Email Intake
When your company receives an email at a specified address (e.g., privacy@company.com
), forwarding rules can be set up to automatically forward that email to DataGrail, where the message and sender information will be parsed and converted into a Privacy Request.
To parse emails, DataGrail’s systems rely on the original email headers (from, reply-to, etc.) to extract the relevant Data Subject information from the email. The body of an email is also parsed, but can be less reliable.
The customer-configured forwarding configuration determines how these email headers are preserved, and whether DataGrail can make any inferences about the request.
Verification
By submitting a Privacy Request via email, the Data Subject is proving their ownership of that address, so it is automatically treated as verified within DataGrail and will open in Pending Wizard.
However, a verification email can still be sent by selecting the Verify email option in Step 6 of the Request Wizard. This will allow you to preview and send a verification email to the data subject.
If you choose this option, the request will move to Pending Verification and then to Active: Extracting Personal Data once verified by the data subject.
Configuring Email Forwarding
For DataGrail to automatically parse email requests, you’ll need to forward emails to (hereafter referred to as the intake address):
[your_company_name_here]@emailapi.datagrail.io
In the intake address, [your_company_name_here]
represents the subdomain of your DataGrail URL. If you log in at acme.datagrail.io
, then you’d forward emails to acme@emailapi.datagrail.io
The following are ways that email forwarding can be set up to ensure that the original email headers are preserved. If your email provider isn’t listed below, consult your email administrator or your DataGrail Account Manager.
G Suite (Gmail)
A G Suite administrator can set up an email group that can be identified by an email address (such as privacy@company.com
), and can include the intake address as a member of the group. With an email group, when the privacy@company.com
group receives an email, it redirects the message to all members. For instructions on how to set up email intake with an email group, see: Forward Setup - Google Groups.
Note: For email redirection with Google Groups to work, you will need to ensure that you have the following settings set for the group: allow external members checked and who can post set to anyone on the web.
You can also forward your emails directly to the intake address using the following instructions: Forward your emails.
Office 365 (Outlook)
Outlook has a convenient mechanism to preserve email headers by using email redirecting versus forwarding. If you need to, consult your email administrator to confirm which version of Outlook you’re using.
- Outlook Web App - see Redirect all messages to another account
- Outlook on the web
You can also create a distribution group, and include the intake address.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this message does not constitute as legal advice. We would advise seeking professional counsel before acting on or interpreting any material.