Email-to-Case Not Creating Cases? Where Support Requests Go Missing in Salesforce
Customers say they emailed support, but there's no case in Salesforce. Here's where Email-to-Case requests go missing and the checks I run to close the gaps.
A customer says they emailed support last week. Your team searches Salesforce and finds nothing. Or they find the case, but the customer's reply created a second case, and nobody on the first one saw it. Or the case is there and resolved, but the customer never got a confirmation and emailed again.
Email-to-Case usually works well enough that nobody looks at it until one of these happens. When an inbox handles something sensitive, like privacy requests, contract questions or escalations, one missing email is one too many. Here's where requests go missing and how I check the whole path.
Why it happens
Email-to-Case is a chain, and every link was set up by someone at some point:
- A customer emails a public address, like support@ or privacy@.
- Your email system forwards that address to a Salesforce routing address.
- Salesforce creates a case, or attaches the email to an existing one.
- Assignment rules route the case to a queue or person.
- Auto-response rules and templates send the customer a confirmation, and later a resolution email.
If any link changes, like a new forwarding rule in your email system, an edited template or a deactivated user, the chain breaks quietly. There's often no error anyone sees. This is exactly the kind of setup that breaks first when your admin leaves, because the knowledge of how it was wired leaves with them.
The fix: test every link
1. Send a test email to every public address
Email each support address from an outside account, not from inside your company. Note the time, then check whether a case appears in Salesforce and how long it takes. Do this for every address, including the ones people forgot exist.
2. Check forwarding and routing addresses
If the test email didn't create a case, follow it. Confirm your email system still forwards that public address to the right Salesforce routing address, and that the routing address is verified and active in Salesforce's Email-to-Case settings. A forwarding rule that points to an old address is one of the most common causes.
3. Look at threading when replies create new cases
When a customer replies and a new case appears instead of an update, threading is the problem. Salesforce's Lightning threading puts a token in the subject or body of outgoing case emails and matches replies on that token first, then on email headers. If neither matches, it creates a new case. Templates that strip the token, or older templates built for the previous Ref ID method, cause duplicates. Check your case email templates and switch fully to Lightning threading if you're still on the old approach.
4. Confirm assignment rules send cases somewhere a person looks
A case that lands in a queue nobody watches is the same as a missing case. Check which assignment rule fires for each routing address, what the default queue is, and who actually works that queue.
5. Test the acknowledgment and resolution emails
Confirm that auto-response rules send the customer a confirmation when the case is created, and that any "your request is resolved" email actually goes out when the status changes. For sensitive inboxes, this confirmation is often part of what you promised the customer.
6. Send from an address customers trust
Case emails should come from a verified organization-wide address, not an individual's mailbox, so they keep working when people change roles. It's the same idea as not running integrations through one person's login.
7. Put a simple check on the calendar
Once it all works, repeat the test emails monthly, or after any change to your email system. It takes a few minutes and catches breaks before customers do.
How to tell if this is you
- Customers say they emailed support and your team can't find the case.
- Replies from customers sometimes open a brand new case.
- Nobody is sure which public addresses route into Salesforce.
- Customers don't get a confirmation when they email in.
- Cases sit in a queue that nobody owns.
FAQ
Why is Salesforce Email-to-Case not creating cases?
Usually the email never reaches Salesforce: a forwarding rule changed, or it points to the wrong routing address. Send a test email from an outside account and follow it from your email system to the routing address.
Why do customer replies create duplicate cases in Salesforce?
Threading isn't matching the reply to the original case. Lightning threading relies on a token in your outgoing case emails, so templates that drop the token or still rely on the old Ref ID method cause new cases.
How do I make sure customers get a confirmation email from Email-to-Case?
Set up auto-response rules with a clear template, then test them by emailing each support address from outside your company.
How often should we test Email-to-Case?
Monthly is a good rhythm, plus any time someone changes your email system, templates or support queues.
If support requests are slipping through your Salesforce setup, I'm happy to walk the path with you and find where they're going. Let's talk.
Eric Rodriguez spent 16 years running revenue and operations teams before building the systems behind them. He runs Scalable Operations, a Salesforce and HubSpot consultancy that does the hands-on work.
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