Email Integration - Office 365 - Outlook

 

Getting started...

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Before you start

It's worth being aware that if you are using an IMAP/SMTP account within Outlook (eg. if you have connected a gmail account), you will NOT have the ability to install this addon into Outlook.  Outlook only supports addons for Microsoft Exchange accounts.  Once the Gmail addon has been authorised by Google, you will be able to utilise the addon within Gmail itself, but still not within Outlook.

 

Authorise across the practice

The process of getting up and running is super simple, simply work through the following details and you'll be up and running in no time.

Have your practice administrator:

1. Head into Practice Settings > Integrations Tab
   
   
2. Hover over the Office 365 (Outlook) and select to option to connect; This will enable the authentication of the practice administrator AND allow other users to then connect. 
   
   
   
3. After enabling, the Outlook icon will change colour to indicate that you've successfully enabled it.

 

Authorise each user

After the practice administrator has enabled access, each user will then have the Outlook Integration option appear within their own My Profile page.

For each user to now enable the integration, they must follow each of the following steps.

1. They must go their My Profile page
   
2. Then head to the Integrations area, and mouseover the Office 365 area where you'll see a Connect button appear. Press this to continue.
   
   
   
3. Login to the applicable email account to authorise AccountKit to have access.
   • Please Note: Ensure you're using the same email address/account as that which you're looking to connect to your Outlook; Without authorising here and with the right email address, you will receive an authentication error when you install the Outlook addon and attempt to login.
     
     
4. You will then be returned to AccountKit where you will find that the Outlook logo is now coloured to show that it is now enabled.
   
   
   

Install the addon

Now that the integration has been enabled and authorised, it's simply a matter of installing the addon.j

The steps to get this sorted out are:

1. Within Outlook, select the "Get Add-Ins" option from the top ribbon.
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2. Type "AccountKit" into the top search bar and select AccountKit when it appears.
   
   
   
3. This will enable the addon and give you access to AccountKit whether you're in Outlook desktop or within the cloud version of Outlook.  You can choose now to close the dialogue window, or skim over the Get Started or other details within the window.
   
   
   
4. You will now find that you have an AccountKit logo in the Outlook Ribbon showing that it is now installed and ready.
   

 

Using the integration...

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Within Outlook

Now that the integration is up and running in Outlook and authorised within AccountKit, you simply need to login to AccountKit via Outlook so that you can begin processing emails:

 

Initial Setup

1. Select the AccountKit icon in the top Ribbon to open the right pane. If you would like the pane to stay there, press the pin icon to the right of the heading.
   
   
   
2. Then select login to AccountKit to carry out the final authorisation followed by the normal 2FA check. As identified above, you must login with the same email address that you had authorised within AccountKit above, otherwise, you'll end up with an authentication error.
   
   
   
3. After logging in you'll automatically be returned to Outlook - you're ready to go!

 

General Layout.

There are 3 tabs in the email extension, all that serve different functions. They all leverage off of the Client Selected field.

 

TAB 1 | Assign - This is where you're assigning a piece of correspondence to AccountKit. Here you can:

• Correspondence Register - These are the details that will be included when saving to the Correspondence Register.
  • Subject line - Sometimes this is good to update to something more informative and sensible.
  • Attachments - You can identify where the attachments (and which ones) are saved. These will then link from the Correspondence Register entry to the saved documents in your DMS.
  • Tags - Assigning a tag gives you other ways to search later on from AccountKit.
• Workflow - Here you can create or link tasks (optional) 
  • Link to a pre-existing task by clicking on them.
  • Create a new task from blank
  • Create a task from a template
  • Create a reminder.

 

TAB 2 | Folder - If you have a document management system connected, you can:

• All the expected behaviour - rename files/folders, create new folder, upload documents.
• Browse the clients folders
• Drag attachments into the clients folders
• Attach files to outbound emails.

 

TAB 3 | People - This surfaces information about the selected client, from the client record. Here you can:

• Browse the client notes
• Access details like contacts, relationships, contact details and practice authorities.
• Access the clients linked integrations, such as to Xero

 

Assigning Received Emails into AccountKit

1. When you receive an email from a client, you have a bunch of available options to you before saving the correspondence into AccountKit
   • Updating the Subject line
   • Tagging
   • Save attachments
   • Assigning or creating workflow items.
   • re able to assign it to a client simply by searching for the applicable client and selecting "Assign". If you happen to have a document management system (like Onedrive) integrated with AccountKit, you'll also have the option to assign any attachments to the DMS which will then be linked to the email within the correspondence register.
     
     
2. Now to assign it to AccountKit.
   • Select the client
   • Update the details for the subject line and tags (optional)
   • Choose which files you want to download and select the location for saving (or you can go to the Folders tab and drag files in as well)
   • Tag with any relevant tags.
   • Link to (or create) a workflow item that the correspondence is relevant to.
     
     
3. From here you can see the client that's been assigned, with a link to the correspondence register entry
   
   
   

Composing an email for sending from Outlook (and assign to AccountKit)

When sending emails to clients, you have a few more options. Essentially you can use AccountKit as your address book and template location. Simply do as follows within Outlook.

1. Select the client (this is the record the email will be saved against)
2. Send to: Now choose the relevant contact that you're emailing.
3. Email: Confirm the email is correct, or choose another.
4. Cc & Bcc (optional): Optionally add in the Cc and Bcc
5. Body (optional): Here you can elect to insert an email template you have setup in AccountKit.
6. Attachments (optional): Choose any files you'd like to attach from the client folder.
7. Tags (optional): Assign any relevant tags.
8. Workflow (optional): You have a few options here:
   • Link to a pre-existing task
   • Create a new task from scratch
   • Create a new task from a template
   • Create a reminder. 
9. Assign: This final step then:
   • Populates the various client details
   • Inserts the template (if selected)
   • Creates / links any workflow tasks
   • Assigns it as a draft in AccountKit.
10. Send: Upon sending, we will check for changes then changes the status to sent in AccountKit.

 

 

Within AccountKit

You and your colleagues will now be able to check out any emails sent to AccountKit in either of the following locations

1. Correspondence Register - Sending emails
   You can also send emails from within AccountKit utilising your own email account, such that any sent items will appear in your sent items. Simply prepare an "Email" type with the correspondence register, but otherwise populate the details per normal.
   
   
   
2. Family Group page
   If you head to the family group page, you'll find it in the filtered list of correspondence just for that family group. All correspondence across the family group in one place.
   
   
   

 

Disabling the Integration...

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Disconnect each user

This is optional, as disabling at the practice level will also de-authorise all users as well. Each user can follow these steps.

1. Head to "My Profile" within your user menu in the top right of your screen.
   
   
   
2. Then head to the Communication Settings area and elect to "Disconnect" Outlook.
   
   
   
3. The logo will then return to black and white to indicate that it is no longer connected.
   
   
   

De-authorise across the practice

To stop people from re-authorising the integration, you'll need to turn off access within practice settings as well.

Have your practice administrator:

1. Head into Practice Settings
   
   
2. Go to the Integrations tab and Disable the Outlook integration.
   
   
   
3. After disabling, the Outlook icon will change colour to indicate that you've successfully disabled it.
   
   
   

Once access has been disabled across the practice any attempt to attribute an email from Outlook will result in an authorisation error.

 

Related Links

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Practice Settings - Integrations	Head to practice settings for the steps to enable this integration.
Shared Elements (Eg. Action Menu)	Check out this link for various elements shared throughout the various toolsets.