> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.penbox.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Product updates September, 2026

<Update label="September 22, 2026" tags={["Cases","Forms","Security"]} rss={{ title:"Introducing the customer portal" }}>
  # Introducing the customer portal

  Your clients no longer have to dig through their inbox to know where their file stands. The **customer portal** gives each contact one stable link to their case.

  From that link, a contact can:

  * **Follow the case**: its status, written for them, and the steps still expected from them
  * **Fill in forms** without leaving the portal, welcome and ending pages included
  * **Send a document or a message** to the case owner without being asked, which appears in the case history
  * **Download** the documents shared with them

  The portal carries your workspace's logo and colors. Access can be protected with a **verification code** sent by email or SMS. The code is sent only when the contact clicks to request it, so email scanners and link previews no longer burn codes.

  Turn the portal on in **Settings → Customer portal**, set the link validity and whether a code is required, then override any of it per case template. A new automation sends the portal link at the right moment of the case.
</Update>

<Update label="September 22, 2026" tags={["Cases"]} rss={{ title:"Import a case template from another workspace" }}>
  # Import a case template from another workspace

  Working across several workspaces? The case templates list has a new **Import…** button that copies a case template from any other workspace you belong to. The email templates and Document Intelligence templates it uses come along, and Penbox prevents importing the same template twice into the same workspace.
</Update>

<Update label="September 22, 2026" tags={["Email","Outlook","AI"]} rss={{ title:"Inbox Triage and Outlook, one step further" }}>
  # Inbox Triage and Outlook, one step further

  ## Inbox Triage

  * **Reply in a click.** Draft a quick reply with the agent or from an email template, without leaving triage.
  * **Your mailbox stays in sync.** An email archived directly in Gmail or Outlook leaves the triage queue too.
  * **Archiving in the mailbox is now opt-in.** Handled emails stay in the shared inbox unless you turn on the new setting, so colleagues who don't use Penbox keep seeing them.

  ## Outlook: the case's next step

  The add-in now proposes the **next step of the case**. When the agent's suggestion isn't right, a single searchable action center offers every alternative: the case's remaining steps, your email templates, and quick commands. Cancel brings the suggestion back. The read pane was also redesigned, with a clearer row of contacts and compact data sections.
</Update>

<Update label="September 22, 2026" tags={["Cases","API"]} rss={{ title:"Know where every case came from" }}>
  # Know where every case came from

  Every case and every change on it now records **who** made it, **how** (a person, the AI, an automation, a partner, or Penbox itself), and **through which channel** (the app, Outlook, the API, MCP, email, a form, or a connection). An email-born case can finally be told apart from one created by hand, in the API and in your automations. See [the case API reference](/api-reference/cases/get-case).
</Update>

<Update label="September 22, 2026" tags={["Cases"]} rss={{ title:"A status-grouped cases view, in early access" }}>
  # A status-grouped cases view, in early access

  A compact new view groups your cases by status, with display controls to choose what each row shows. It is in early access: ask your Penbox contact to enable it for your workspace. Each person can then switch between it and the classic table, and Penbox remembers their choice.
</Update>

<Update label="September 22, 2026" tags={["Forms","Connections","Document Intelligence"]} rss={{ title:"Improvements and fixes" }}>
  # Improvements and fixes

  * **Penbox plugin.** Install it in two commands for Claude Code or Codex, from a public marketplace. See the [installation guide](/install).
  * **Document Intelligence.** Create a new Document Intelligence template straight from a case template field.
  * **Forms.** Invitations can be sent by SMS only. IBANs are validated against the official registry, and an incomplete IBAN is never saved.
  * **Signatures.** The signer always gets back to the form after signing.
  * **Translations.** Missing French and Dutch translations were filled in across the app.
  * **BRIO.** A contact shows the broker office's own rank, an activity due on a weekend moves to the Monday, and the BRIO connection is checked daily and repairs itself.
  * **Email.** A forwarded email is matched to a case only through its main contact, and attachments still being scanned by Microsoft Defender are no longer missed.
  * **Automations** fire on data sent when a case is created.
  * **Assistant.** The case template assistant can build multilingual forms.
</Update>

<Update label="September 11, 2026" tags={["API","Outlook","Signatures"]} rss={{ title:"Feed a case through the API" }}>
  # Feed a case through the API

  The Connect API can now send **raw material to a case**: a call transcript, notes, a parsed email, and up to five documents. Penbox reads it the way it reads an incoming email, then either proposes the changes for review or writes them at once. Documents are filed on the right field, and values you send explicitly always win over the AI. Inputs create new fields by default when the case doesn't have them yet, with an option to turn that off. Every call, and every object it creates, now records which API token made it.

  In Outlook, you can **send an email before the proposed step**, written from a template or by the AI.

  ## Fixes

  * **Signatures.** A rejected signature no longer completes the request.
  * **Domains.** A workspace domain can send only once every DNS record is in place.
  * **Cases list.** A filtered tab count no longer leaks into the workspace-wide count.
  * **Inbox Triage.** The subject and the reply area stay in view while you scroll a long email.
  * **Branding.** Workspace logos fit the sidebar without being cropped.
</Update>

<Update label="September 9, 2026" tags={["Signatures","Email","Outlook"]} rss={{ title:"Initials on every page" }}>
  # Initials on every page

  Some contracts must be initialed on every page, not only signed at the end. A new **initials on every page** switch, next to the signature hints in the form editor, places a signing field on each page of the document. The signer applies them all in a single signing action.

  ## Email templates, scoped to case templates

  Choose which case templates each **email template** appears in, and the order it appears in. Pickers now list only what fits the case at hand, instead of every template in the workspace. Nothing changes until you narrow a template down.

  ## Also in this release

  * **Outlook.** Send a step's draft as a new email, with the step's own subject.
  * **AI replies** know who they are writing as.
  * **Template versions.** Open cases can be moved onto a newer version of their case template. Ask your Penbox contact.
  * **Security.** Credentials are masked in logged URLs and API responses.
</Update>

<Update label="September 7, 2026" tags={["Cases","API","AI"]} rss={{ title:"Required fields and conditional visibility" }}>
  # Required fields and conditional visibility

  Case data fields can now be **required**, and fields or whole sections can be **shown or hidden by a condition** on the rest of the case. Required fields carry a red asterisk, and so does a section that hides an unfilled one. Hiding a field never erases its value.

  API Call fields wait for the required fields: their Run button stays disabled, with an explanation, until everything it needs is filled in. You can opt a field out of that check.

  ## Tasks and statuses over the API and MCP

  Partners and AI agents can now read and manage **tasks** and **change a case's status** through the Connect API and the Penbox MCP server. A change made by an integration shows its name in the case history.

  ## Also in this release

  * **Inbox Triage.** Attach files to a quick reply; they are filed on the case.
  * **Outlook.** Apply an email template to the proposed reply.
  * **Mailboxes.** Disconnecting a mailbox keeps its emails.
  * **Email display.** Received emails are displayed in an isolated frame, so their styles never break the page.
</Update>

<Update label="September 3, 2026" tags={["Email","Cases"]} rss={{ title:"Introducing Inbox Triage" }}>
  # Introducing Inbox Triage

  A shared mailbox receives everything: claims, questions, newsletters, spam. Until now, an email that matched no case template was either turned into a case or ignored. **Inbox Triage** gives those emails a queue of their own.

  For each email, decide in one move:

  * **Create a case** from the right case template
  * **Attach it** to an existing case
  * **Archive it**

  A case is created only when you decide, with the whole conversation, its attachments, and the usual AI analysis. Spam never lands in your contacts. The queue can be searched, including on Cc and Bcc recipients, attachments open and download in place, and the **All emails** view says what became of each email.

  Turn Inbox Triage on per mailbox, for a workspace mailbox or your own personal one.
</Update>

<Update label="September 3, 2026" tags={["AI","API"]} rss={{ title:"Drive Penbox from your AI agent" }}>
  # Drive Penbox from your AI agent

  Penbox now has its own **MCP server**. Connect Claude, Codex, or any MCP client to your workspace and work on case templates, form templates, and cases from your agent, with your own permissions. Every change made over MCP is attributed to you in the case history. Read [how agents work with Penbox](/agents/introduction).
</Update>

<Update label="September 3, 2026" tags={["Cases"]} rss={{ title:"Duplicate contacts, found and merged" }}>
  # Duplicate contacts, found and merged

  Penbox now resolves contacts the same way everywhere: the same email address always leads to the same contact. When several contacts share it, Penbox picks one consistently and flags the choice for review, with one click to switch.

  Existing duplicates can be **reviewed and merged** from the contacts page, and Penbox suggests a matching contact before you create a new one.
</Update>

<Update label="September 3, 2026" tags={["Cases","Connections"]} rss={{ title:"Improvements and fixes" }}>
  # Improvements and fixes

  * **Search.** The cases inbox search is faster, ignores accents, and covers the title, the contacts, and the case template.
  * **API Call fields** show an error message per field, and report the mappings that wrote nothing.
  * **Automations.** Type `{` in an automation text field to insert a variable.
  * **Archived cases** reopen when the client replies.
  * **Email.** Inline images of received emails are displayed.
  * **BRIO.** Open the claim, contract, or vehicle in BRIO straight from the case.
  * **Assistant.** It knows how to configure API Call fields and workspace secrets.
</Update>