10.26. Connect Microsoft 365 Inbound Email to Create Tickets

Most MSPs run their service desk through a shared mailbox such as support@yourmsp.com. This guide connects that Microsoft 365 (Exchange Online) mailbox to AlgaPSA. Once connected, AlgaPSA watches the mailbox and turns each new message into a ticket on the board you choose.

Microsoft 365 is an inbound connector. It never sends email.

The Microsoft 365 / Entra connector reads a mailbox and converts messages into tickets. AlgaPSA does not send email through Microsoft. All outbound email, including ticket replies and notifications, goes through SMTP or a managed email domain. A Microsoft provider that shows Ready only means its Entra app credentials are saved. It says nothing about sending. To send email, see Set Up Outbound Email over SMTP.

This guide covers inbound email for ticket creation. To sync Microsoft 365 users into AlgaPSA contacts instead, see Sync Microsoft Entra Tenants and Contacts. That is a separate integration.

The examples below use a fictional MSP, Northwind MSP, connecting its support mailbox support@northwindmsp.com.

Prerequisites

1. AlgaPSA access: You are an administrator with permission to manage system settings.
2. Edition: Microsoft 365 inbound email is an Enterprise Edition feature. It is included on the self-hosted appliance and on hosted AlgaPSA. Community Edition builds do not offer this provider type.
3. A mailbox to connect: A licensed user mailbox, or a shared mailbox that the authorizing user can read.
4. Microsoft Entra access: Permission to create an app registration in your Microsoft Entra tenant.
5. A publicly reachable server: Microsoft Graph delivers new-mail notifications to https://<your-host>/api/email/webhooks/microsoft. Your AlgaPSA base URL must be reachable from the internet.

Step 1: Register an app in Microsoft Entra

AlgaPSA connects to the mailbox through an app registration that your organization owns.

1. Open the Microsoft Entra admin center and create an App registration.
2. Set the sign-in audience to allow multi-tenant sign-in ("Accounts in any organizational directory"). AlgaPSA authorizes through the Microsoft common endpoint.
3. Add a redirect URI of type Web: https://<your-host>/api/auth/microsoft/callback. The Providers screen in AlgaPSA shows the exact value to copy.
4. Under API permissions, add the delegated Microsoft Graph permissions Mail.Read, Mail.Read.Shared, and offline_access. These grant read-only mail access.
5. Create a client secret and copy its value. Also note the Application (client) ID and, optionally, the Directory (tenant) ID.

Step 2: Save the credentials as a provider profile

1. In AlgaPSA, go to Settings > Integrations > Providers.
2. In the Microsoft section, click New Profile.
3. Enter a display name, the Client ID, the Tenant ID (or leave it as common), and the Client secret. If this is your only Microsoft profile, mark it as the default.
4. Bind the profile to the Email consumer in the consumer bindings section on the same screen.

Credentials are entered only on this screen. The email provider form in the next step does not ask for a client ID or secret, and its Authorize Access button stays disabled until a profile is bound to the Email consumer.

Step 3: Add the mailbox as an inbound provider

1. Go to Settings > Email > Inbound Email.
2. Click Add Email Provider and choose Microsoft 365.
3. Fill in the form:

1. Click Authorize Access and complete the Microsoft sign-in and consent in the popup. Sign in with an account that can read the mailbox.

The popup closes on its own. AlgaPSA stores the tokens, registers a Microsoft Graph webhook subscription, and shows the provider as connected. New email in the mailbox now becomes tickets.

How the connection behaves

• Microsoft Graph pushes a notification to AlgaPSA when new mail arrives. There is no timed polling.
• Graph subscriptions are short-lived, roughly 60 hours. AlgaPSA renews them automatically in the background and recreates them if Microsoft reports them gone.
• The connection is read-only. AlgaPSA does not mark messages as read, move them, or send replies through the mailbox.

Operational check: After connecting, send a test email to the mailbox and confirm a ticket appears on the configured board within a few minutes.

Set up outbound email next

Connecting the mailbox lets AlgaPSA receive. It does not let AlgaPSA send. Before ticket replies and notifications reach your clients, configure an outbound provider:

• SMTP is available on every plan. On appliance installs, the outbound provider selector is locked to SMTP. Follow Set Up Outbound Email over SMTP.
• Managed email domains are available on the Solo plan and up. See Set Up a Custom Outbound Email Domain.

Once outbound email works, set the Ticketing From address to the same address as the connected mailbox, for example support@northwindmsp.com. Client replies then thread back onto the original ticket. See Configure Ticket Reply-To Email.

Troubleshooting

• "Authorize Access" is disabled, or the form warns about provider settings. No Microsoft profile is bound to the Email consumer yet. Open Settings > Integrations > Providers and create and bind a profile first (Step 2).
• The Microsoft sign-in popup fails. Confirm the redirect URI in the form exactly matches the one registered in the Entra app, and that the app allows multi-tenant sign-in.
• I connected Microsoft 365 and it shows Ready. Why is AlgaPSA not sending email? This is expected. The connector is inbound only; Ready means the Entra credentials are saved, nothing more. Configure outbound email over SMTP to send replies and notifications.
• Incoming mail is not creating tickets. Check the provider's subscription health in the provider list and use the retry-renewal action. Graph subscriptions expire when renewal cannot reach Microsoft. Also confirm your base URL is publicly reachable, since Microsoft pushes notifications to /api/email/webhooks/microsoft.
• The wrong folder is being watched. Adjust Folder Filters on the provider and save again. Each watched folder gets its own subscription.

Related topics

• Set Up Outbound Email over SMTP — required before AlgaPSA can send ticket replies and notifications.
• Configure Ticket Reply-To Email — thread client replies back onto tickets.
• Sync Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace Inbound Email — inbound ticket defaults and provider management.
• Sync Microsoft Entra Tenants and Contacts — a separate integration that syncs Microsoft 365 users into contacts.