Consolidate Multiple Inboxes - Help Scout Support

Description: If you created 2 or more Help Scout Inboxes, but have decided that consolidating a couple of them (or all of them) into a single Inbox makes more sense for your

Content: Consolidate Multiple InboxesIf you created 2 or more Help Scout Inboxes, but have decided that consolidating a couple of them (or all of them) into a single Inbox makes more sense for your team's flow, you can use Workflows to move all the conversations over, change the forwarding, then delete the extra Inbox(es). This article will walk you through that process.If you are just looking to have multiple addresses forward in to a single Inbox, but don't already have separate Inboxes in Help Scout for those, check outForward Email Aliases to an Inboxfor the information you'll need to set that up.Note:If you want to consolidate more than 2 Inboxes, your best bet is to take it one at a time. Step through this process to move one Inbox and wait for that to complete, then step through it again for the next Inbox.Before You Get StartedThese steps use the Workflows feature, available in Standard or higher plans. If you're new to workflows, it's a good idea to head over toGet Started With Workflowsfirst to get familiar.You need theManage workflowspermission to follow this guide. Take a look atUser Roles and Permissionsif you need more information on those permissions.Make sure you also have access to the forwarding settings for the email address at your email provider that is currently set to forward to the Inbox that you want to delete, as you'll need to be able to reset the forwarding to go to the Inbox you're keeping. Take a look atGet Your Email Into Help Scoutfor more help on accessing the forwarding settings if you don't remember what you did to set it up.Consolidate Inboxes1Move the conversationsHead toManage > Inboxesand click on the tile for the Inbox that you plan to delete. ChooseWorkflowsfrom the left navigation menu, then clickNew Workflow.ChooseAutomaticas the Type, and set the condition asStatus is not equal to Spamto catch all conversations except for spam.Add the actionMove to inboxand choose the Inbox that you're keeping as your main Inbox. Optional: add the actionAdd Tag(s)to mark these conversations with tag that will help you distinguish them after the move. (For example,moved-from-sourceinboxname.)Make sure to toggleApply to Previouson.It should look like the image below:2Change the forwarding at your email providerHop into your email provider's forwarding settings for the Inbox you want to delete. Change the settings there so that the email will forward to the Help Scout Inbox address for the Inboxthat you are keeping. You can find that address at that Inbox's settings — head toManage > Inboxesand choose the tile for the Inbox that you are keeping. TheInbox Addresson that settings page is the address you now want to forward this email to.3Copy over any Workflows and/or Saved Replies you want to keepHead into the Workflows for the Inbox you are going to delete and use theCopy to Inbox...option to copy the ones you want to also use in the Inbox you're going to keep.Do the same for any Saved Replies you want to use in the Inbox you're keeping.4Delete the Inbox you're eliminatingHead back toManage > Inboxesand click the tile for the Inbox you are NOT keeping, scroll down to the bottom of that page, and click the redDelete Inboxlink.Note: Make sure that the Workflow you started in Step 1 has completed and all conversations are in the new Inbox before you take this step!5Add the email address to AliasesNext, you'll need to add the address for the Inbox you're deleting to theAliasesfield of the Inbox you're keeping. This will ensure that Help Scout knows to associate any emails from the deleted Inbox's address with the new Inbox they're being sent to. Take a look atForward Email Aliases to an Inboxfor more information on Aliases in Help Scout.6Set up filtering by alias (optional)You can automatically take actions onnewconversations that you receive via the email alias using Workflows. Create a new automatic Workflow and use theTo:condition to look for the alias email address.Note:TheTo:condition will not match on the conversations moved from the previous Inbox. It will only find conversations sent to the alias after the consolidation. Add a condition looking for the tag you applied when you moved the conversations to include the previous conversations.For example, if you wanted to automatically tag and assign all conversations that were sent to billing@jgclothing.co alias after consolidation, as well as show those in a separate view, you'd set theConditionsto beTo: is equal to billing@jgclothing.co, and set theActionsto add the tag, and assign to the user. Then create a view that's looking for that tag to show them there. SeeCreate and Manage Folder Viewsfor more help on that bit.The Workflow would look something like this:If you are on the Plus Plan, you can use this Workflow to automatically assign Aliases to Team Folders to take them out of the unassigned queue. More about Teams here:Create and Manage Teams.

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