Unable to post by email by unregistered users

I would like to be able for anyone to post to our instance by sending email.

When I try that from a test account, I get automatic response “Your account does not have the privileges to post new topics in that category.”

I then go into settings as Admin, and change this setting to the below, but I am still unable to post by email.

Can someone help me configure our instance to allow posting by email for anyone?

Make sure enable staged users is enabled:

Also, does your test email account have an account on your Discourse instance? It’s worth noting that an existing user has the same email-in rights as they have posting rights. Staged users can email in to any mail-enabled category, but email addresses associated with a Discourse user can’t email in to any category which the user doesn’t have access to.

Look into group inboxes if you need to blend the two and want anyone to be able to email in but not necessarily see the topics others have created.

@Stephen thank you! I did have staged users enabled, but indeed the email I used for testing already had an account, and did not have access to the group where posts submitted by email were getting assigned.

Can you clarify what those “group inboxes” are and how I can look into this? The above is exactly what I need to accomplish. I want anyone (registered or unregistered email) to be able to send email to a configured address, which would trigger a new post to a restricted access category, and after that it would be triaged by someone who has access to that category.

Basically, I need to have threads that are accessible by the submitter and a defined group of moderators, but not accessible by other users who post by sending to the same discourse email address.

Group inboxes are exactly how they sound, PM inboxes for messages sent to groups. Unlike discussions in categories, whose permissions are determined at the category level, PM conversations can have more granular permissions.

If you check the Interaction settings on a group it can be given a custom inbound email address. Emailing that address will create a new PM, with the group and topic creator as participants.

This won’t appear in a normal category view though, you will receive notifications as for any PM and need to visit the group inbox to see them.

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I found it. Very interesting. I had no idea about this feature.

Is it allowable to use the same email address in multiple places (eg, as the custom incoming email address for a group and for a category)?

I’m afraid not, no. Email addresses need to be unique.

Thank you for your help, I think I am all set with this issue!

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