A few months ago, we released a very cool feature which used the client access portal to add notes to tickets. We also introduced a couple bugs in the process. I am thrilled to announce that these bugs have since been fixed.
New Contacts Created when "Auto Create Contacts" is Disabled
A number of users reported that they were seeing new contacts created in their Autotask accounts even if Email2AT was set to not create new contacts. Email2AT was incorrectly creating new contacts when customers replied because Email2AT needed a client portal user account in order to add the note.
We've now updated Email2AT to be more intelligent on these replies. When an email is received to update an existing ticket, Email2AT will attempt to locate an existing contact in Autotask for the sender. If Auto Create Contacts is disabled, and a contact is not found, then Email2AT will add the reply via the API (not the client portal). If a contact is found, then Email2AT will add the note via the portal for that user (and Email2AT will activate the portal if needed, too).
Internal Resources Created as Contacts
When an internal resource (an Autotask user) sends a ticket update to a customer's ticket, Email2AT was creating a contact and a portal account for that Autotask user. This meant that Autotask users had a bunch of contacts on all sorts of accounts in their own Autotask.
Email2AT will no longer use the portal to add notes to tickets if the note is being sent in by an Autotask resource. Email2AT will always use the API for these notes.
Thanks for your patience as we worked through these fixes.