Intakes
An intake lets work arrive by itself: an email address, a webhook URL, or a watch on one of your connected services. Each item that comes in becomes a task for one employee, with the item attached as outside content.
- You are the company’s owner: only the owner makes intakes.
- An active employee to work on what comes in.
- To watch a service, that service connected on Connections.
- An intake counts as a routine: Free includes 3 in all.
On this page
Three ways work comes in#
| Comes in by | How it works |
|---|---|
| Watch a service | Pick a connected service and what to watch: new Gmail mail matching a search, a form’s new submissions, a Slack message, a changed Google Calendar event. Royak registers the watch at the service itself. |
| Email address | Royak makes an address for the employee. Anyone in the company forwards an email to it, or you forward a mailbox automatically. |
| Webhook (for your own code) | A URL your website or system calls with each new item, such as a lead from your contact form. |
When you watch a service, each event says how it arrives: “{service} tells Royak at once”, “Checked every 5 minutes”, or “You paste its URL into {service}” for the few services that need it. When a connection can’t watch for an event yet, the sheet says why, and offers Reconnect where signing in again would fix it.
Make an intake#
- 1
Open New intake
On Work → Routines, select New intake beside New routine. Intakes are listed in their own group above the routines.
- 2
Choose who works on it
Under Who works on what comes in, pick one active employee, such as Jonas in Support.
- 3
Choose how work comes in
For Watch a service, choose the Service to watch and What to watch, then any options it asks for. Show an example shows a real recent event, so you see what the employee will get.
- 4
Filter, if you want
Only when takes up to five conditions (a field that is, contains or is more than a value). Events that don’t match are recorded as filtered: no task, no cost.
- 5
Name it and set the instructions
Give it a Name, the Most items a day (20 unless you choose more, up to 200), and What to do with each item, for example “Answer customer questions using our help docs. Anything about refunds: don’t answer, ask me.”
- 6
Choose who can send
For an email address: everyone in the company, plus addresses or @domains you add, or Anyone can send (any sender whose domain passes DMARC). For a webhook you may Require a signing key.
- 7
Check Before you make it
It lists what is watched or the address to be made, who works on it, the Most it can cost at its daily cap, any monthly limit it would pass, how replies go out, and its place in your plan. Then select Make intake.
After you make it#
| Kind | What you do next |
|---|---|
| Watch | Nothing: it watches from now on. For a service that needs it, copy the URL to paste into that service. |
| Email address | Copy the address and forward any email to it. Forward everything automatically shows how to set up forwarding in Gmail or Outlook; their confirmation email reaches your Inbox. |
| Webhook | Copy the Webhook URL and Signing key into your system, then Send a test delivery. |
How an item becomes a task#
Each item is checked before anything runs. If it passes, it becomes a task for the intake’s employee, with your instructions as the brief and the item attached. The task shows From {intake} and Came in. The item’s text and kept attachments are saved in the employee’s own sources, marked outside content.
| The item… | What happens |
|---|---|
| Doesn’t match Only when | “Filtered out · no task, no cost.” |
| Comes from a sender who isn’t allowed or can’t be verified | Held in your Inbox. |
| Arrives past the day’s cap, while the intake is paused, or when a limit or your credits leave no room | Held in your Inbox, costing nothing. |
| Passes every check | Becomes a task straight away. |
Held items#
Held items wait in the Inbox under Held, one row per intake with why its items are held. Step through them with Run as {name}’s task (R) or Dismiss (X). Running one checks your limits again; if they still refuse, it stays held with the new reason.
Manage an intake#
Select an intake on Work → Routines. You see its address or what it watches, today’s counts (items of the cap, Became tasks, Held now, Spent today), and each item with what became of it.
- Pause and Resume: while paused, items are held, not run.
- Replace address… (or the URL): the old one stops working at once and a new one is made.
- Stop…: the address stops at once; tasks already made keep going; held items stay in the Inbox.
If a watched service refuses Royak’s access, the intake asks you to Reconnect and a row waits in your Inbox. If a service stops telling Royak at once, Royak checks it every 5 minutes until it switches back by itself.
Questions#
Can someone email my employee instructions?
They can email, but the employee treats what arrives as outside content and never as instructions. Anything it would send because of the email waits for your approval.
What does an intake cost?
Filtered and held items cost nothing. Each item that becomes a task spends like any task, and Most it can cost shows the ceiling at its daily cap.
Does watching Gmail need forwarding?
No. Watching reads your Gmail connection with its Read your email add-on and a Gmail search, so nothing changes in Gmail’s settings.
Is there a size limit?
Emails over 10 MB are refused, and each intake takes at most its daily cap.