Income emails from customers (orders) being associated with new/existing Cases on D365 CRM

Question

I'm having issues with income emails from customers (orders) being associated with new/existing Cases on D365 CRM:

New Order emails are coming in and getting attached to previous Cases instead of being created as new Cases, when customers click reply all and delete previous subject line and body, but "invisible" headers are still present and are used in associating the new email with a previous case. As a result, it is making it more difficult for CSRs to identify when a New Order has been submitted.

• What I've tried so far:
  • Turned off smart matching in Power Platform Settings
  • In the Power Automate Flow, that automates the case creation/update (after "Get Account")
    • Condition checking for: inreplyto, correlatedactivityid, conversationindex, correlationid
      • Update a Record: Attempted to update as "null"
    •  HTTP Patch to clear hidden fields
      • Couldn't use System Managed Identity
    • Perform an Unbound Action
      • No option to invoke a web request 

To quickly remediate that, we created a flow to reopen closed cases when new emails are associated to it, but that is not a solution we want to keep on the long run.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

It sounds like you're encountering issues with incoming emails being incorrectly associated with existing cases in Dynamics 365 CRM due to the presence of hidden headers that are not cleared when customers reply to previous emails. Here are some suggestions to help address this issue:

1. Email Tracking Settings: Ensure that the email tracking settings in Dynamics 365 are configured correctly. You may want to review the settings under your personal options to ensure that emails are being tracked as you intend. Specifically, check the Track setting to see if it is set to track all emails or only specific types.
2. Modify the Flow Logic: Since you are using Power Automate, consider adding additional conditions to your flow that specifically check for the presence of certain headers or patterns in the email subject or body that indicate it is a new order rather than a reply. This could help in distinguishing between new orders and replies to existing cases.
3. Custom Logic for Case Creation: You might want to implement custom logic in your flow that explicitly checks for the absence of previous case identifiers (like inreplyto, correlatedactivityid, etc.) before creating a new case. If these identifiers are present, you could choose to skip case creation or flag it for manual review.
4. Activity Monitor: Utilize the Activity Monitor available on the Record Creation and Update Rules page to diagnose and track any skipped or failed scenarios. This can provide insights into why certain emails are not being processed as expected.
5. Revisit Smart Matching: While you have turned off smart matching, consider whether there are other settings or configurations that could be adjusted to prevent the association of new emails with existing cases. Sometimes, re-evaluating the overall configuration can yield different results.
6. Manual Triage Process: As a temporary measure, you might want to implement a manual triage process where CSRs can quickly identify and flag new orders that are incorrectly associated with existing cases until a more permanent solution is implemented.

These steps should help you in troubleshooting the issue further and potentially lead to a more effective solution for managing incoming order emails in Dynamics 365 CRM.

Answer 2

Hi Julie Maraschin,

What you are experiencing is related to how Dynamics 365 CRM uses hidden email headers (such as conversation index and correlation ID) to associate replies with existing cases. Even if the subject line and body are changed, those headers remain and cause the system to link the email back to the original case. Since you’ve already disabled smart matching and attempted to clear these fields, the next step is to consider customizing the email-to-case creation logic. One approach is to configure your Power Automate flow to bypass header-based matching entirely and instead rely on unique identifiers in the email content (for example, requiring customers to include an order number or keyword in the subject).

Another option is to use a custom workflow or plugin that intercepts incoming emails and strips or overrides the correlation fields before case association occurs. This ensures that new orders are always treated as new cases rather than replies. For long-term stability, I also recommend monitoring the Dynamics 365 Release Notes, as Microsoft is actively improving email correlation logic in newer updates.

If this guidance helps point you toward a workable solution, please don’t forget to press “Accept Answer” so I know it worked for you.

Jason.

Answer 3

Hi Julie Maraschin,

Is everything working fine now, or do you still need some help? If it’s all good, please click “Accept Answer” to mark it as resolved 😊