The quick answer
Go to Setup > Support > Support Preferences and open the Inbound Email subtab. The read-only NetSuite Address is your account's case capture address, an inbox at email.netsuite.com. Email that reaches it becomes a support case. Customers can write to it directly, or your mail administrator can forward your support mailbox to it. NetSuite tries to match the sender's address to a contact and fill in the case's Company and Contact. When it can't find one clear match, it uses the Anonymous Customer set on the case profile. It sets Origin to E-mail and keeps the message under Communication > Messages.
The screenshots show sample data. Person and operating-company names are fictional. Use your own records and values when following the steps.
Before you start
An administrator needs the Support feature and email case capture turned on. Case numbers have to generate automatically: in Setup > Company > Auto-Generated Numbers, set up Support Cases and leave Allow Override cleared. If customers write to your own support address, your mail administrator forwards that mailbox to the NetSuite address and makes sure spam filtering lets the messages through. Messages over 10 MB aren't turned into cases.
The example uses the Administrator role and an account with no case assignment rules, so new cases arrive unassigned. Fernbrook Dental Group is a customer, and its office manager, Marisol Chen, has a contact record with her email address on it.
Test with a real outside mailbox. NetSuite won't send its own email to the capture address, so a message from a record's Communication subtab, a script, or a workflow can't create a case this way.
01. Find the case capture address
Go to Setup > Support > Support Preferences and click the Inbound Email subtab. In this account it shows one read-only field, NetSuite Address. Here it's cases.1234567.a1b2c3d4@
Most companies keep their own support address public and have the mail administrator forward it to this one. Forwarding has to keep the original sender, because NetSuite matches the case to whoever the message is from, not to the forwarding mailbox. If you use case profiles, a profile can have its own inbound address. This example uses the general one.
02. Check the sender's contact record
Go to Lists > Relationships > Contacts and open Marisol Chen. Her Company is Fernbrook Dental Group and her Email is marisol.chen@
Make sure the address belongs to the right contact at the right customer, and that no other record uses it. If NetSuite can't find the address, or finds it on more than one record, it doesn't guess. The case goes to the Anonymous Customer set up on the case profile, and someone has to reassign it.
03. Send the email to the capture address
This part happens outside NetSuite, in Marisol's own mail client. She writes a new message from marisol.chen@
Her Sent folder shows the message went to the capture address. The mailbox screens here are an illustrative mail client, so they show what was sent, not that NetSuite received it. The case in the next step is what shows that.
04. Find the new case
Back in NetSuite, go to Lists > Support > Cases, or whatever Cases link your role has. A new case, CASE110 in this example, has the subject from the email. Your case numbers will look different. Its Status is Not Started and Priority is Medium, which are NetSuite's usual defaults for a new case. Assigned To is empty because no assignment rule applies in this account. Automation in your account can change any of these.
05. Check what the email filled in
Click CASE110. In Primary Information, Company is Fernbrook Dental Group, Contact is Marisol Chen, and Email(s) is her address, all matched from the sender. Profile is Customer Care, the default case profile in this account. Yours may use a different profile, or pick one by inbound address or subsidiary.
Incident Information shows how the case arrived. Origin is E-mail. In this account Inbound Email Address shows the capture address the message came in through. With case profiles it can show the profile's address instead, so check what yours records. If you need the time NetSuite received the message, use Date Created on the System Information subtab. Check what your account puts in Incident Date before you report on it.
Check the result (example values)
- CASE110 is on the Cases list with the email's subject, Not Started, Medium, and no one assigned.
- Company is Fernbrook Dental Group, Contact is Marisol Chen, and Email(s) is marisol.chen@
fernbrookdental.example. - Origin is E-mail and Inbound Email Address is the capture address.
- Communication > Messages has one row with Marisol Chen as author, her text, and the capture address as primary recipient.
The case is now waiting for someone to pick it up. An eligible support rep can claim it with Grab, which claiming an unassigned support case walks through. Claiming it doesn't resolve it, and the status it moves to depends on your support settings.
Common questions
Where do I find NetSuite's case capture address?
Go to Setup > Support > Support Preferences and open the Inbound Email subtab. The read-only NetSuite Address is the account's case capture address, at email.netsuite.com. If you use case profiles, check the profile too, because a profile can have its own inbound address.
What happens when the sender isn't in NetSuite?
NetSuite still creates the case, but it can't tell whose it is. The same happens when the address is on more than one record. The case goes to the Anonymous Customer set on the case profile, and the sender's address stays on the case so someone can reassign it.
Why can't I send email from NetSuite to the capture address?
NetSuite blocks its own outgoing email to that address, whether it comes from a record's Communication subtab, a script, or a workflow. Otherwise NetSuite's own mail could keep creating cases from itself. Test from an ordinary outside mailbox.
Does the customer get an acknowledgement email?
Only if your case profile is set up to send one. Customer notifications come from the case profile's notification templates and settings, so a new case doesn't guarantee a reply to the sender. Check the profile, and any workflows that send mail, before you promise customers a confirmation.
How do customer replies land on the same case?
Turn on Capture Email Replies and have customers reply to the case email NetSuite sends. That reply goes to a case-specific reply-to address, and NetSuite adds it under Communication > Messages. A fresh email to the general capture address can open a new case instead.
Should customers email the NetSuite address or our own support address?
Most companies publish their own support address and forward it to the NetSuite address. Customers keep one familiar address, and you can change where mail goes later without telling anyone. Make sure the forwarding keeps the original sender, or NetSuite can't match the case to the customer.