Instead of forwarding from a personal inbox, consider creating a dedicated address like support@yourcompany.com that forwards to Clear Slate. This keeps customer communications separate and professional.

Set Up Filters for Non-Support Emails

If you're forwarding from a shared inbox, create filters to exclude newsletters, automated notifications, or internal emails from being forwarded to Clear Slate.

Monitor Your Statistics

Check the Email Configuration page regularly to see how many emails have been received and sent. This helps you understand support volume and identify any forwarding issues.

Enable Thread Tracking

Keep the thread tracking options enabled to ensure customer reply chains stay organized within a single ticket. This prevents duplicate tickets and maintains conversation context.

Troubleshooting

Verification Email Not Received

• Confirm the forwarding address is correct in your email settings
• Check that Gmail's forwarding confirmation was completed
• Look in spam/junk folders for the verification email
• Try resending the verification email from the wizard

Tickets Not Being Created

• Verify the email route shows as "Active" in settings
• Check that "Auto-Create Tickets" is enabled
• Ensure the sender's email domain isn't blocked
• Review the email statistics to confirm emails are being received

Duplicate Tickets

• Enable "Thread by Subject" and "Thread by References" options
• Ensure customers are replying to existing threads rather than composing new emails
• Check for multiple forwarding rules sending the same email

What's Next?

Now that your email route is configured, consider exploring these related features:

• Email Signatures: Customize your outbound email appearance in Settings → Email Signature
• Auto-Assignment: Coming soon—automatically assign tickets to available agents
• Canned Responses: Create templates for common customer questions