Buyer's guide ยท Mail Desk

A shared team inbox inside Perfex CRM, with optional AI reply drafts

Mail Desk is a PHP module for Perfex CRM 3.x. It connects your team's IMAP and SMTP mailboxes to the CRM, so staff read and answer customer e-mail in Perfex instead of in a personal mail app. Conversations are threaded, assigned and labelled, linked to the matching customer, contact or lead, and can become a lead, ticket or task in one click. Optional AI can summarise a thread and draft a reply, but it never sends anything.

Buy for $20See Mail Desk

What you get

  • The full module source

    The PHP module, its tests and the documentation, as a standard Perfex module with no changes to Perfex core files.

  • Unlimited mailboxes

    IMAP and SMTP over SSL/TLS or STARTTLS with a password or app password. Gmail and cPanel presets fill in the server settings, and a connection test checks IMAP and SMTP separately with a readable error.

  • No PHP imap extension needed

    It has its own IMAP, SMTP and MIME code in plain PHP, which matters on PHP 8.4 and newer where the imap extension left the core.

  • Personal or shared mailboxes

    Share a mailbox with chosen staff members or roles. View own shows only a person's own mailboxes and assigned conversations.

  • Background sync

    The Perfex cron syncs in batches. The first import covers the last 30 days. Messages are tracked by folder, UID, UIDVALIDITY and Message-ID, so a repeated sync does not double the inbox.

  • A team inbox

    Threads by Message-ID, In-Reply-To and References. Assignment, open, waiting and closed status, priority, star, internal notes, labels, a Replied by line, and a notice when a colleague has the conversation open.

  • Reply from the CRM

    Reply, reply all, forward and new message with CC, BCC, attachments, signatures, drafts with auto-save and shared reply templates with merge fields. Mail goes out through the mailbox's own SMTP server and a copy is saved to its Sent folder.

  • Safe reading

    HTML is cleaned by an allow-list sanitiser and shown in a sandboxed frame with a strict Content-Security-Policy. Remote images stay blocked until you choose to show them.

  • Mailbox passwords encrypted

    AES-256-GCM, with a key generated on install and stored outside the mailbox table.

How an agency uses it for clients

Mail Desk is a module, not a separate service. An agency that sets up Perfex for clients installs it into each client's CRM.

  • One install per Perfex

    Each Perfex install gets its own copy of the module, its own mailboxes and its own settings.

  • Customer history inside Perfex

    Mail from a known address is linked to the customer contact or lead and shows a badge. The customer profile gets an Emails tab, and a conversation becomes a lead, ticket or task in one click.

  • Perfex rights are respected

    Customers, contacts and leads shown in search, suggestions and links follow each staff member's own Perfex rights.

  • A dashboard for the team lead

    Open, unassigned and waiting conversations, median first-reply time, mail received against the previous 30 days, the conversations waiting longest and mailbox health.

  • Optional AI with a cap

    Thread summary, reply draft, and label and priority suggestions that wait in an approval queue unless an administrator allows them to apply. Use Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, Ollama or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, with monthly and daily request limits and a hash-chained audit log.

  • Steward AI tools

    If the Steward AI module is installed, it can search conversations, read one and list unanswered ones, read-only.

What it needs to run

Perfex CRM, the mailboxes and AI usage are not included in the price.

  • Perfex CRM 3.x, sold separately
  • PHP 8.1 to 8.5 with openssl, mbstring and dom (iconv recommended); curl only for the optional AI
  • MySQL or MariaDB, the database Perfex already uses
  • The Perfex cron job, every 5 minutes, for sync, server operations and clean-up
  • Outgoing connections from the server to your mail provider's IMAP and SMTP ports, usually 993 and 465 or 587; some hosts block them
  • A writable uploads/mail_desk folder for attachments and the encryption key
  • A mailbox with IMAP and SMTP access and a password or app password (Gmail needs 2-Step Verification and an app password)
  • Optional: an account with an AI provider, or an Ollama server you run yourself

What it does not do

  • It has not been run in a licensed Perfex install, and not against a real mailbox yet. The tests use scripted and fake IMAP and SMTP servers. Try it on a staging Perfex before you use it for clients.
  • Microsoft 365, Outlook.com, Hotmail and Live mailboxes that need OAuth cannot be connected. Version 1.0 signs in with a password only, and Google OAuth sign-in is not in 1.0 either.
  • Mail is read over IMAP only. POP3 is not supported, and only the Inbox and Sent folders are read.
  • Version 1.0 has no auto-replies, no rules for automatic labels or assignment and no scheduled sending. SLA tracking, saved views and per-staff reports are not included.
  • There is no Emails tab on the lead page. Leads are reached through the Inbox filter "All e-mails with this lead".
  • It has not been tested on Perfex SaaS or multi-tenant installs.
  • The AI limits count requests, not tokens or money, and AI never sends a message on its own.
  • Perfex CRM is not included, and Mail Desk is independent and not made or endorsed by Perfex CRM, Google or Microsoft.
  • The live demo is a click-through of the module's pages on sample data. It is not a Perfex install.

Questions

Does Mail Desk work with Gmail?

Yes, through IMAP and SMTP with an app password. The mailbox form has a Gmail preset. Google OAuth sign-in is not in version 1.0, so a Google account needs 2-Step Verification and an app password.

Does it work with Microsoft 365 or Outlook.com?

Not in version 1.0. Those mailboxes require an OAuth sign-in and Mail Desk signs in with a password only. If a login fails, the connection test tells you that OAuth is needed.

Does it delete or mark mail as read on my mail server?

Syncing never marks a message as read, and deleting a mailbox in Mail Desk does not delete any mail on the server. Read, unread, archive, delete and restore done inside Mail Desk are written back to the mail server.

Can the AI send e-mail by itself?

No. AI is optional and off by default, uses your own provider key, and only places a draft in the composer for a person to edit and send. Label and priority suggestions wait in an approval queue unless an administrator allows them to apply.

Do I need the PHP imap extension?

No. Mail Desk has its own IMAP and SMTP client, so it works on PHP 8.4 and newer where that extension is no longer part of PHP.

How much does Mail Desk cost, and what does the licence allow?

$20, one payment, no subscription. One licence, no tiers: any number of projects and clients, a paid SaaS, every line changed. The only limit is reselling or publishing the source code itself. The services you connect bill you directly. See the licence.

Is setup included?

Yes. We install Mail Desk for you and put in your logo, colours and texts. Bigger changes or new features get a fixed price before we start.

What if it does not work?

Write to us within 14 days. We fix it, usually the same day. If we cannot fix it within 7 days, you get your money back. See the refund policy.