--- title: Linking mail after a quotation description: How a client's reply, revision request or purchase order finds the enquiry it follows, and how a person links it when FlowOS cannot. sidebar: label: Linking mail after a quote order: 7 --- ## What this process achieves Every email a client sends after an enquiry, such as an answer, a revision request, a purchase order or a follow-up, sits on the card of the enquiry it is about, with the quotation it answers when that quotation was issued in FlowOS. Mail on an enquiry's card is then read for what it asks to change (see [Inbox](/business/features/inbox)). ## How FlowOS links it FlowOS links the mail itself, in the fixed order of R97 in [Business rules](/business/business-rules); the first match decides. The email's mail summary says what the link rests on: ```mermaid flowchart TD start["Mail after a quotation"] --> s1{"1. Quote number in the client's own words?"} s1 -- no --> s2{"2. Reply to the email a quotation was sent on?"} s2 -- no --> s3{"3. Quote number only in subject or quoted text?"} s3 -- no --> s4{"4. Reply to an email already linked?"} s4 -- no --> s5{"5. Same conversation as a linked email?"} s5 -- no --> s6{"6. ERP quote number other linked mail carries?"} s6 -- no --> s7{"7. Customer reference of one enquiry?"} s7 -- no --> s8{"8. Same client and the lines of one sent quotation?"} s8 -- no --> none["No match"] s1 -- one --> linked(["Linked to the enquiry and version"]) s2 -- one --> linked s3 -- one --> linked s4 -- yes --> linked s5 -- yes --> linked s6 -- one --> linked s7 -- one --> linked s8 -- one --> linked s1 -- several --> review(["Needs Review"]) s7 -- several --> review s8 -- tied --> review none --> kind{"Revision request or purchase order?"} kind -- yes --> review kind -- no --> unlinked(["Left unlinked"]) review --> person["A person links it"] person --> linked ``` Step 8 is tried only for a revision request or a purchase order. A step that fits two quotations or two enquiries equally sends the email to Needs Review, as does a revision request or purchase order that matches nothing. | The summary says | The link rests on | | --- | --- | | reply to our quotation email | A reply to the email FlowOS sent the quotation on | | quote number cited | A FlowOS quote number the email names, or an ERP (`Q` or `T`) quote number that other mail on the enquiry carries | | same conversation | The conversation of an email already on the enquiry | | same subject from this client | The client's subject, carrying a reference or project number | | customer reference | The customer reference the enquiry carries | | same client and quoted lines | The same client, and the lines of one sent quotation | | linked by a person's name | A person linked it by hand | | started this enquiry | The email opened the enquiry | Beside it the summary names the quotation the mail answers, by number with its revision; **Quote not in FlowOS** when it answers a quotation made elsewhere, such as in the ERP; and **no quotation** when it came before any. When linking corrected the email's type, such as an enquiry email that answers a quotation and is read as a revision request, the summary notes the type first read, such as "(read as Enquiry)". ## When FlowOS cannot link it The email waits in Needs Review, and its mail summary says why: | Reason | What to do | | --- | --- | | It matches more than one of our quotations | Choose the one it answers | | Its customer reference matches more than one enquiry | Choose the right one | | No FlowOS quotation matched it | Find its enquiry and link it. Mail answering an ERP quotation lands here | ## When FlowOS fetches earlier mail A client's revision request, purchase order or follow-up that FlowOS cannot link often answers a conversation that began before FlowOS read the mailbox, or our own quotation email, which sits in Sent Items where FlowOS does not read. When the email names earlier emails FlowOS does not hold, FlowOS looks for them in the mailboxes the email arrived in, in every folder, Sent Items included, up to 50 of them. It never looks in any other mailbox. What it finds is read oldest first, as earlier mail: - An enquiry email among it starts the enquiry, read as any enquiry is. When there is none, the oldest client email among it that is not a copy (R2a) starts the enquiry, read with the earlier messages quoted inside it. - Our own quotation email joins that enquiry. Its `Q` or `T` quote number marks the later mail **Quote not in FlowOS**. - Earlier mail is never sent to Needs Review, never read for what it asks to change, and never counts as unread on the board or towards an office's load. FlowOS then links the email again, with any other waiting email that names the same mail. Once linked, it leaves Needs Review, and what it asks to change is read when the enquiry's requirements are gathered, or after six hours. The enquiry's lines hold the client's first ask, not later rounds agreed outside FlowOS. The email's mail summary says what FlowOS found: | The summary says | What it means | | --- | --- | | Looking for its 9 earlier emails in this mailbox | FlowOS is fetching and reading them | | Fetched 5 of its 9 earlier emails from this mailbox | It read what it found; the rest are in no mailbox it reads | | Looked for its 8 earlier emails in this mailbox and found none | Link it by hand, below | | Couldn't look for its earlier emails in this mailbox | The mailbox could not be read; link it by hand | FlowOS fetches earlier mail only where it has been turned on. ## Linking it by hand 1. Open the email. Its mail summary says why it is not linked, such as "Not linked ยท No FlowOS quotation matched it", and lists the **Suggested** enquiries: the matches FlowOS weighed, in its order, then up to five other enquiries the same client started. Each says what it matched on: what FlowOS matched, **Same client** for the same address, or **Same company** for another address at the same company. A webmail address counts only as itself, and a lead portal's address suggests nothing. 2. When none fits, type at least two characters into **Find another enquiry**: the client's address, the enquiry's subject, its customer reference or a quote number. Up to 20 enquiries you may read are listed, most recently updated first. 3. Press **Link** on the enquiry. Each enquiry says what Link links it as: | Links as | When | | --- | --- | | The quotation FlowOS matched | FlowOS weighed that quotation for the email | | The newest quotation issued before the email | The enquiry has one | | **Quote not in FlowOS** | It has none, and the email cites an ERP (`Q`/`T`) quote number or is a purchase order or revision request | | **No quotation yet** | Otherwise | To link it another way, open the menu beside **Link** and choose one of the enquiry's issued quotations by its number, **Quote not in FlowOS** for a quotation made elsewhere, or **No quotation yet** when none was sent. Linking an email that cites an ERP quote number teaches FlowOS that number: later mail citing it links to the same enquiry by itself, marked **Quote not in FlowOS**. Earlier mail FlowOS fetched teaches the numbers it carries the same way. Mail already linked shows **Change link**, and post-quote mail linked to nothing shows **Link to an enquiry**; both open the same suggestions and search. The email that started an enquiry cannot be moved, and mail in Needs Review for another reason cannot be linked. Once linked (R105), the email leaves Needs Review and takes the enquiry's office and owner unless it was reassigned by hand. A client's revision request, purchase order, follow-up, later enquiry or other email is read again for what it asks to change within five minutes. Mail typed as a quotation or a sales order is linked but not read, a purchase order read as Other is read for its changes alone, and a type cannot be corrected from the screen yet. FlowOS never changes a link a person made. ## Who can link Linking needs edit rights on the inbox for both enquiries, the one the email leaves and the one it joins. Anyone else sees the link and the suggestions with linking turned off. Mail in Needs Review is visible to the office it is assigned to, to whoever it is assigned to, and on the conversation of an enquiry a person may read; mail assigned to no office only to people who read across all offices.