Many coworking spaces receive physical mail and packages on behalf of their members. Deskie's mail handling tools let your staff photograph incoming items, log them against the right members, and notify those members automatically. Members can then ask you to open and scan the contents, forward the item to another address, or shred it, and staff complete those requests from the same screen. This article explains the full workflow, the states a mail item moves through, and the notifications sent at each step.
How a mail item flows
Every piece of mail in Deskie moves through a small set of statuses. Understanding them makes the rest of the workflow easy to follow.
- Scanned: The item has been logged with an exterior photo and is waiting for the member to decide what to do with it. This is the starting state for every new item.
- Awaiting response: The member has submitted a request (to open or to shred) and your staff has not yet acted on it.
- Collected (shown as Opened): The item has been opened and an interior scan has been uploaded, so the member can now read the contents.
- Forwarded: The item has been sent on to the address the member provided. The forwarding address and the member's signature stay on the record.
- Shredded: The item has been destroyed. When mail is shredded, both the exterior and interior images are removed from storage.
Each item also carries a generated mail number (for example, a reference beginning with #MV) so it can be identified at a glance, and a needs attention flag that is raised while a member request is pending.
Logging incoming mail
When a letter or package arrives, staff log it from the Mail screen by uploading a file and choosing one or more recipients.
- Upload a file: Add a photo of the exterior of the item (typically the envelope or package label). Any file up to 50MB is accepted, and the upload is not restricted to image formats.
- Choose recipients: Search your active members by name and add one or more of them. If you select several members, Deskie creates a separate mail record for each one so every recipient sees the item in their own account.
When you save, Deskie stores the file, creates the mail record (or records) in the scanned state, and sends each recipient a new mail notification by email. The item is filed against the location you are currently working in, or the workspace's first location if no current location is set.
The new mail notification email
As soon as an item is logged, each recipient receives an email letting them know mail has arrived for them. The message comes from your workspace name as the sender name, and it includes the mail number, the date the item was received, the exterior image, and a link back to the mail area of your member site.
You can tailor this email. In your workspace settings you can enable a custom new mail email and supply your own content, which is then added to the message. If the custom email is disabled or left empty, Deskie sends its standard copy on its own. See branding and custom emails for how customized notifications fit into the wider set of member messages.
What members can request
From their own view of a mail item, a member can ask staff to take one of two actions.
- Open & scan: The member asks you to open the item and scan its contents. This can only be requested while the item has not already been opened. Once an interior scan exists, the open option is no longer available. Before submitting, the member signs the request with their finger or mouse, and if you have configured an authorization agreement, its text is shown and recorded with the signature.
- Forward: The member asks you to send the item on to another address. They enter the full forwarding address and sign the request. Forwarding can be requested until the item has been forwarded or shredded.
- Shred: The member asks you to destroy the item. Shredding can be requested while the item is in either the scanned or opened state. Shredding is one click: no signature and never a fee.
Open & scan and forwarding can each be switched off per workspace in your mail settings, in which case members simply do not see that option.
Requests cannot be stacked. If a request is already pending on an item, a second request is rejected until staff resolve the first one, and a member cannot request an action on an item that has already been shredded.
When a member submits a request, the item moves to awaiting response, its needs-attention flag is raised, and the request is recorded so staff know exactly what was asked for.
Fees for open and forward
You can attach a fee to open & scan and to forwarding, set independently per action in your mail settings. When a fee applies, the member chooses how to pay at the moment they submit the request:
- Pay now: Deskie creates an invoice for the fee immediately and the member pays it on the spot with a saved card or a new one.
- Add to next invoice: the fee is queued as a line item on the member's next monthly invoice, alongside their other charges. See billing cycles and auto-charge.
The fee never blocks the request itself. If a pay-now payment fails or is abandoned, the request still stands and the fee falls back to the next monthly invoice. Members whose billing is routed to a team do not see the pay-now option; their fees always go to the team's invoice. A mail item whose fee has already been billed cannot be deleted, so an issued invoice never silently loses a line item.
How staff are notified of requests
When a member requests an action, Deskie notifies everyone in the workspace with an Owner or Admin role across three channels: an email, a push notification, and a text message. The email names the member, the mail number, the action requested, and the date and time of the request, and it links back to the mail screen so staff can act on it. The push notification deep-links straight to the specific mail item, opening its detail view. The email is styled to reflect whether the request is to open, forward, or shred. For more on which roles receive workspace notifications, see roles and permissions.
Completing an open request
To fulfill an open request, staff open the item, scan the contents, and upload that interior image to the mail record. Deskie only accepts an interior upload when the item actually has an open request pending.
Once the interior scan is saved, the item moves to collected (shown as Opened), the pending request is cleared, and the needs-attention flag is removed. The member then receives an email letting them know their mail has been opened, again sent under your workspace name, with the interior scan included and a link back to view it.
Completing a forward request
A pending forward request shows the address the member provided. Staff send the item on by whatever carrier suits, then mark the request complete in Deskie. The item moves to forwarded, the pending request is cleared, and the needs-attention flag is removed. The member receives an email confirming their mail was forwarded to the address they gave. The forwarding address and the signed request stay on the mail record for your files.
Shredding mail
Staff with admin permissions complete a shred request from the mail item once a member has asked for it. Confirming the shred is final and cannot be undone.
When an item is shredded, Deskie deletes both the exterior and interior images from storage and marks the record as shredded, clearing the pending request and the needs-attention flag. The record itself remains so there is a history that the item existed and was destroyed, but the scans are no longer available.
Viewing and deleting mail
The mail screen lists items in the workspace, most recently updated first, showing the mail number, the recipient's name and photo, the dates received and last updated, and the current status. Any notes recorded on an item appear when you open its detail view.
- What members see: Members only ever see mail addressed to them. Staff with the relevant permission see the wider list.
- Location scoping: Workspace-wide admins viewing all locations see every item. Admins and managers who are pinned to specific locations see mail for members whose primary location is within their accessible set. Members who predate location backfill, and so have no primary location, still appear in those scoped views rather than being hidden.
- Delete: An item can be removed entirely, which also deletes its stored file. Staff can delete any item; members can only delete their own. Deletion is different from shredding: shredding keeps the record and marks it destroyed, while deletion removes the record from the list.
Pending counts and attention
Deskie surfaces how much mail needs attention, and the count differs by who is looking. For staff, the pending count reflects items in the awaiting response state, meaning members are waiting on an open or shred request to be handled. For a member, the count reflects their own items in the scanned or opened states, meaning there is mail for them to review or act on. This keeps both sides focused on the items that actually need them.
Configuring mail notifications
The custom new mail email is managed in your workspace settings. There you can turn the customized message on or off and edit its content; the setting is stored per workspace, so it applies to all locations. When it is off, the standard new mail email is used on its own. Your mail settings also control whether open & scan and forwarding are offered to members, the fee for each, and the optional authorization agreement text shown before an open & scan request is signed. The request and interior notifications are sent automatically as part of the workflow and do not require separate configuration. For an overview of where these controls live, see workspace settings.