Why your VICIdial inbound email isn't arriving, and how to fix it

When inbound email never reaches your agents, the cause is almost always one of four things: the feature is off in System Settings, there is no E keepalive on a server, the parser cron is not running, or the email account is set inactive. None of these throw a loud error, so you have to walk the chain in order. This post is that checklist.

1. Turn the feature on in System Settings

Inbound email is off by default. In Admin, open System Settings and set Allow Emails to 1. Until that flag is on, nothing else in the chain matters because VICIdial will not look at any mailbox. This is the most common reason a brand-new setup sees nothing arrive.

While you are there, the user who configures email needs Modify Email Accounts enabled in their user record, or they will not be able to set the accounts up in the first place.

2. Add the E keepalive to exactly one server

An E keepalive has to be added to ONLY ONE of your servers in the astguiclient.conf file. This keepalive is what drives the email side of the dialer. Put it on the box you intend to handle mail, and leave it off every other server.

3. Run the parser cron on that same one box

The inbound email parser must be added to the crontab of ONLY ONE server, the same box that carries the E keepalive. The line runs every minute and checks your mailboxes. The script also depends on a set of perl modules being installed, including the IMAP, POP3, and HTML-parsing libraries; if any are missing the parser fails silently.

4. Check IMAP/POP3 and the Active flag

VICIdial connects to your mailbox over IMAP or POP3 only, so the account protocol has to match what your provider offers. Confirm the server, user, and password are right, and confirm the account is set to INBOUND. Then check the Active flag on the email account: if it is not set, that account is skipped entirely and no mail is loaded for it.

Here is the order to walk when nothing is arriving.

flowchart TD
  A["No email reaching agents"] --> B{"Allow Emails set to 1?"}
  B -->|No| B1["Enable in System Settings"]
  B -->|Yes| C{"E keepalive on one server?"}
  C -->|No| C1["Add E keepalive"]
  C -->|Yes| D{"Parser cron on that box?"}
  D -->|No| D1["Add the every-minute cron"]
  D -->|Yes| E{"Account Active and IMAP/POP3 correct?"}
  E -->|No| E1["Fix protocol and Active flag"]
  E -->|Yes| F["Email loads to lead"]

Once mail flows

With those four in place, an arriving message gets matched to a Lead and routed to an available Agent just like a queued call into an Ingroup. The agent works it, picks a Disposition, and goes back into rotation.

Walk those four checks in order and inbound email almost always comes back. For the full picture of how email sits beside voice and chat, see the VICIdial inbound email and chat guide, and for the keepalive and parser setup on its own, read the E keepalive and email parser setup. If you would rather skip the server prep, our managed VICIdial plans ship with the parser, keepalive, and modules already in place.