Email Receiver - Synthreo Builder

Overview

The Email Receiver node connects to your email account via IMAP and automatically retrieves emails based on your criteria. This automation tool fetches unread emails, searches for messages from specific senders, and processes email attachments - all without manual intervention.

Use this node at the start of workflows that need to react to incoming email, such as customer support triage, invoice collection, lead capture, and document intake pipelines.

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Inputs

This node does not require upstream data. It connects directly to an email account using IMAP credentials and retrieves messages based on the configured fetch settings. The retrieved email data is then passed to downstream nodes.

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Outputs

Each retrieved email produces an output record containing:

• Sender address
• Subject line
• Email body text
• Attachment data (when attachment processing is enabled)

The output is stored in the property named by Result Property Name (default: email_message).

Output Format (example):

{
  "email_message": {
    "from": "sender@example.com",
    "subject": "Invoice #1234",
    "body": "Please find the attached invoice.",
    "attachments": []
  }
}

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Parameters

IMAP Connection Settings

Parameter	Field Name	Type	Default	Description
Host	imapHost	Text	Empty	The IMAP server address for your email provider (for example, imap.gmail.com or outlook.office365.com).
Username	imapUsername	Text	Empty	Your full email address used to log in to the account.
Password	imapPassword	Password	Empty	Your email account password or an app-specific password. This value is stored encrypted.

Email Fetch Settings

Parameter	Field Name	Type	Default	Description
Fetch Type	fetchType	Dropdown	Empty (required)	Determines which emails are retrieved. Options: Unseen Emails, Seen Emails, From Email.
Search Value	searchValue	Text	Empty	Additional filter criteria. Enter a sender email address when using the “From Email” fetch type.

Fetch Type Options

Option	Description
Unseen Emails	Retrieves only unread emails from the inbox.
Seen Emails	Retrieves emails that have already been read.
From Email	Searches for emails from a specific sender address provided in Search Value.

Processing Controls

Parameter	Field Name	Type	Default	Description
Limit Fetch Count	fetchLimit	Toggle	Off	When enabled, restricts the number of emails processed in each workflow run.
Fetch Count	fetchTopNEmails	Number	0	Maximum number of emails to process when the limit is enabled. Valid range: 1 to 1,000.

Attachment Processing

Parameter	Field Name	Type	Default	Description
Allow Attachments	allowAttachments	Toggle	Off	When enabled, downloads and processes files attached to emails.
Content Types Configuration	attachmentsContentTypes	Data grid	Empty	Specifies which file types to include or exclude from attachment processing.

Supported Attachment Content Types

Content Type	File Extensions
Excel XLSX	.xlsx
Word DOCX	.docx
PowerPoint PPTX	.pptx
PDF Document	.pdf
CSV	.csv
Text	.txt
JPEG	.jpg, .jpeg
PNG	.png
HTML	.html

For each content type added to the grid, set the action to Include to process attachments of that type, or Exclude to skip them.

Output Configuration

Parameter	Field Name	Type	Default	Description
Output Format	outTransformId	Dropdown	Original with appended result column	Controls how email data is structured and passed to downstream nodes.
Result Property Name	outColumnName	Text	email_message	Name of the property that contains the retrieved email data.

Output Format Options

Option	Description
Original with appended result column	Adds email data as a new property to the existing workflow data row.
Return result column only	Outputs only the email information, replacing any existing data.
Spread by attachments	Creates a separate output row for each email attachment, enabling per-file processing downstream.

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Common IMAP Server Addresses

Provider	IMAP Host	Port
Gmail	imap.gmail.com	993
Outlook / Office 365	outlook.office365.com	993
Yahoo Mail	imap.mail.yahoo.com	993
Zoho Mail	imap.zoho.com	993

Gmail note: Google requires an app-specific password when two-factor authentication is enabled. Standard account passwords will not work. Generate an app password from your Google Account security settings.

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Step-by-Step Configuration

Setting Up the Email Connection

1. Drag the Email Receiver node from the node panel onto your workflow canvas.
2. Connect it as the first processing step (or after a trigger node).
3. Click the node to open the settings panel.
4. If a “Missing IMAP settings” warning appears, click Fix now to jump to the connection fields.
5. Enter your IMAP server address in the Host field.
6. Enter your full email address in the Username field.
7. Enter your password (or app-specific password) in the Password field.

Configuring Email Retrieval

1. Select a Fetch Type from the dropdown.
2. If using From Email, enter the sender’s address in the Search Value field.
3. For high-volume inboxes, enable Limit Fetch Count and set a reasonable Fetch Count (for example, 25 to 50 per run).

Configuring Attachment Processing

1. Enable the Allow Attachments toggle if your workflow needs to process files.
2. Click Add in the Content Types section.
3. Select a content type from the dropdown and set the action to Include or Exclude.
4. Repeat for each file type you want to control.
5. Click Save to confirm the content type configuration.

Finalizing Output Settings

1. Select your preferred Output Format.
2. If using “Original with appended result column”, enter a descriptive name in Result Property Name (for example, customer_email or support_ticket).
3. Save the node configuration.

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Real-World Use Cases

Customer Support Automation

A software company receives 200 or more support emails daily and wants to automatically categorize and route them to appropriate team members.

Configuration:

• Connect to support@company.com using IMAP settings.
• Set Fetch Type to Unseen Emails.
• Enable Limit Fetch Count and set to 50 per run.
• Set Output Format to Original with appended result column.
• Set Result Property Name to support_email.

Outcome: Each workflow run processes up to 50 new support emails, extracting sender information, subject lines, and message content for automatic categorization by a downstream LLM node.

Invoice Processing

An accounting department needs to automatically extract invoice PDFs from vendor emails and route them for approval.

Configuration:

• Connect to accounting@company.com.
• Set Fetch Type to From Email and enter the vendor’s address in Search Value.
• Enable Allow Attachments.
• Add PDF Document to Content Types with action Include.
• Set Output Format to Spread by attachments.

Outcome: The node monitors for vendor emails, downloads PDF invoices, and creates a separate workflow row for each invoice document for individual processing.

Lead Capture from Contact Forms

A marketing agency wants to capture leads from website contact form submissions delivered to their email.

Configuration:

• Connect to leads@agency.com.
• Set Fetch Type to Unseen Emails.
• Set Output Format to Return result column only.
• Set Result Property Name to new_lead.

Outcome: New contact form submissions are captured and passed to downstream nodes for CRM entry and follow-up.

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Troubleshooting

Issue	Likely Cause	Resolution
”Missing IMAP settings” warning	One or more connection fields are empty	Click “Fix now” and complete all three fields: Host, Username, and Password.
Cannot connect to email account	Password is incorrect or app-specific password is required	Check if your provider requires an app-specific password (common with Gmail and accounts with 2FA). Generate one from your account security settings.
No emails retrieved	Fetch type does not match the email state	If emails have already been read, switch to Seen Emails or re-run with Unseen Emails on new messages.
Expected attachments are missing	Content type is not in the allowed list or is set to Exclude	Open the Content Types configuration and confirm the file type is present and set to Include.
Workflow slows down significantly	Fetch count is too high or attachments are large	Reduce the Fetch Count and limit Content Types to only the file types that are necessary.
Attachment processing produces too many rows	Output format is set to “Spread by attachments” with many attachments per email	Switch to “Original with appended result column” if you need emails as a unit, not individual attachments.

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Security Best Practices

• Use app-specific passwords instead of your main email account password wherever supported.
• Use a dedicated email account for automation workflows rather than a personal or shared mailbox.
• Regularly rotate email credentials used in the node configuration.
• Monitor email access logs for unexpected activity.
• Set conservative fetch limits to avoid processing large volumes of data unintentionally.

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Performance Optimization

• Set appropriate fetch limits based on your expected email volume. Start with 25 to 50 per run and increase only if needed.
• Use specific Fetch Type and Search Value settings to reduce the number of emails the node considers.
• Schedule workflows during off-peak hours when processing large email backlogs.
• Use separate Email Receiver nodes with different configurations for different email categories rather than one complex node handling everything.

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Related Nodes

• Send Email - for sending emails as a subsequent workflow step after processing received messages.
• Office 365 - for reading email from Outlook when Microsoft Graph API integration is preferred over IMAP.
• OCR - for extracting text from PDF or image attachments after they are retrieved by this node.