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This article explains how emails sent from, and received in Upflow, appear in customer and invoice timelines, based on your collection configuration. Whether you use customer-level workflows, invoice-level workflows, or both, understanding these display rules will help you track communications more effectively.

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Default/global logic (core matching rules)

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Email matching priority:

  1. Reply to an action → Matches to the specific action (customer or invoice level)
  2. From a known contact → Matches to customer with that unique contact
  3. Domain matching → If enabled, matches by email domain
  4. No match → Creates temporary customer (if “import all emails” is enabled)
Learn more: Import only emails we can match.

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1. Customer-level collection only

Scenario: You only use customer-level workflows (cf. Customer-level workflow trigger). Any email reminder sent at the customer level, and any related import email/reply, will be displayed in the customer timeline.

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In invoice timeline display:

Why This Happens:
  • Every email related to the customer appears in every invoice timeline, as long as the invoice issue date is before the email’s sent date. For example, if an invoice is issued on March 1st
  • The system shows full customer context on each invoice
Example:
  • Invoice #123 issue date is March 1st
  • An email is sent at the customer level on March 15th
  • The email will be displayed in the customer’s timeline, and the invoice’s timeline
Counter example:
  • Invoice #456 issue date is March 25th
  • An email is sent at the customer level on March 15th
  • The email will be displayed in the customer’s timeline, in invoice #123 timeline, but not in invoice #456 timeline.

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2. Two levels collection (invoice + customer workflows)

Scenario: You use customer-level and invoice-level workflows (cf.Double level of communication). Any customer-level communication will be displayed as in the first example above. Any invoice-level communication will be displayed only in the related invoice’s timeline, and the related customer’s timeline.

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In invoice timeline display:

Note: Customer-level communications provide context across all invoices, while invoice-level communications stay isolated to their specific invoice.

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3. Invoice-level collection only

Scenario: You only use invoice-level workflows (cf. Invoice-level workflow trigger) Any email reminder sent at the invoice level, and any related import email/reply, will be displayed in the customer timeline, and only in the related invoice’s timeline. No other invoices’.

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In invoice timeline display:

Note: Invoice-level workflows provide complete isolation - each invoice’s reminders only appear in that specific invoice’s timeline, plus related customer’s timeline.

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Troubleshooting common scenarios

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”I don’t want emails showing across all invoices”

Solution: Switch from customer-level workflows to invoice-level workflows. This will ensure each invoice’s communications stay isolated.

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”I need full customer context on each invoice”

Solution: Use customer-level workflows. This is the intended behavior - all customer communications will appear across all invoices.

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”Some emails appear everywhere, others don’t”

Check: You’re likely using mixed workflows (both customer-level and invoice-level). Review which workflow type sent each email to understand the display behavior.