Mail handling

All mails sent by Helfertool are sent from one configured mail address. The app can also read the mails that are sent back to this address and process non delivery reports. If the affected helper can be identified (based on the custom mail header X-Helfertool containing an ID and the original recipient address), the failed delivery is displayed in the app. All other mails can be forwarded to another mail address, so Helfertool filters out non delivery reports for you.

Simple example

Let’s assume you have a mailbox helfertool@app.helfertool.org that you can access via SMTP and IMAP and that is used to send out mails. Furthermore you have a mailing list / distribution group volunteers@app.helfertool.org that is read by your team.

A shortened configuration looks like this:

mail:
    # Connection to mail server for sending
    send:
        user: "helfertool@app.helfertool.org"
        ...

    # Connection to mail server for receiving
    receive:
        user: "helfertool@app.helfertool.org"
        ...

        # The IMAP folder that should be checked for new mails
        folder: "INBOX"

        # Time between checks (in seconds)
        interval: 300

    # Sender address and display name for all outgoing mails
    sender_address: "helfertool@app.helfertool.org"
    sender_name: "Helfertool"

    # Forward received mails that are not handled automatically to this address (with this display name)
    forward_unhandled_address: "volunteers@app.helfertool.org"
    forward_unhandled_name: "Helfertool"

This means that (almost all) non delivery reports sent to helfertool@app.helfertool.org are automatically processed and not forwarded to your team. Any other mail, for example replies by helpers, is forwarded to volunteers@app.helfertool.org so you can take care of it.

Example with Mailman

We use Mailman for our own deployment. The setup might be a bit more complex than necessary but maybe it helps to understand what is possible.

• helfertool@app.helfertool.org is a Mailman list and is also used as sender address.

• volunteers@app.helfertool.org is another Mailman list.

• helfertoolservice@app.helfertool.org is a mailbox (SMTP + IMAP). It is member of the helfertool@app.helfertool.org mailing list.

mail:
    # Connection to mail server for sending
    send:
        user: "helfertoolservice@app.helfertool.org"
        ...

    # Connection to mail server for receiving
    receive:
        user: "helfertoolservice@app.helfertool.org"
        ...

        # The IMAP folder that should be checked for new mails
        folder: "helfertool"

        # Time between checks (in seconds)
        interval: 300

    # Sender address and display name for all outgoing mails
    sender_address: "helfertool@app.helfertool.org"
    sender_name: "Helfertool"

    # Forward received mails that are not handled automatically to this address (with this display name)
    forward_unhandled_address: "volunteers@app.helfertool.org"
    forward_unhandled_name: "Helfertool"

We now have a similar setup as the simple example above, but incoming mails are first handled by Mailman. Mailman then forwards the mail to the helfertoolservice mailbox that is monitored by Helfertool.