Receiving messages

In addition to sending messages, your organisation can also receive messages from end users through Suomi.fi Messages. Your end users can reply to the messages they have received or send you new messages about something they wish to discuss. In addition, your organisation can use Suomi.fi Messages to receive forms that are completed in your e-service.

If you have permitted end users to send messages, your organisation has an obligation to retrieve these messages regularly. We recommend retrieving messages at least four times a day. More frequent retrievals are particularly important if your organisation needs to receive its messages faster. Information relating to messages sent by end users is available on the REST API for 60 days from the date on which the information is recorded in the Suomi.fi Messages system.

Suomi.fi Messages monitors the retrieval of messages sent by end users to alert you to any disruptions. These alerts will be triggered if you do not retrieve the messages sent by end users to your organisation once every 24 hours. However, your organisation will not be automatically notified of a triggered alert.

Permitting replies to sent messages

When sending a new electronic message, your organisation can permit the end user to reply to the message. The option to reply must be permitted for each message.

If your organisation does not permit replying to a message, the end user will be notified of this fact in Suomi.fi Messages user interfaces.

Permitting new messages from users

You can specify which of your organisation’s services your end users can contact at their own initiative. This setting is defined in connection with the activation process or later through a change process. If you would like to permit end users to send messages to one of the services you have already connected, please contact viestit-kayttoonotot@dvv.fi.

If you permit end users to send messages to a service provided by your organisation, the name of your organisation and your service will be displayed as an option in the end user’s new message view.

Reception of forms

In addition to receiving messages, you can use Suomi.fi Messages to receive forms that have been completed in your e-service. You can create the forms yourself or use forms implemented by system vendors.

When using this functionality, the end user first fills in the form you have defined. The form can, for example, be embedded in your e-service, or there may be a link to the form on your website. To send the form, the end user must have Suomi.fi Messages enabled. Otherwise, the submission will fail. A copy of a successfully submitted form will be stored in the end user’s Suomi.fi Messages. The content of the form will then continue from Suomi.fi Messages to your organisation through the return channel you have selected.

With this functionality, your organisation can supplement its form service without the need for a service platform that can store forms. This also makes submitting forms more secure.

For more information on the technical implementation and use of form directing, see the POST API page.

With the REST API, your organisation’s system must regularly fetch messages sent by the end user. Once your system has retrieved these messages, they are marked as received on the end user’s side. At the end of the message sent by the end user, a note will appear stating that the message has been forwarded to the receiving system.

We recommend that you always send the end user a confirmation message informing them that their message has been successfully delivered. You can also include details such as a unique reference (for example, a case number), the contact information of the person handling the matter, or instructions on where to find more information if needed. If the processing time is known, it is also good to mention it.

In the REST API, the details of a message sent by an end user include the identifier and name of the mailbox owner. If the message has been sent on behalf of the owner, the details also include the identifier and name of the person who sent the message.

If acting on behalf of another person is enabled in the form implementation, the data content of the form delivered to your organisation will include both the details of the person acting on behalf of another and the details of the person on whose behalf the action is taken.

First, retrieve the identifiers of the messages sent by end users to your organisation from events endpoint. Retrieve the message content by entering the message identifier received from the event endpoint to the message/{id} endpoint. Also retrieve any message attachments from the attachments/{id} endpoint using the attachment identifiers you received.

API Documentation (api.messages.suomi.fi).Opens in a new window.

Updated: 29/4/2026

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