Email piping and importing bring support messages into WHMCS. Choose one intended delivery route for each mailbox, then test both new tickets and replies so that customers do not receive duplicate threads.
IN THIS ARTICLE
01 Configure piping on a self-hosted installation
- Create the support department and assign its unique email address.
- Open Support Departments and copy the displayed email-forwarder command or file path appropriate to your mail platform.
- Confirm that the path uses the current
pipe.php, including any moved cron directory. - Configure the mail forwarder or delivery rule using your server's documented piping method and execution user.
- Send a test message from an ordinary customer address, then reply to the resulting ticket notification.
- Check the Ticket Mail Import Log and confirm that each message appears once in the correct ticket.
02 Use importing when appropriate
WHMCS Cloud uses importing rather than local email piping. Self-hosted systems can also import mail when that better fits the mail provider. Use the supported POP, IMAP or provider OAuth configuration and the required scheduled importer.
Successful import removes messages from the source mailbox. Use a dedicated support mailbox and an appropriate retention design. Review import-size limits before expecting large attachments to arrive unchanged.
Common questions
Why should the test sender not be an administrator?
Administrator addresses can be handled differently by the support workflow. Test with a representative customer identity to exercise the normal path.
Why is a customer's reply blocked?
Check whether the sender is associated with the ticket account or is an authorised recipient. Review blocked replies rather than enabling insecure imports globally.
Why are replies duplicated?
Check for both piping and importing on the same mailbox, duplicate forwarding rules or multiple departments using the same import account.
Keep automatic-response loop protection enabled and investigate the original message headers when a machine-generated reply is rejected.