How to Set Up Email Threads

By default, when you use the Email node in Clappia, emails are sent as separate messages. This is fine in many cases, but when you’re dealing with back-and-forth communication like email queries or support conversations, it quickly becomes hard to track context.

You can set up email threads with Clappia so that replies are sent in the same email thread instead of sending a new email every time.

In this guide, we’ll walk through a simple and practical setup where:

• Queries are received via email
• Email details are captured into Clappia as submissions
• You respond by editing the submission
• Replies are sent back in the same email thread

This setup specifically covers scenarios where replies are sent after editing an existing submission.

‍

Step 1: Create or prepare your app

Sign in to Clappia and create a new app, or use an existing one.

Make sure your app contains fields to store email-related information, such as:

• Sender’s email address
• Subject
• Email body
• Date or time

These fields will be used to capture incoming email details accordingly.

• You must also add a field to store the Message ID of the email. This Message ID is generated by the email system and is required to maintain the email thread.
  You can use a Single-line text field for this.

For this setup example, we’ll call the field Thread Reference.
This field will store the Message ID of the incoming email.

In addition to the Thread Reference (Message ID) field, you will need to add a Calculations & Logic block to clean up the value before using it in the Email node.

This calculation is used to replace encoded characters (&lt; and &gt;) with their actual values (< and >), which is required for proper email threading.

On the right panel of the Calculation & Logic block, use the following formula:

‍

This assumes:

• The Message ID field is named Thread Reference
• Its variable name is thread_ref

Let’s call this field as Thread Message ID and will later be reused when sending replies.

Step 2: Set up incoming email capture using Trigger Email

To receive email details into Clappia, you need to use the Trigger Email node.

Open the app you want to use (can be the same or different app) and go to Design App > Workflows.
Under Trigger Based Flows, click ‘Start’ and select the Email node (this is the Trigger email node).

On the right panel:

• You can give the node a name (optional)
• Set a prefix for the email ID that will be generated

Once you save this node, Clappia generates an email address.

Important:
Any email whose details you want to capture in this app must be sent to this generated email address. Emails sent elsewhere will not trigger this workflow. Therefore, you will need to share this generated email with others.

‍

Step 3: Create submissions from incoming emails

Below the Trigger Email node, add a Create Submission node. This node is responsible for creating a new submission in your app for every incoming email.

On the right panel:

• Select the app that contains the email-related fields you created earlier

Under Field Values, you’ll see all the fields from that app.
Here, you need to map email properties to the corresponding fields.

For example:

• For your Subject field, click the input box, type @, and select the email variable that contains the subject
• For the email body, map it to the email’s text body variable
• For the sender’s email address, map it to the email-from variable
• Map date or time fields if required

You do not need to map every field or every available email property, only the ones you need.

However, you must map the Thread Reference field.
For this field:

• Type @ and select Message ID

This ensures the Message ID of the incoming email is stored in the submission and can be reused later to maintain the thread.

At this point, incoming emails are successfully captured as submissions in your app.

‍

Step 4: Send replies in the same email thread

Now that email details are stored in the app, the next step is to send replies that continue the same email thread.

Open the app that contains the email related fields and go to Design App > Workflows.
Under Edit Submission Flow, add an Email node.

This placement is important because this setup assumes that:

• You open a submission created from an email
• You edit it (for example, to add a response)
• That edit triggers an email reply

As an alternative, you could place the Email node under New Submission Flow with a wait time before it runs. Which option you choose depends on your process, but the threading logic remains the same.

Email node configuration

Configure the Email node as follows:

• To Email Addresses
  This should be the sender’s email address.
  If you captured it in a field earlier, type @ and select that field so you don’t have to hardcode the email.
• Reply-To Email Address
  This is important.
  Emails sent from Clappia are usually sent via noreply@clappia.com unless you’ve configured SMTP settings.
  To ensure replies come back into your app, enter the Trigger Email address that you configured earlier.
• Subject
  It is important that you use the same subject as the incoming email.
  If you stored the subject in a field (which is recommended), type @ and select that field.
• Body
  You can type a response manually or pull values from fields using @.
• Reply-To Message ID
  This is the key setting for maintaining the thread.
  Type @ and select the Thread Message ID field.
• Attachments
  Add attachments if required.

Save the Email node.

‍

How this setup works

Now, whenever an email is sent to the email address configured in the Trigger Email node:

• Clappia receives the email
• A new submission is created in your app
• All mapped email details are stored, including the Message ID

When you edit that submission:

• The Email node in the Edit Submission Flow runs
• An email is sent back to the original sender
• Because the Message ID is reused, the reply is sent in the same email thread

If the recipient replies again, that reply is sent back to the Trigger Email address and can be captured into Clappia, allowing the conversation to continue without breaking the thread.

This way, you maintain full email context while keeping inboxes clean and conversations easy to follow.