Using Outlook Email Sync

Overview

You set up and activated Outlook Email Sync, and you're now ready to turn your Outlook emails into activities and save them as emails in AMS+.

As activities, you’ll have assignable to-dos and reminders. As emails, you’ll have saved copies that include the original message and attachments, which anyone at your agency can access and review. Synced activities and emails will automatically associate to contact records in AMS+.

Note: Outlook Email Sync is built for Windows-based desktop versions of Microsoft Outlook. For system requirements and setup instructions, visit this article.

IN THIS ARTICLE

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Sync options

Manual sync one at a time

In Outlook, right click on an email or folder of emails and select one of the following from the dropdown menu:

• Sync as Activity - The Outlook email will turn into an activity in AMS+. It will be automatically assigned to you with a progress status and due date based on your settings. See sync settings for more details.
• Sync as Email - The Outlook email will be saved as an email in AMS+.
• Sync as Activity and Email - The Outlook email will turn into an activity AND be stored as an email in AMS+.

After making a selection, give it a few seconds and the email will sync to AMS+.

Automated sync by folder

In addition to syncing one at a time, you can set up a folder in Outlook to sync automatically whenever an email is moved into it. Any emails moved into that folder will turn into activities or be stored as emails in AMS+.

Here’s how you set up a folder to sync:

In Outlook, open the Add-In settings

Select ‘Add Folder’ and choose the folder you want to sync

Mark ‘Sync As Emails’ or ‘Sync As Activities’ or both

Specify a Sync After Date

Only emails in the folder with a sent timestamp AFTER the specified date will sync to AMS+. Setting a "Sync After Date" can be helpful when setting up a folder of emails to sync for the first time. You can use this date as a filter to prevent outdated or unwanted emails from syncing.

Save and close

Sync inbox? Before you do this, see best practices.

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Association options

You can let AMS+ associate incoming activities and emails to records in your account or do it yourself.

Automatic

AMS+ will look at the email address(es) of the incoming activity or email and attempt to associate it to an Individual record that has a matching email address. If AMS+ can’t find a matching email address, the incoming activity or email will become “unassociated”. You will be able to manually associate it to a new or existing record in AMS+. Visit the Unassociated Activities & Emails article to learn how.

Tip: Make sure your clients have email addresses for their corresponding records in AMS+ and keep them up-to-date.

Manual

To associate incoming activities or emails yourself, navigate to the My Account > Email & Calendar > Outlook Email Sync tab and change the association settings. All incoming activities or emails will become “unassociated”. You will need to associate them to new or existing records in your account. Visit the Unassociated Activities & Emails article to learn how.

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Best practices

Sync as...

Sync as activity if you want to create an actionable to-do in AMS+, or if you want to assign a follow-up to someone else at your agency.

Sync as email if you want a copy of the correspondence for record-keeping in AMS+. You can store the email in AMS+, and download it later as a .msg file to pick up where you left off in Outlook.

Email retention policies

Only sync Outlook emails to AMS+ that adhere to your agency's email retention policies.

• If syncing as activities, those activities CANNOT be deleted after being associated to a record.
• If syncing as emails, those emails can be deleted after being associated to a record.

Create folder structure for AMS+

Be intentional about what folders you set up for sync. While you can set up any folder in Outlook to sync, you may want to create a separate set of folders just for AMS+.

You wouldn’t want to sync your Inbox folder, for example, to AMS+ because you would end up with many activities and emails that are not desirable. This may include receipts, no-reply messages, personal correspondence, and other emails.

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Common questions

If I delete an Outlook email that was synced, will its corresponding activity or email in AMS+ be deleted as well?
No, any changes to the Outlook email will not affect its corresponding activity or email in AMS+ and vice-versa.

If I delete a synced activity or email that was associated to multiple contact records, will deleting it from one record delete it from another?
No. Deleting the synced activity or email from one of the contact records will not affect any of the other records. The activities and emails are only associated to one contact at a time. Making changes to one activity will not affect the others.

How do I stop a folder from syncing?
Remove it from the Add-In settings.

Can folders with rules be synced to AMS+?
Yes, you can set up folders with rules. You can filter emails into these folders automatically and they will sync their contents to AMS+ as activities or store them as emails.

Can I sync emails to carriers and groups?
No, but you can associate emails to carriers and groups once they’re in AMS+. See the Unassociated Activities & Emails article for more details.

You can also move or copy emails from one record to another, including carriers and groups. See the Moving & Copying Emails article for more details.