# Configuring incoming email to create new topics or group messages
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/configuring-incoming-email-to-create-new-topics-or-group-messages/62977
**Category:** Site Management
**Tags:** how-to, email-in
**Created:** [5월 18, 2017, 8:07오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/configuring-incoming-email-to-create-new-topics-or-group-messages/62977 "2017-05-18T20:07:09Z")
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### Author:  [@Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Discourse)
#### Post date: [5월 18, 2017, 8:07오후 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/configuring-incoming-email-to-create-new-topics-or-group-messages/62977/1 "2017-05-18T20:07:10Z")
> 🔖 This guide explains how to configure Discourse to create new topics or group messages from incoming emails. It covers site settings, group configuration, and category settings.
>
> 🙋 Required user level: Administrator
# Configure incoming email to create new topics or group messages
Discourse allows you to send emails to a special address to automatically create new topics in a category or new group messages. This feature is useful for integrating Discourse with external mailing lists, support ticket systems, or simply allowing users without accounts to post via email.
### Summary
This guide covers the following:
- Enabling the core email-in site settings
- Configuring incoming emails for specific groups
- Configuring incoming emails for specific categories
- Understanding forwarded email behavior
- Special considerations for Discourse Hosted sites
### Enable email-in site settings
Before you can create topics or group messages via email, you must enable the core email-in functionality at the site level.
1. Go to your site’s Admin panel
2. In the left sidebar, click **Email** then **Settings**
3. Search for each setting using the filter field and configure as needed
You can also navigate directly to `/admin/config/email` to access these settings.
#### `email_in`
This is the master switch for email-in functionality.
- **Label:** `Enable email in`
- **Description:** Allows creating topics and group messages via email.
- **Default:** Disabled
You must enable this setting before any other email-in configuration will work.
#### `email_in_allowed_groups`
This setting restricts which users are allowed to create topics or group messages via email.
- **Label:** `Email in allowed groups`
- **Description:** Only users in these groups can create topics or group messages via email. Leave blank to allow all users.
- **Default:** Empty (all users allowed)
To restrict email-in to specific groups (e.g., `staff`, `moderators`), enter the group names separated by commas.
#### `enable_staged_users`
This setting controls whether users who create topics via email are automatically staged (require approval).
- **Label:** `Enable staged users`
- **Description:** When enabled, users who create topics via email will be staged and require approval before they can post.
- **Default:** Enabled
If you disable this setting, users who create topics via email will be able to post immediately without approval.
> ⚠ For Discourse hosted sites, the `enable_staged_users` setting is disabled and hidden during the trial to prevent abuse. Once a subscription is started, the setting is unhidden. To ask for it to be enabled during your trial, contact [team@discourse.org](mailto:team@discourse.org).
> ℹ Staged users are special placeholder accounts automatically created when an email arrives from someone without a Discourse account. They have limited functionality:
>
> - Username and display name are assigned automatically
> - Cannot be mentioned or found in user search
> - Don’t receive email digests or password reset emails
> - Automatically watch topics they participate in, and can reply via email
> - Can claim the account by registering with the same email address, converting it to a normal account
### Setting up incoming emails for a group
You can configure a group to accept incoming emails that create new group messages. This is useful for creating a group inbox that can be accessed via email.
> ℹ The **Incoming email** field only appears if the `email_in` site setting is enabled and you are logged in as an administrator.
1. Go to the groups page (e.g., `/g`)
2. Click the group name you want to configure
3. Click **Manage** to access the group management page
4. Click the **Interaction** tab
5. Scroll down to the **Incoming email** section
6. Enter the custom incoming email address in the **Custom incoming email address** field
7. Check the **Accept emails from anonymous users with no accounts** box if you want to allow users without accounts to send emails to this group
8. Click **Save** to apply the changes
> ℹ You can separate multiple email addresses using the `|` character. For example, `group1@example.com|group2@example.com`.
#### Group email field visibility
The **Incoming email** field only appears if:
- The `email_in` site setting is enabled
- You are logged in as an administrator
- The group is not an automatic (system) group
If the field does not appear, check that the `email_in` site setting is enabled and that you are logged in as an administrator.
### Setting up incoming emails for a category
You can configure a category to accept incoming emails that create new topics. This is useful for creating a category that can be accessed via email.
1. Go to the category page (e.g., `/c/`)
2. Click the 🔧 wrench icon to edit the category
3. On the Edit category page, click the **Show Advanced** toggle in the top-right of the page header
4. Click the **Settings** tab
5. Scroll down to the **Email** section
6. Enter the custom incoming email address in the **Custom incoming email address** field
7. Check the **Accept emails from anonymous users with no accounts** box if you want to allow users without accounts to send emails to this category
8. Check the **Category mirrors a mailing list** box if the category is connected to an external mailing list and all posts originate from email
9. Click **Save** in the banner at the bottom of the page to apply the changes
> ℹ You can separate multiple email addresses using the `|` character. For example, `category1@example.com|category2@example.com`.
#### Custom incoming email address
Enter the custom incoming email address that will be used to create new topics in this category. For example, `support@example.com`.
#### Accept emails from anonymous users with no accounts
When enabled, users who do not have an account on your Discourse site can send emails to this category to create new topics. These users will be automatically created as staged users (if `enable_staged_users` is enabled) or as active users (if `enable_staged_users` is disabled).
#### Category mirrors a mailing list
Enable this if the category is connected to an external mailing list and all posts originate from email. When enabled:
- Staged users will not receive web notifications for topics in this category
- The `email_in_allowed_groups` restriction is bypassed for posts arriving via the mailing list address
This setting is useful when you are mirroring an external mailing list to Discourse and want to avoid notifying staged users who have not yet been approved.
### Forwarded emails behavior
When users forward emails to Discourse, the forwarded content is handled according to the `forwarded_emails_behaviour` site setting. This setting controls how forwarded emails are processed and displayed in Discourse.
The `forwarded_emails_behaviour` setting has three options:
- **Hide:** The forwarded content is hidden from the post. Only the original email content is visible.
- **Quote:** The forwarded content is quoted at the bottom of the post, similar to how email clients handle forwarded messages.
- **Create replies:** A new reply is created for each forwarded email, rather than creating a new topic.
To configure this setting:
1. Go to your site’s Admin panel
2. In the left sidebar, click **Email** then **Settings**
3. Search for `forwarded_emails_behaviour` using the filter field
4. Select the desired option from the dropdown menu
5. Click **Save** to apply the changes
> ℹ The `forwarded_emails_behaviour` setting applies to all incoming emails, regardless of whether they are sent to a group or a category.
### Special instructions for Discourse Hosted sites
If you are on Discourse hosting, you need to enable the “Accept incoming emails sent to” checkbox in the “Accept incoming emails” section of the email settings:
1. Go to your site’s Admin panel
2. In the left sidebar, click **Email** then **Settings**
3. Scroll down to the “Accept incoming emails” section
4. Check the **Accept incoming emails sent to** checkbox
5. Click **Save** to apply the changes
Discourse Hosted sites use a special email domain for incoming emails (`{YOUR_PREFIX}.discoursemail.com`). Any of the following formats can be used for the incoming email address:
- `{ANYTHING}@{YOUR_PREFIX}.discoursemail.com` - where:
- `{ANYTHING}` is the custom incoming email address you configure
- `{YOUR_PREFIX}` is the unique prefix assigned to your site. This should match the suggested first set of characters before the `+` sign as seen under the `Accept incoming emails sent to` setting
- `{YOUR_PREFIX}+{ANYTHING}@discoursemail.com`
Additionally, if you’re a hosted customer and want to use a truly unique email address that does not match one of the above formats, you can do so by setting up the email address through a third-party email provider and forwarding all email received at that address to your site. You must enable the `Accept incoming emails sent to` option and use the email address shown below that option as the forwarding address.
### Additional resources
- [Configuring SMTP settings](https://meta.discourse.org/t/configuring-smtp-settings/35206)
- [Staged users](https://meta.discourse.org/t/staged-users/10678)
- [Troubleshoot reply by email](https://meta.discourse.org/t/troubleshoot-reply-by-email/42026)
> Last edited by @MarkDoerr 2026-06-27T02:39:15Z
>
> Last checked by @MarkDoerr 2026-06-24T22:02:47Z
>
> > **Check document**
> >
> > Perform check on document:
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