If you are using Microsoft Office 365 or Google Suite to manage an email domain for your organization, you can configure the mailbox of your CafeX assistant.


In this article, the mailbox of the CafeX assistant is: casper@example.com

  • casper is the primary alias of the mailbox.
  • The CafeX assistant uses dynamic aliases to target workspaces, in the following format: casper+alias@example.com.  CafeX assigns a unique value to alias for each workspace.
  • Your mail server forwards emails in this format to the mailbox of your CafeX assistant.
    • Google Suite, by default performs this.
    • Microsoft Office 365 requires further configuration


If you do not configure an assistant mailbox, CafeX sends notification emails from casper@cafex.com in some cases. The majority of the features are not going to be available to in your tenant.

Configuring CafeX to connect to your mail server

As a tenant’s administrator, to setup the CafeX assistant to use a mailbox:

  1. Create a mailbox for the assistant:
    • Microsoft Office 365
    • Google Suite
  2. Open your Profile menu > Tenant settings > Email
  3. Complete the mailbox configuration for your assistant to use.
    AttributeDescription
    MailboxThe mailbox identity of your CafeX assistant. For example: casper
    DomainThe domain of your CafeX assistant’s mailbox. For example: example.com
    Display Namethe display name the assistant presents in the emails it sends. For example: Casper
    ModeImportant: Unless CafeX instructs you, set this to Unseen. The CafeX assistant processes unread emails, before it marks them read.
  4. If you are configuring a Microsoft Office 365 suite, specify connection details for your Exchange Server:
    AttributeDescription
    PasswordThe mailbox password for your CafeX assistant.
    ServerThe address of your IMAP email server. For example: outlook.office365.com
    PortThe IMAP email server port. For example: 993
    SMTP ServerThe address of your SMTP server. For example: smtp.office365.com
    SMTP PortThe port of your SMTP server. For example: 587
    SMTP EncryptionThe encryption method to use to connect to your SMTP Server.
    For Microsoft Exchange use: STARTTLS

    If you are configuring another Exchange server, these hostnames and ports must be accessible from CafeX.
    See also:

  5. Alternatively, if you provide a SendGrid API key for outbound messages, emails that your CafeX assistant sends originate from SendGrid. See: SendGrid—API keys
  6. Verify your CafeX assistant mailbox - See BELOW
  7. Click Update

Configuring Microsoft Exchange Server for CafeX

As a administrator, in your Exchange Server configure the following:

  1. Configure your mail flow settings for the CafeX assistant - See BELOW
  2. Configure the assistant mailbox - See BELOW

Configuring the Microsoft Exchange mail flow rules

As a administrator, to create the mail flow rules that the CafeX assistant uses to detects dynamic alias, configure the following: 

  1. To receive email from outside of your organization, set the accepted domain to use internal relay
    See: Managed accepted domains in Exchange Online
  2. Create a rule to forward emails to the mailbox of the CafeX assistant with the following:
    AttributeDescription
    NameThe name of your CafeX assistant mail flow rule.
    For example: CafeX Assistant rule
    Apply this rule if…Set this to:
    The recipient address includes… The primary alias of your CafeX assistant mailbox.
    For example: casper
    Do the following…Redirect the message to… Your CafeX assistant

    See: Manage mail flow rules on Exchange Online

    For example:
    The mail flow rule for the mailbox for casper+alias@example.com may appear as the following:

    ExampleCatch.png

CafeX assistant mailbox configuration

As an administrator, To allow CafeX to read calendar events in the CafeX assistant mailbox, enable the follow IMAP option:
Send event invitations in iCalendar format

image-20190704-113738.png

See also: Microsoft—POP3 or IMAP4 Settings for a user

Verifying your assistant mailbox

After you fill in the mailbox settings, to verify that CafeX can connect to your assistant mailbox, click Validate email config.

CafeX uses the configuration you provide to:

  • Connect to the mailbox to check that CafeX can read emails it receives.
  • Make a request to send an email from the mailbox. CafeX does not verify that it receives the email, only that the request to send an email is successful.

If the validation is not successful, there is an error message that CafeX receives during the attempt to connect to the mailbox.