Store copies of email contents and attachments in topics/posts in Discourse

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Does anybody store their emails in a Discourse forum.

If you do this, then:

  • What advantages and disadvantages have you found?
  • What email software and what platform are you copying or importing from?
  • Do you have any automation?

If you don’t do this then what do you think about this?

My searches here didn’t uncover anyone else doing this. I couldn’t even work out what category to put this topic in. But I’m sure I’m not the first to do this.

I’ve been transferring old emails into Discourse with the contents and attachments in Discourse topics and posts.

I did this for a forum I administer. Discourse is working so well at providing searchable history and a structured knowledge base that now I’m doing the same for all my emails about installing and administering the forum. So I’ve created a category for admins only. I’ve added all the emails relating to providers of hosting, DNS, email and spam protection and that includes all billing.

I just create a draft forward in Outlook 365 and copy that text into Discourse. All useful attachments are uploaded separately.

Here’s a simple example using a Discourse upgrade email. I don’t actually log update dates but maybe I should.

Updated 22/01/20.

From: noreply@community.mysite.org noreply@community.mysite.org
Sent: Wednesday, 22 January 2020 4:43 PM
To: mysite@outlook.com
Subject: [mysitename] update available

Hooray, a new version of Discourse is available!

Your version: 2.4.0.beta9
New version: 2.4.0.beta10

Upgrade using our easy one-click browser upgrade

See what’s new in the release notes or view the raw GitHub changelog

Visit meta.discourse.org for news, discussion, and support for Discourse

Release notes

Read about this release here:

https://meta.discourse.org/t/139327

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When I use a regular email account I practice inbox zero, and delete messages. I never store information in an inbox; rather I moved it to text files or a wiki. Since Discourse is all the parts of a wiki I use, and a whole lot more on the messaging side, I just skip a step.

On top of using it for incoming messages (a bit like a CRM), I also load up all my peeps on a personal but public instance. They get free discussion hosting, and I get to send PMs to folks by their username, even from my phone, and if they ever change their email address it auto-updates! Wow!

Notably, I don’t allow Discourse to ever send email to me; it would just go to another Discourse.

Just an inbox run by a registrar. I think they use roundcube or another web interface, but I don’t use it.

Kinda. I’ve experimented with webhooks to ping me on jabber for certain criteria, like special clients or keywords. But I honestly haven’t needed that. I do use auto-bumping and topic timers, and I split different addresses to categories that have slightly different settings (including not notifying me).

I also post things, via webhooks, from various systems, so I can see it all in one place. :sunglasses:

My favorite functionality shift is the ability to “close” conversations. I also like silencing spammy addresses. :slight_smile:

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