Who this is for. Super Admins configuring an Agent Co-worker. See the Roles and Access.
Internal Sender is the classification given to someone from inside your own organization. Selecting Manage Internal Contacts in the Contact Management capability group opens the panel, with the current count on the button.
This feature has a second surface. The same settings are reached from SmartVendor Settings, under AP Intelligence. See Internal Contact Management.
The panel states its purpose: “Anyone enrolled here is classified as an Internal sender. Add a domain for Internal Contact Relaxed Matching, add people manually, or pick from the pool below.”
The intro still offers a third option, picking “from the pool below”, but the panel renders no pool list. Enroll people by domain or by adding them manually.
Open the Manage Internal Contacts panel
On the Define capabilities step, select the AP Helpdesk tab.
In the left navigation, select Contact Management.
Next to Internal Sender, select Manage Internal Contacts. The panel opens and shows the current contact count.
Figure 1. The Internal contacts list in the Manage Internal Contacts drawer.
The list
The Internal contacts section shows a count, an Email column, and a Remove control that reports how many rows are selected. With none enrolled it reads “No internal contacts enrolled yet.” Changes are committed with Save, or abandoned with Cancel. Unlike most of the wizard, this panel has its own save.
Internal is the broadest scope of the four sender types. An internal sender’s request reaches vendor records and internal AP data alike. Enroll deliberately, and remember that adding a domain grants that access to everyone at it.
Two ways to classify someone as Internal
The Best when column tells you which approach fits. Match it to how large and how stable your AP function is.
Table 1. Individual enrollment compared with Relaxed Matching
Approach |
How it works |
Best when |
|---|---|---|
Individual contacts |
Each email address is enrolled by name. |
The group is small and stable, or you want precise control over who has Internal access. |
Relaxed Matching |
Any address on an allow-listed domain is classified as Internal. |
Your AP function is large, or people join and leave often enough that maintaining a list by hand would fall behind. |
The two can be combined. An address enrolled individually stays Internal even if its domain is later removed from the Relaxed Matching list.
Add an internal contact manually
Under Internal contacts, select + Add manually. An Email field appears.
Enter the email address. If the field is left empty, the message Email is required appears.
Select Add. To close the field without adding, select Cancel.
Search and remove internal contacts
The Internal contacts tab shows a count of enrolled contacts and lists each email address with a checkbox.
To find a contact, enter a value in the Search by email field.
To remove contacts, select the checkbox next to each address, then select Remove. The button label shows the number selected.
Select Save to keep your changes, or Cancel to discard them.
What belongs on this list
Internal Sender classification grants broad access across vendor records and internal AP data, so the list is best limited to people who handle AP work.
Automated notification addresses sometimes end up here when they belong on the System Sender list instead, where the access granted is narrower. For more information, see System Senders.
Internal Contact Relaxed Matching
Internal Contact Relaxed Matching classifies senders as Internal by their domain, rather than requiring every person to be listed individually. It sits at the top of the Manage Internal Contacts panel.
What it does
When Internal Contact Relaxed Matching is enabled and configured, FROM email address domains are queried against allow-listed Relaxed Matching domains, to determine if a sender email qualifies for Internal Sender AI Agent processing and automation. If a domain match is made, emails are processed as if each sender’s email address is individually listed as an Internal Contact. Public domains cannot be added.
The effect is equivalence, not approximation: a matched sender is handled exactly as though they had been enrolled by name.
Which domains deserve a second look
A domain grants Internal scope to everyone at it. That is the point of the feature and also its risk. Your own corporate domain is the obvious candidate; a shared services, contractor or agency domain deserves more thought, because Internal is the widest access the agent grants. Public domains are refused outright, as described under What cannot be added above.
Enable Relaxed Matching
Next to Internal Sender, select Manage Internal Contacts.
Select Internal Contact Relaxed Matching.
Add at least one domain under Internal email domains.
Select Save.
Figure 2. Internal Contact Relaxed Matching in the Manage Internal Contacts drawer.
Both parts are required
The checkbox alone changes nothing. Relaxed Matching needs the setting enabled and at least one domain allow-listed. Where it is enabled with no change in classification, an empty domain list is the usual cause.
What it means to allow-list a domain
Internal Sender classification grants broad access across vendor records and internal AP data. A Relaxed Matching domain extends that access to every address on the domain, including people with no AP responsibility, shared mailboxes, and automated senders.
Where a domain covers your whole company but only a subset should have Internal access, individual enrollment is the narrower choice. See Search and remove internal contacts above.
Interaction with individual contacts
The two mechanisms coexist. An address enrolled individually remains Internal regardless of Relaxed Matching, so removing a domain does not strip access from anyone enrolled by name.
That also makes disabling Relaxed Matching a safe first step when investigating unexpected Internal classification: individually enrolled people keep working, and domain-based matches stop.
Manage Internal email domains
Internal senders can be matched by domain as well as by individual address. Domains are added in the Manage Internal Contacts panel, under Internal Contact Relaxed Matching.
Figure 3. Domains are allow-listed through Internal Contact Relaxed Matching.
Before you begin
Internal Contact Relaxed Matching must be selected. The Internal email domains section appears only when Relaxed Matching is enabled. See Internal Contact Relaxed Matching below.
What cannot be added
Public domains cannot be added. A public domain is a free or consumer email domain, and the panel refuses them: allow-listing gmail.com would make every Gmail user in the world an internal sender with broad access to vendor records and AP data.
Domains are the practical way to cover an AP team that changes shape. New joiners are internal from their first email, with no list to maintain. Weigh that against the fact that leavers stay internal until their mailbox is closed.
Add a domain
On the Define capabilities step, select the AP Helpdesk tab, then select Contact Management.
Next to Internal Sender, select Manage Internal Contacts.
Under Internal email domains, enter the domain in the field.
Select + Add domain. The domain appears as a chip above the field.
Select Save.
Remove a domain
Select the x on the domain chip.
Select Save.
What the domains do
Any FROM address on one of these domains is classified as Internal even when the specific address isn’t in the contacts list.
Which domains belong here
Mail domains your organization owns and controls.
Subsidiary or acquired-company domains, where those staff genuinely need Internal access to your AP data.
A supplier’s domain, a partner’s domain, or an outsourced provider’s domain does not belong here. Those senders belong in the vendor directory or the System Sender list, where the access granted is narrower.
What happens when you remove a domain
Removing a domain withdraws Internal Sender classification from every address on it, except addresses enrolled individually in the Internal contacts list. Those keep Internal access.
Senders who lose Internal classification fall back to whatever else matches them. Where nothing does, they become Unknown, and the Agent Co-worker handles their email with the strictest caution.
Changes take effect on save. Existing tasks and already-processed emails retain the classification they were handled under.