Knowledge · documents
Importing documents via email: connect your mailbox, file attachments automatically
Invoices arrive by email – and stay stuck in the mailbox. How automatic email import brings attachments straight into your document storage.
Importing documents via email means: you connect your company's mailboxes once via IMAP – and from then on, incoming attachments such as invoices, delivery notes or contracts are automatically transferred into your document storage, read and classified. The manual "save attachment, rename, file away" disappears; the mail context (sender, subject, receipt date) is retained on the document as a verification context.
Why the mailbox is the biggest document gap
The majority of business documents arrive by email today – and that's exactly where they often stay. But the mailbox is not a storage system: attachments are not classified, not searchable by content and not kept securely. Mails get deleted, mailboxes are dissolved when staff changes, and searching for an invoice from two years ago means starting to scroll. Anyone who wants to automate their document filing should therefore best start with the mailbox – nowhere is the leverage greater.
How to set up the import
In webRichtung documents the email import is connected in three steps:
- Connect mailbox (via IMAP) and select the relevant folders – one, several or all.
- Set start date: From there the historical import runs first, followed by the ongoing sync.
- Done. New attachments now land in your storage automatically.
Good to know: you can extend the historical period retroactively later, without reconnecting the mailbox – handy if, after the start, you also want to pull in older years. You manage your organization's mailboxes centrally; for each mailbox you set who is responsible and who is allowed to see it.
What gets imported – and what doesn't
- Attachments are imported, not full mail texts as a separate document.
- The mail context (sender, subject, receipt date) is retained as a search and verification context.
- Imported documents first land in the workspace and go through the normal processing: read, classify, make searchable.
After that you find every document by content, document type, date or amount – and archive completed items in the GoBD archive with Object Lock for 6, 8 or 10 years.
Which mailboxes you should connect
Start with the function mailboxes through which documents flow: rechnung@, buchhaltung@, eingang@ or info@. Personal mailboxes follow as needed – more important is the team rule that suppliers send invoices to the function address. This creates a document flow that runs without daily intervention.
Tips for a clean start
- Start small: First connect the invoice mailbox, observe the result for a week, then add further mailboxes.
- Choose the start date deliberately: For the beginning, the start of the year is often enough – you can pull in older periods retroactively later.
- Select folders specifically: If a mailbox also contains newsletters and internal mail, import only the relevant folders.
- Check classification with spot checks: Especially in the first few days it's worth checking whether type, date and amount are correctly recognized.
The legal perspective
Email attachments such as invoices are documents subject to retention requirements; the mailbox itself usually does not meet the requirements for orderly, unalterable retention. The automatic import closes exactly this gap. Which mails should be retained beyond that is explained in the article Archiving emails in a GoBD-compliant way.
This article provides general information and does not replace legal or tax advice.
FAQ
How does the email import of documents work?
You connect a mailbox via IMAP and select the relevant folders. From then on, incoming attachments are automatically imported, read and classified.
Are whole emails imported or only attachments?
The attachments are imported. The mail context – sender, subject, receipt date – is retained on the document as a search and verification context.
Can I also import older emails retroactively?
Yes. Via a start date, the historical import runs first, followed by the ongoing sync. You can extend the period retroactively later, without reconnecting the mailbox.
Which mailboxes are suitable for the import?
Above all function mailboxes through which documents arrive: rechnung@, buchhaltung@, info@. You set who is allowed to see the mailbox for each mailbox.
What happens to the imported documents?
They land in the workspace, go through the normal processing and are then findable by content, type, date and amount – archivable in the GoBD archive.