The Initiate by Email trigger does not create an xMatters event

Question

I'm trying to set up a flow triggered by an email, but when I send the trigger email nothing is happening. Why is this?

Environment

All versions of xMatters

Answer

There are a few reasons this might be happening:

1. The email domain you're using might not be correctly reflecting your company's "friendly" hostname in the Email trigger settings. Double-check the hostname of the email address you are sending the trigger to is correct (it shouldn't have "hosted", or a region code in it. A valid email example is: username@trigger-id.company.xmatters.com).

2. If you are sending an email trigger using an email device that isn't in your xMatters instance, and the authentication method is set to Send from an xMatters email device, the trigger will not work. In the settings, either:

   • Add the vendor or system address as an xMatters email device on a user, or

   • Change the Authentication Method to Send from any email (not recommended because it reduces security).

3. If your vendor or upstream system uses dynamically generated "From" addresses (for example, a Salesforce address like servicecloud.noreply=example.com__<token>@...), and your trigger is configured to validate a specific sender address, the emails will not match the trigger criteria and no alert will be created. In this case, either relax the sender validation or have the system send from a static address that you can configure as an xMatters email device.

4. The trigger step may not be enabled. In the Email trigger settings, check the trigger is switched to Enabled.

5. If your form does not have a property, the trigger step might not work. Ensure that at least one property exists in your form. See "Adding a property to a form" for instructions.

6. If your flow includes a Create Message or Create Alert step, and that step does not include the required recipient property, the alert will fail and notifications will not be sent, even if you hardcode a group or user in the trigger URL. Make sure the Create Message/Create Alert step is configured with a recipient (for example, a group or user) so the alert can be created and notifications sent.

7. If your flow includes an Initiate Incident step and it fails with an error like "The input property 'Description' is required but has no value", it means a required property (such as Description) is mapped to a source that is empty (for example, the plaintext body of the incoming email). Update the step configuration so required fields are mapped to values that are always present, or adjust the email content so those fields are populated.

8. The Initiate by Email step may appear to show a different email address (for example, your own) in the UI. This is expected behavior: the Flow Designer UI displays the address of the user currently logged in. Seeing your address there does not mean the initiation address was changed.

9. Email formatting issues may be preventing delivery. Note that email addresses are case-sensitive, so verify the exact formatting of the trigger email address.

10. Your email domain may require allow listing. Check with your email administrator to ensure xMatters domains are properly allow listed.

11. Anti-malware settings might be intercepting the emails. Review your security settings that could potentially block the trigger emails.

12. There might be relay access or email delivery issues between your email system and xMatters.

13. The sender's email system might not be successfully sending the email. Check your email system's logs to confirm delivery attempts.

14. If incoming email requests appear as invalid or are routed to a different trigger, confirm that the exact recipient address in your outgoing mail matches the trigger address, and that any trigger conditions (for example, checking specific fields/values in the email payload) are satisfied. Mismatched addresses or unmet conditions can cause emails to be treated as invalid or sent to a different trigger.

15. Email attachments sent to an email trigger cannot be included or passed through in xMatters alerts. Email initiation ignores attachments; only the email content is available to the flow.

16. Review xMatters activity for evidence that the email reached the system:

    • Use activity panel to look for runs of the Initiate by Email step.

    • Go to Reports > Signals to view inbound email initiations and inspect the raw payload.

    If there are no records for your recent attempts, the emails likely did not reach xMatters. You can also send test emails from an alternate mail client (or have support send a test) and temporarily adjust the flow so tests do not trigger live alerts.

Adding a property to a form

1. In the Layout tab of the form, click the + next to the Properties menu, and select the property you want to create.

2. Once you have configured the property, click Save changes.

3. Add the new property to the form by dragging it into the Custom Section of the layout.

4. Click Save Changes.

For more information about flow triggers, click here.

If you've tried all these troubleshooting steps and the issue persists, contact xMatters support with detailed information about your email trigger configuration and any error logs you've collected.