Connect Email to OTRS So Tickets Arrive and Replies Go Out
Email is the front door of this helpdesk. Customers write to one address, the system turns the message into a ticket, agents answer from inside the ticket, and follow-ups find their way back to the same conversation. This page connects both directions properly - in and out.
✍️ Technical Anshu📧 IMAP and SMTP⏱️ The step that matters most
🎥 Watch the full video - the complete OTRS helpdesk installation, step by step
OTRS handles mail in two separate halves, and most failed installs only set up one of them. Incoming mail is fetched by the PostMaster from a mailbox you connect, checked at intervals by the system daemon, and turned into tickets in a queue. Outgoing mail is sent through your SMTP server from the helpdesk's system address. Set up both, in this order, and then prove the whole round trip with real messages before anyone depends on it.
Follow-ups matched by ticket number in the subjectWorking
What a finished mail setup looks like - addresses shown are examples
1
How a Message Becomes a Ticket
The system daemon wakes up at intervals and asks the connected mailbox for new mail. Each message is read by the PostMaster, given a ticket number, and filed into a queue. When the customer later replies, the ticket number in the subject line is the hook that attaches the reply to the existing ticket instead of opening a duplicate. This is why agents must reply from inside the ticket and why nobody should edit the ticket number out of a subject line - that small string is the thread that holds the whole conversation together.
2
Set Up Incoming Mail
Create a real mailbox for support on your mail server first - the helpdesk fetches from it, it does not replace it
In Admin, open PostMaster Mail Accounts and add the account with its server, login and password
Choose IMAP over POP3 when you can - IMAP is the safer fetch for a mailbox a system reads all day
Set the queue new tickets should land in, then run a manual fetch and watch the first ticket appear
Make sure the daemon is running - without it, fetching only happens when someone remembers
3
Set Up Outgoing Mail
Replies leave through your own mail server, so configure sending with the same care:
Set the send method to SMTP with authentication and TLS - the exact login your mail provider expects
Set the system address customers will see, on your own domain, so replies are trusted and do not fall into spam
A queue can carry its own address - billing questions can genuinely come from the billing address
Send a test reply to your personal mailbox and check it arrives, from the right address, with the ticket number intact
4
Prove the Round Trip Before Launch
Run this four-message test from an outside address, exactly like a customer would:
Send a new request - a ticket must appear in the right queue
Reply from inside the ticket - the reply must arrive at the outside address
Reply to that reply - it must attach to the same ticket, not open a new one
Close the ticket - the closing notification must arrive
5
When Mail Misbehaves
The usual faults are few and recognisable. Mail is fetched but no ticket appears: check the PostMaster filters and the account's target queue. Duplicates keep appearing: the fetch is re-reading messages - check the mailbox settings and whether another program is also polling it. A customer reply opens a new ticket: the subject lost its ticket number, usually because someone replied from a forwarded copy. Replies never arrive: test the SMTP login separately - sending fails silently more often than fetching does.
🎥 Watch the Complete Installation in the Video
The full OTRS helpdesk installation with every screen shown live - server, database, installer and first login.
Should I use POP3 or IMAP for the helpdesk mailbox?
IMAP is the better default. It is designed for a mailbox that a system reads continuously, it handles folders and message state cleanly, and it avoids the classic POP3 problem of messages being downloaded twice or vanishing from the server before anyone checked.
Why did a customer reply open a brand new ticket?
Almost always because the ticket number was missing from the subject line. Follow-ups are matched by that number, so if a customer writes a fresh email, forwards the thread, or deletes the number, the system honestly cannot know it belongs to the old ticket and opens a new one.
Can each queue have its own email address?
Yes. A queue can have its own system address, and you can connect more than one mailbox. That is how a billing address and a support address can feed two different queues while agents work in one system.
This guide is based on the Technical Anshu OTRS helpdesk video above • Stuck on a step? Ask in the video comments - that is where answers come from 🙏