> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://filla.io/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Email intake

> Accept form submissions via email instead of a web form.

## What email intake does

Email intake lets your form accept submissions by email. Instead of filling out a web form, respondents send an email to an auto-generated mailbox address. Filla parses the email content and creates a record in your Airtable table.

## Setting up email intake

Email intake is selected when you create a form (the **Intake method** chooser). Once a form is in email intake mode, the editor shows an **Email Intake** pill in the header and the Form Settings dialog gains email-specific tabs.

## Capture modes

| Mode           | How it works                                                                                                                                 |
| -------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **AI**         | Filla uses AI to read the email and intelligently map content to your form fields. You can provide custom instructions to guide the parsing. |
| **Sequential** | Email content is mapped to fields in the order they appear on the form.                                                                      |

### AI instructions

When using AI capture mode, the **AI instructions** textarea lets you provide specific guidance. For example:

* "The email subject line contains the project name. The body contains a description and budget amount."
* "Extract the sender's name from the signature block."

## Mailbox address

Each email intake form gets a unique mailbox address, generated automatically. You cannot customize this address. Share it with respondents or set up email forwarding from your own inbox.

The mailbox address is shown in the **General** section of Form Settings (in place of the form link), and also in the **Inbox** tab.

## What changes in email intake mode

When a form is in email intake mode, many field-level settings are hidden because they do not apply to email-based submissions. Hidden settings include:

* Placeholder text, default values, and display styles
* Show/hide rules and conditional read-only rules
* File upload restrictions (file type, max size, max count)
* Linked record editing, creating, and filtering options
* Email verification (OTP), phone format validation, and address autocomplete

The editor hides these sections automatically so you only see settings relevant to email parsing.

## Configuring the inbox

The Form Settings dialog shows three additional tabs when email intake is active:

| Tab                 | What it shows                                   |
| ------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- |
| **Inbox**           | Incoming emails and their processing status     |
| **Email Parsing**   | Parsing configuration and field mapping results |
| **Recent Activity** | A log of recently processed emails              |

## When to use email intake

* Collecting data from people who prefer email over web forms
* Processing inbound requests (support tickets, vendor submissions, RFPs)
* Automating data entry from structured email templates