The template you want to launch via email should have norequiredkick-off form fields. Optional fields are fine.
The email address you send from must belong to an active member in your Tallyfy organization.
Launching processes by sending an email
Tallyfy lets you start a specific process by sending an email to a special address. This is useful for starting workflows without logging into Tallyfy, especially for users on the go.
Cannot use with required kick-off fields
This email trigger method doesn’t work if the template has any kick-off form fields marked as Required. You’ll get an email saying the launch failed. Only use templates with optional (or no) kick-off fields if you want to launch them via email.
Setting up the email trigger for a template
Each template gets its own unique email address for launching.
Go to the Templates library.
Open the template you want to enable email launch for (in Edit mode).
Click Triggers in the left sidebar.
Choose Other options.
Find the Via inbound email option.
Tallyfy shows the special email address created just for launching this template. Copy this address.
Share this address with team members who need to launch this process via email.
How it works when an email is sent
When someone sends an email to that special address:
Tallyfy checks if the sender’s email belongs to an active member in your organization.
If yes, Tallyfy starts a new process from the template linked to that address.
The email’s Subject becomes the Name of the new process instance.
If you added special kick-off fields (see below), the email content copies into them.
Assignees for the first task(s) are notified.
Automatically capture email content
You can have Tallyfy automatically save the email body and attachments into kick-off form fields. To do this, add kick-off fields to your template with these specific internal names:
Field Name
What it Captures
Recommended Field Type
email_body
The full text of the email body
Long Text Area
email_attachments
Any files attached to the email
File Upload
If you don’t have these fields, Tallyfy might show a link to create them when you enable the email trigger.
Email address format
The trigger email address format is:
bot+[TemplateID]-launch@tallyfy.com
(Where [TemplateID] is the unique ID of your template).
Example uses
Field Updates: Technicians email status updates after site visits (Subject: Site Visit - Client X; Body: Details; Attachments: Photos).
Forwarding Requests: Support forwards an email to the trigger address to start a complaint process.
Important security notes
The sender must be an active Tallyfy member in your organization.
Use clear email subjects (they become the process name).
Each template has a unique trigger email.
Remember: Cannot launch templates with required kick-off fields via email.
Adding comments by replying to task emails
Separately, you can also add comments to existing tasks by simply replying to the Tallyfy task notification email.
Get a task notification email from Tallyfy.
Reply to that email.
Your reply becomes a comment on the task.
Files attached to the reply are added to the comment.
(The reply-to address for comments looks like bot+[TaskID]-comment-task@tallyfy.com)
Tips for using email triggers
Keep a list of trigger emails for your team.
Suggest standard subject formats for easier tracking.
Remind users to put details in the body if you’re capturing it.
Test the trigger from different email clients your team uses.
Kick-off forms in Tallyfy enable data collection at the start of workflows and can be used internally or shared publicly to initiate processes automatically while tracking progress throughout the workflow lifecycle.
Tallyfy offers multiple process launch methods including manual buttons API integration email triggers magic links schedules task completion triggers and kick-off forms with options to automatically populate data during launch.
External web forms can automatically initiate Tallyfy processes by redirecting submissions to a special URL that populates template fields with form data using matching field names.
Power Automate enables email automation by monitoring shared mailboxes and triggering Tallyfy actions based on incoming emails while handling attachments and sending automated notifications for streamlined workflow management.
