How to Manage and Recover Suspended Emails in BoldDesk
When a customer sends an email to your support address, BoldDesk converts it into a ticket. In some cases, the email is suspended. Agents can recover a suspended email to create a ticket, or permanently delete it. To prevent emails from being suspended, learn more in Reasons for Email Suspension in BoldDesk.
Check out this video tutorial for more details.
What is a Suspended Email?
A suspended email is an inbound email message that did not pass validation and therefore was not converted into a ticket.
View Suspended Emails Globally
Suspended emails can be managed using the Suspended Emails filter from the ticket list page. From this view, agents can:
- View all suspended emails.
- Recover suspended emails and convert them into tickets.
- Delete the suspended emails permanently.
Follow the steps below to view all suspended emails:
- Click Tickets on the left menu in the agent portal.
- Choose the Suspended Emails filter to view all suspended emails.
Key Details Displayed in Suspended Emails Global View
When you access the Suspended Emails filter from the ticket list, the following details are shown for each suspended email:
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Ticket ID: The ID of the ticket associated with the suspended email.
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Sender: The email address of the sender.
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Subject: The subject line of the suspended email.
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Suspension Cause: The reason why the email was suspended (e.g., blacklisted sender or domain, sender account blocked).
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Brand: The brand under which the ticket and email belong.
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Suspended Date: The date and time the email was suspended.
- Any suspended emails that are older than 30 days will be automatically removed from the system.
- The “Agent (agent name) updated on behalf of the requester” message displayed on recovered suspended tickets is a standard system-generated notification. Currently, there is no option to suppress, customize, or remove this message, and it cannot be disabled. This behavior is expected and applies to all recovered suspended tickets.
Delete Suspended Emails
You can permanently remove the email by clicking Delete. Deleted emails cannot be recovered.
- When you click Recover for a suspended email, BoldDesk re-processes the message using the same email threading logic used for normal inbound emails.
- If the recovered email matches an existing ticket thread (for example, it contains the ticket reference via ticket ID, hidden ticket ID, or message ID), the recovered email is added to that ticket conversation as an update.
- If the recovered email does not match any existing thread, BoldDesk treats it as a new conversation and creates a new ticket from the recovered email.
- Until recovery, suspended emails remain outside the ticket conversation and are not visible in the ticket thread.
Recover Suspended Emails
If the Recover option is selected, the suspended email will be recovered and created as a ticket. Until recovery, the suspended email messages are not visible to either the agent or the customer in the ticket module. Explore How to Recover Suspended Emails in BoldDesk.
Visibility Behavior
- While an email is suspended, the email message is not visible in the Tickets module as a ticket.
- While an email is suspended, the email message is not visible to the agent or the customer as a ticket.
- After recovery, BoldDesk creates a ticket from the suspended email.
Permission
An agent should enable the Manage ticket suspension permission to manage the suspended emails. Additionally, the agent should set the Ticket Access Scope to Global.
Troubleshooting suspended emails
Suspended Emails view is not available or actions are missing
- Confirm the agent has Manage ticket suspension permission enabled.
- Confirm the agent’s Ticket Access Scope is set to Global.
A sender says they emailed support, but no ticket exists
- Check the Suspended Emails view for a held email.
- Use available filters such as Brand, Suspension Cause, Date, and Sender Email to locate the message.
- Review the Suspension Cause in the View dialog before selecting Recover.
A suspended email cannot be found
- Confirm the email is not older than 30 days (older suspended emails are automatically removed).
- Confirm filters are not excluding the email (especially Date, Brand, and Sender Email).
Confusion about the “updated on behalf of the requester” message after recovery
- The message is a system-generated notification shown for all recovered suspended tickets.
- There is no option to disable or customize the message.
Frequently Asked Questions
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What is a suspended email in BoldDesk?
A suspended email is an inbound email message that did not pass validation, so BoldDesk held the email instead of converting it into a ticket. -
Where do agents manage suspended emails?
Agents manage suspended emails from the Suspended Emails filter on the ticket list page under Tickets in the agent portal. -
What actions can agents take on a suspended email?
Agents can view/preview, recover (re-process to create or update a ticket), or delete the suspended email permanently. -
Are suspended emails visible to customers or agents as tickets?
No. Suspended emails do not appear as tickets to agents or customers until an agent recovers the email. -
What happens when an agent recovers a suspended email?
BoldDesk re-processes the email using normal threading logic. If it matches an existing thread, BoldDesk adds it as an update; otherwise, BoldDesk creates a new ticket. -
Why did recovery add the email to an existing ticket instead of creating a new one?
If the recovered email contains identifiers such as ticket ID, hidden ticket ID, or message ID that match an existing thread, BoldDesk appends the email to that ticket conversation. -
Do suspended emails expire automatically?
Yes. Suspended emails older than 30 days are automatically removed from the system. -
Can the “Agent updated on behalf of the requester” message be disabled?
No. This is a standard system-generated message and cannot be suppressed, customized, removed, or disabled.
