Linking Emails to Contacts and Orders

Find it in Conversations in the left sidebar. Open any email thread, and the header is where you link it to the right contact and orders so the conversation sits beside the rest of that customer's work.

Linking is what turns a plain inbox into MonuDesk. Each thread is one conversation per person, and once you link it to a contact and an order, the email surfaces next to that contact and shows up in the right place across the app.

Linking a contact to a thread

When a thread isn't linked to anyone, you'll see a banner at the top inviting you to create a contact or link an existing one. Click it to either pick a contact that's already in MonuDesk or create a new one on the spot.

When the sender's email matches one of your contacts, the banner offers Link to [name], which links that contact in one click, or Someone else if the email belongs to a different contact.

MonuDesk also links contacts for you automatically. When a new thread arrives, if exactly one active contact matches the sender's email address, that contact is linked for you. If no contact matches, or if two or more do, the thread is left unlinked so you can choose the right one yourself.

You can change or remove the linked contact at any time from the thread header.

What the Customer, Cemetery, and Vendor badges mean

As soon as a contact is linked, the thread is automatically sorted into a category, shown as a colored badge. You don't set this by hand. It's derived from the linked contact's type:

• Customer: the contact is a Family, Funeral Home, Monument Company, Retail, or Other contact.

• Cemetery: the contact is a cemetery.

• Vendor: the contact is a vendor.

A thread with no linked contact is Uncategorized. Because the badge follows the contact's type, changing the contact's category in Contacts updates how its emails are grouped here too.

Linking one or more orders

From the thread header you can also link the conversation to an order. If the thread isn't linked yet, you'll see a Link to a related order? banner. Click Link an order to pick from your order list, or Choose different to swap the one you picked.

When the sender matches one of your contacts, the suggested-order banner lists that contact's own orders, with the line "This conversation looks like it might belong to an existing order. Link this conversation to one of them."

A single thread can be linked to multiple orders, which is useful when a customer's email touches more than one monument or job. Each linked order shows as a blue chip in the thread header.

To remove an order, reopen the order picker from the header and unlink it. Linking and unlinking takes effect immediately and updates in real time for your teammates.

You can also start from the other direction and let the order link itself. See Starting from an order with Message Client below.

Open a linked order without leaving the thread. Each linked order shows as a chip in the thread header. Click one, or click a row under Currently linked in the order dialog, and the order opens in a popup over your inbox, so you keep your place in the conversation. Hovering a chip reads Open order. Roles that cannot open orders see the chip as a plain label instead.

Starting from an order with Message Client

When the email starts from the order, you do not have to link the order by hand. Open the order and click Message Client in the order header (Message in a narrower window, or in the ⋯ menu when space runs out). Conversations opens on that client's thread with the order already linked.

• If you already have a thread with that client, MonuDesk opens it and links the order to it, so the order chip is in the thread header before you type a word.

• If there is no thread with them yet, a new draft thread is created with the order already linked.

Message Client starts a conversation once the order has a client with an email address and a mailbox is connected in Conversations. Message Client is a Pro feature.

Because the order is already linked, the composer offers that order's artwork straight away. A blue prompt sits above the composer reading Attach the drawing from Order #N?, or Attach 3 drawings from Order #N? when there is more than one. Attach adds every listed drawing to the message; Not now or the X closes the prompt. It offers the image files (JPG, PNG, WEBP and HEIC) filed as drawings on the order plus the newest sketch rendering per side, and skips any drawing already attached to the message.

Attaching files from a linked order

Once a thread is linked to an order, you can attach files that already live on that order without digging through your computer. In the composer, use attach from order to pick from the files on the linked order (drawings, documents, anything already uploaded there), and they're added straight to your reply. Under each linked order's files, Copy Portal Link copies that order's customer portal link so you can paste it into your reply; the button reads Copied for a moment. Attach a generated purchase order this way and the message becomes a branded purchase order email. It goes to this conversation's email address, and the vendor's one-click confirm button is included only when every recipient is the vendor's own email; see the article How to Email a Purchase Order to Your Vendor.

Finding threads that still need linking

The rail above your conversation list has an Unlinked filter. Click it to see every thread that has no contact linked yet. These are the conversations that didn't auto-match to a single contact. It's the quickest way to clean up your inbox and make sure each email is tied to the right person.

How linking ties into your Contacts

Linking is what makes email part of a customer's full history. When a thread is linked to a contact, that conversation belongs to the same record you manage on the Contacts page, the one that already carries the customer's orders, decedent names, payments, and files.

Linking an order to a thread connects the email to that order's work, so when you're composing a reply you can pull in order details and attach the order's own files. Together, contact and order links keep a customer's emails, orders, and paperwork all pointing at the same place instead of scattered across separate inboxes.

Related articles:

• How to Manage Contacts

• How to Open an Order

• How to View and Download Documents