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Email Intake lets anyone send a document to RecordEngine simply by emailing it as an attachment. The file lands in RecordEngine’s inbox, gets processed by the AI exactly like a manually uploaded document, and the sender’s email address is recorded for follow-up. This is the fastest way to get documents into the system for users who aren’t logging into RecordEngine directly — for example, a client emailing an invoice, or a colleague forwarding a scanned receipt from their phone.

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How It Works

1

Sender emails an attachment

Anyone with your intake address sends an email with one or more file attachments. Supported formats are the same as manual upload: PDF, JPG, PNG, DOCX, XLSX, CSV, TXT, MP3, WAV.
2

Attachment is detected and queued

The automation layer picks up the email within minutes, extracts the attachment, and submits it to RecordEngine via the API. The email body is saved as a companion text document.
3

AI processes the document

RecordEngine processes the attachment exactly as if it had been uploaded manually — AI extraction, confidence scoring, and Rules Engine rules all apply.
4

Document appears in the Inbox folder

The processed document appears under the System contact in the Inbox folder, ready for review.
5

Sender's email is recorded

The sender’s email address is stored in the document’s Notes field automatically. This allows you to reply to the sender with confirmation or follow-up questions.

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Finding Your Intake Address

Each RecordEngine instance has a unique intake email address.
  1. Go to Settings in the left sidebar
  2. Scroll to the Email Intake section
  3. Your intake address is displayed there — it looks like:
inbox+instancename-id@recordengine.ai
Settings page showing the Email Intake address
Each instance has its own unique intake address. If you have multiple RecordEngine deployments (e.g. one per client), each has a different address and documents route to the correct instance automatically.

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Testing Email Intake

To verify it’s working:
  1. Copy your intake address from Settings
  2. Send a test email from any email client with a PDF invoice attached
  3. Subject line: anything — for example “Test intake”
  4. Wait 1–3 minutes
  5. Check System → Inbox in RecordEngine — the document should appear and begin processing
If the document doesn’t appear after 5 minutes, check the Integration Troubleshooting guide.

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What Happens to the Email Body

If the email has a text body (not just an attachment), RecordEngine saves it as a separate .txt document in the Inbox folder alongside the attachment. This preserves any context the sender included — for example, instructions or a reference number mentioned in the email body.

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Multiple Attachments in One Email

If a single email contains multiple attachments, each attachment becomes a separate document in RecordEngine. They are processed independently and each receives its own AI extraction, confidence score, and status.

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Routing and Organisation

Documents received via email intake land in the System → Inbox folder by default. From there, your team can:
  • Move them manually to the correct client contact and folder
  • Use the Rules Engine to route them automatically based on extracted fields — for example, move all documents where vendor contains "Acme" to the Acme contact folder automatically
See Rules Engine for how to set up automatic routing rules.

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Supported Senders

There are no restrictions on who can send to your intake address — any email sender can submit documents. If you want to restrict intake to specific senders or add a passcode requirement, contact RecordEngine support — enhanced routing and filtering features are on the roadmap.
Keep your intake address private — share it only with trusted senders. Anyone who has the address can submit documents to your RecordEngine instance.

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Audit Trail

Every document received via email intake is logged in the Audit Log with:
  • Source: API (email intake routes through the API)
  • Filename of the attachment
  • Timestamp of receipt
  • The sender’s email address (also in the document’s Notes field)