Question:
How do I use Microsoft Outlook as my email client in Act!?
Product:
Product Family: Act!
Product: Act! Pro, Act! Premium
Version: 2011 to v22.0
Deployment: Desktop only
Answer:
PLEASE READ: If you are using the desktop deployment of v22.1 or later, please see the following article instead:
How to use Microsoft Outlook as your e-mail client in Act! version 22.1 and later
Note: The following steps will only work if you’re using a supported version of Outlook with your version of Act!. For information on supported versions of Outlook by version of Act!, refer to the following knowledgebase articles:
Supported Versions of Microsoft® Office by Version of Act!
We also recommend that you close down Outlook on your computer when performing the steps below. If you do not, you will need to restart Outlook at the end of the process before you will be able to start recording emails successfully.
Act! has the very powerful feature of allowing a user to automatically record the details of any emails they send to their Contacts in Act!. These emails will be recorded in the History tab of the Contact you have sent the emails to. Once the setup is complete, you can click on an email address in Act! which will launch an Outlook email for you to send, and will then record automatically for you. Even if Act! is closed down and you are sending emails through Outlook only, as long as a matching email address can be found in your database these emails will still record, even though Act! is not open.
To complete the email system setup, please follow the steps outlined below:
1. In Act!, click Tools > Preferences
2. In the Preferences window, click the Email & Outlook Sync tab, then click E-mail System Setup…
3. When the E-mail Setup Wizard appears, click Next
4. In the E-mail screen, select Microsoft Outlook (recommended), then click Next
5. In the E-mail – Outlook Address Books screen, click the Add… button to add an Act! database for use as an Outlook Address book, if not already added. This is a necessary step in order to record emails automatically. You can add up to three separate databases here, but only the database with a tick in the Default column will be able to record emails.
6. Browse, if necessary, to the database .pad file, enter the User name and Password for the database. These must be the credentials for the user that will be recording emails in the database. Click OK
7. Once you’ve added your database or databases, click Next
8. On the E-mail – Editor screen, select one of the following options, then click Next:
- Microsoft Outlook (recommended) – When you attempt to send an e-mail from within Act!, a new Outlook email message window will appear with the email address pre-populated in the To: field.
- Act! E-mail Editor – When you attempt to send an e-mail from within Act!, the Act! E-mail program will launch (if not already open) with your Outlook folders displayed and a new email message window with the email address pre-populated into the To: field.
Note: If you use the Act! E-mail Editor, you have the option to edit e-mail signatures that will appear in a new message. For more information, refer to the following knowledgebase article:
How to Create an E-mail Signature in ACT! E-mail
9. On the E-mail – Record History of Sent E-mails screen, you can choose what you would like to happen whenever you send an email to one of your Act! Contacts. select one of the following options (and any of the tick box preferences you would prefer), then click Next:
- None
- E-mail subject only
- E-mail subject and message (recommended)
- E-mail subject, message, and all attachments
Note: Selecting Make history private will make all email history for sent e-mails visible only to the user configured to record history. Selecting the option to Exclude My Record from History will mean that if you copy yourself into any emails sent to your Contacts, these will not record in the History tab of your My Record.
10. On the E-mail – Record History of Received E-mails screen, select one of the following options, then click Next:
- None
- E-mail subject only
- E-mail subject and message (recommended)
- E-mail subject, message, and all attachments
Note: Selecting Make history private will make all email history for received e-mails visible only to the user configured to record history.
11. On the E-mail – Attach to Act! Contacts screen, select history recording options for emails manually attached to history or attached by using the Quick Attach button (See step 9 for options)
12. Select the preferences for automatically attaching history using Quick Attach, then click Next
Note: For more information about Quick Attach, refer to the following knowledgebase article:
How to use Quick Attach to attach Microsoft Outlook emails to Contacts in Act!
13. On the E-mail – Activity Invitation screen, select whether you wish for Act!, Outlook, or both Act! and Outlook to display activity alarms for activities that are sent or received using Outlook
14. Select whether you wish to create an Act! activity when accepting a meeting invitation in Outlook, then click Next
Note: If you plan to synchronize your Outlook calendar with Act!, select None for this option, otherwise duplicate calendar entries will be created for accepted invitations.
15. Click Finish
Note: When sending an email from Act! it will send using your default mail profile in Outlook. You can find out more about Default Mail profiles in the Microsoft documentation below:
Switch to another Outlook email profile