How to Configure Email Processing Between Two Acumatica ERP Instances
In environments where multiple Acumatica ERP instances operate—such as in multi-company, partner, or customer/vendor integrations—email communication can become complicated. When email processing is enabled on both systems, there's a risk of emails being incorrectly routed due to identical email tagging structures used for message tracking and automation.
Acumatica relies on email tags—prefixes and suffixes attached to subject lines—to associate incoming messages with specific records, such as cases, activities, or leads. If two systems use the same format for tagging, they may misinterpret each other’s tags, resulting in misrouted or completely ignored messages.
To avoid this, it’s essential to differentiate how each system handles its email tags.
The Use Case
Imagine two Acumatica ERP instances exchanging emails—say, a parent company and a subsidiary, or a vendor and a customer. Both systems have incoming email processing enabled, and both are configured with identical email tag formats. When one system sends an email, the receiving system may attempt to process it using the tag format it recognizes—even though the email originated from a different system. This can lead to incorrect routing, missed links to records, or broken threads in communication history.
The Solution: Use Unique Email Tags
Acumatica provides a flexible way to avoid these conflicts. Each system should use a distinct tag prefix and suffix when generating email tags.
To configure this:
- Go to the Email Preferences screen (SM204001) on both Acumatica instances.
2. In the Tag Prefix and Tag Suffix fields, set different values for each system.
For example:
- System A: [TAG123]
- System B: <TAG456>
By doing this, System A will ignore tags that are wrapped in angle brackets (<>), while System B will ignore those wrapped in square brackets ([]). This ensures that each system only processes its own email threads, and prevents messages from being misrouted or misinterpreted.
Example Use
Let’s say a support case email is sent from System A:
Subject: Re: [CASE00123] Urgent Support Request
If System B is set up to use angle brackets (<CASE00123>), it will ignore System A’s [CASE00123] tag. The incoming email will not attempt to match any thread in System B, and instead will be processed as a new or unrelated message—exactly what you want when two systems are independently managing their own email threads.
Considerations When Changing Tags
If you’re implementing this setup in an environment where email processing has already been running for some time, be cautious. Changing the tag format retroactively can cause the system to lose track of existing conversations.
- Incoming replies to previously tagged emails may no longer be recognized.
- Thread continuity for ongoing support cases or leads may be disrupted.
- Automation tied to specific tag formats could fail silently.
If you do decide to change the email tag format in a live system, make sure the trade-offs are carefully evaluated. You may want to preserve the current tag structure for historical email threads, and only use the new format for future outbound messages.
Final Thoughts
When using multiple Acumatica instances that communicate via email, mismatched tagging is a silent but serious risk. Configuring unique tag prefixes and suffixes in the Email Preferences screen ensures that each system can correctly distinguish and process its own messages without interfering with others. With just a few small configuration changes, you can prevent misrouted emails, maintain clean communication threads, and protect your automation logic from unexpected behavior.