Lido Mailbox

The Lido Mailbox is a Lido-hosted email address that triggers a workflow whenever a message arrives. Use it when you want incoming email to automatically kick off processing — without connecting your real Gmail or Outlook account.

When to use the Lido Mailbox

• You want vendors, partners, or internal teams to forward documents into a workflow.
• You don't want to (or can't) connect a real Gmail/Outlook account to Lido.
• You want a clean, dedicated address per workflow (e.g., invoices-something@in.lido.app) instead of mixing automation traffic into a personal inbox.
• You use a service Lido doesn't have a direct integration with (Yahoo, iCloud, ProtonMail) and want incoming mail to trigger a workflow anyway — you can forward from any inbox to a Lido Mailbox.

When NOT to use it

• You need to filter on the original recipient address (e.g., accounts-payable@yourcompany.com). Forwarded email may lose the original To: field. Use Outlook Trigger with a connected real account instead.
• You need to send email from the Lido Mailbox. Lido Mailbox is receive-only. To send, use Send Gmail, Send Outlook, or SENDEMAIL formula.
• You need to keep mail in a real inbox for human review. A Lido Mailbox is a trigger endpoint, not a mailbox you log into.

How it works

1. Add a Lido Mailbox Trigger to a workflow.
2. Lido generates a unique address like inbox-abc123@in.lido.app.
3. Anyone (or any system) that emails that address triggers a workflow run.
4. The triggering email — including subject, body, sender, and attachments — is available as workflow data: {{$item.data.email}}, {{$item.data.subject}}, {{$item.data.from}}, {{$item.data.attachments}}.

The address is per-workflow. Each workflow you create has its own address; messages to one address don't trigger other workflows.

Step-by-step: set up a Lido Mailbox workflow

1. Create the trigger

Open the workflow editor → add Lido Mailbox Trigger as the first node. Lido generates the address; copy it.

2. Add downstream nodes

Common pattern for processing email attachments:

• Lido Mailbox Trigger → Data Extractor (Source Type: Email, with file attachment) → Spreadsheet (Add Row to Table) → Send Gmail / Send Outlook (notify).

The Data Extractor node has built-in handling for emails — see "Data extraction from emails" below.

3. Test

Email the Lido Mailbox address from any account. In the workflow editor, watch the run appear in real time. Inspect the data each node received.

4. Activate

Once the test run looks right, activate the workflow.

5. (Optional) Set up forwarding

If you want emails from a real inbox (e.g., invoices@yourcompany.com) to trigger the workflow, set up auto-forwarding from that real inbox to the Lido Mailbox address. Both Gmail and Outlook support forwarding rules.

Data extraction from emails

The Data Extractor node accepts emails as a source. Set:

• Source Type: Email
• Source File / Email reference: {{$item.data.email}}

The extractor reads the email body and any attachments. To extract from attachments specifically (e.g., a PDF invoice attached to the email):

• Source Type: File
• Source File reference: {{$item.data.attachments[0].url}} (or loop over all attachments)

If the email has multiple attachments, use a Loop node before the Data Extractor to process each attachment in turn.

Page counting for emails

Failed extractions don't count toward your allowance.

Address management

Lido Mailbox addresses look like inbox-{random}@in.lido.app. They're durable — once created, the address stays the same for the life of the workflow, so anyone who has it can keep sending mail.

If you need to rotate the address (e.g., the old one was leaked), delete the trigger node and add a new one. The new node generates a fresh address. Update wherever you'd published the old one.

You can change the display name the address shows under (visible to senders' inboxes when they reply, etc.) in the trigger node's settings.

Reply handling

Replies to messages forwarded into a Lido Mailbox come back to the Lido Mailbox address — they don't reach the original sender. If you need replies to land somewhere usable:

• Set the workflow to send a confirmation email back to the sender (using {{$item.data.from}} as the To: address).
• Don't use the Lido Mailbox for two-way conversations. It's a trigger endpoint.

Spam and abuse

Lido applies basic spam filtering to incoming mail. Messages flagged as spam are dropped, not run through the workflow. If you suspect legitimate mail is being filtered:

• Check that the sender domain isn't on common blocklists.
• Test with a different sender.
• Contact support with an example so the filter rules can be reviewed.

To stop unwanted mail to a Lido Mailbox, the cleanest option is to delete the trigger and create a new one — the old address goes dark.

Tips

• One workflow per address. Don't try to use a single Lido Mailbox to drive five workflows; create five mailboxes. Easier to debug, easier to rotate.
• Use a meaningful workflow name. Lido derives the display name from it. "Invoice Processing — AP Team" is much clearer to senders than "Workflow 4".
• Forward, don't BCC. Forwarding preserves attachments cleanly; BCC sometimes strips or hides them.
• Add a Send confirmation step. Senders appreciate a "We got your invoice; processing now" reply, especially during onboarding.
• Filter at the workflow level. If only some messages should be processed, use a Switch or Filter node early in the workflow to drop the rest.

Common mistakes

• Sharing the Lido Mailbox publicly. Anyone with the address can email it; treat the address like a webhook URL.
• Expecting threading. Email threads aren't preserved across runs. Each new email is a separate workflow run.
• Assuming attachments come in the body. Attachments are referenced separately at {{$item.data.attachments}}, not embedded in {{$item.data.body}}.
• Forwarding from Gmail with "include original message" off. Some forwarding settings strip the body. Test before relying on it.
• No fallback for spam. A vendor's invoice gets caught by spam filtering and the workflow never runs. Build a "did the workflow run today?" check elsewhere if SLA matters.

Related articles

• Triggers: how workflows start
• Connect Gmail or Outlook (when you need a real inbox connection)
• Extract data from PDFs and documents
• Build your first workflow
• Send extracted data to email or Slack

Updated on: 16/04/2026