The Email - Collect Action is a keystone tool in process application building. It enables you to collect and process emails, file them, strip out attachments and deduplicate them, and easily build logging and escalation processes. 

Automatic deduplication

Automatic deduplication of attachments means that if a number of emails are collected that contain the same attachment, the object is stored once and other instances refer to that stored object. This greatly reduces the file storage load over time.

Trigger

This Action is ordinarily triggered as a Scheduled Event on a ten minute interval, or what is appropriate for the circumstances.

Configuration Guidance

This configuration links three tables:

T: Email Collection - this Table and its actions control the actual collection of messages.

T: Email Collection - Emails - this table manages the storage of the emails.

T: Email  Collection - Attachments - this table manages the storage of Attachments to the message.

Create a new Email Collection Action

Set its Properties:

The Top Section allows you to define the email server and mailbox from which you are collecting the email

The Second Section sets which fields in the Table you created are to be used for the email contents. 

The Third and Fourth Sections allow you to select which field the information about collected emails and diagnostics are stored.

You must define where email are to be stored

Note that the Attachments field is a Multiple Record Link

The Multiple Record Link is set to the third table - Email Collection - Attachments.

You should set the Referential Integrity on the Collections Table.

This is to ensure that if an email is deleted any attachments will not be deleted if other records still use them.

Automatic deduplication means that duplicate attachments are only stored once as a shared resource. These setting maintain that relationship.

The Attachments field in the primary Email Collection table is set the Attachments table.

The Attachments Table needs to have a field for the file and the Record Id.

It is good practice to keep track of emails collected.

Use a Multiple Record Link over to the Emails table.