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Full Routing Point entry
How-to guide

Configure an Email-to-Case routing point

Stand up a new support email channel by creating a Salesforce routing point, mapping it to a queue, and forwarding mail from your support inbox to the generated Salesforce address.

By Dipojjal Chakrabarti · Founder & Editor, Salesforce DictionaryLast updated May 26, 2026

Stand up a new support email channel by creating a Salesforce routing point, mapping it to a queue, and forwarding mail from your support inbox to the generated Salesforce address.

  1. Open Email-to-Case settings

    Setup, Email-to-Case. Enable the feature if it is not already. Click New Routing Address.

  2. Configure the routing point

    Enter the customer-facing email (support@yourcompany.com), pick the case queue, the priority default, the record type, and the response template.

  3. Save and copy the forwarding address

    Salesforce generates an internal forwarding address (d.xyz@salesforce.com). Copy this; you will configure your mail server to forward to it.

  4. Update your DNS / mail server

    Your IT team adds a forwarding rule from support@ to the Salesforce address. Verify mail forwards by sending a test.

  5. Configure the auto-response

    Setup, Auto-Response Rules, Case. Add a rule that fires on the new routing point with your acknowledgement template.

  6. Test end-to-end

    Send a test email to support@. Verify a case is created in Salesforce within seconds, the auto-response arrives at your inbox, and the case appears in the right queue.

Key options
Routing Addressremember

Customer-facing email or web endpoint that opens the case.

Case Queueremember

The destination queue the case lands in. Drives agent visibility and ownership.

Case Priority / Record Typeremember

Defaults applied at creation. Can be overridden by the agent later.

Auto-Response Ruleremember

Template emailed to the customer immediately on case creation.

Gotchas
  • Email-to-Case requires the customer mail server to forward to the Salesforce-generated address. Without that forward, the routing point exists in Setup but no email ever reaches it.
  • The case thread token must remain in the outbound subject for replies to thread back. Agents copying outbound replies from their personal email lose the token and split the thread into two cases.
  • Inbound emails that cannot match to a Contact land with a null Contact. Decide upfront whether to leave them null, auto-create the contact, or route the case to a triage queue.
  • Multiple routing points share the org-wide Auto-Response Rule order. The first rule that matches wins; misordered rules can fire the wrong acknowledgement for the wrong channel.

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Routing Point includes the definition, worked example, deep dive, related terms, and a quiz.