Create an e-mail message in Outlook

Can I do this task?

You can create e-mail messages in Microsoft Office Outlook by using either the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online forms The forms native to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. or the Outlook forms The forms native to Microsoft Office Outlook.. By default, the e-mail messages that have been marked for tracking are synchronized in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online for Outlook and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, and when you reply to or forward an e-mail message from this message, the Outlook forms open. The option that allows you to chose which form to use does not affect this.

1. Start Outlook. (Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online for Outlook must be installed.)
2. Do one of the following:

   Create an e-mail message in an Outlook form

   1. On the Microsoft Office Outlook Standard toolbar, click New.
   2. In the New menu, click Mail Message.
   3. In the Outlook form, you can use either your Outlook contacts or your Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online contacts. For more information, see Microsoft Office Outlook Help.
   4. On the Microsoft Dynamics CRM toolbar, click Track in CRM.

      After you send the message, the View in CRM button becomes available.

   5. Do one of the following to locate and select a parent record to link to this record:
      • In Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, click Regarding.
      • In Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, click Set Parent or Set Regarding.
   6. On the Outlook toolbar, click Send.

      The e-mail message appears in your Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online folders. The icon changes to the Track in CRM button . The sent e-mail activity is saved as a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online e-mail activity and appears in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Activities area.

      An e-mail activity is not created until the message is sent.

   To view the contact record, on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM toolbar click, View in CRM.

   Create an e-mail message in a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online form

   This procedure does not create an Outlook e-mail message. These e-mail messages only appear in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online for Outlook folders and do not appear the Outlook Sent Items folder.

   You can edit a draft e-mail message by following steps 1 through 2 to navigate to the Activities area in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online for Outlook. Then, open the record you want to edit.

   1. In the Outlook Navigation Pane, under Microsoft Dynamics CRM, expand Workplace.
   2. Under Workplace, expand My Work, and then expand Activities.
   3. In the Activities area, on the Actions menu, click New.
   4. In the New Activity dialog box, click E-mail, and then click OK.
   5. On the E-mail tab, you must enter the following information.
      • From

        Locate and select the sender's name.

      • To

        Locate and select one or more recipients. You can select a record from a filtered list in the Form Assistant pane A search pane that displays a list of filtered records. The records displayed are determined by which field that you are in and what data that you enter. In some areas of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, you can also create a follow-up activity from the Form Assistant pane pane. Using the Form Assistant pane is an alternative to using the Look Up Records dialog box., or you can click the Lookup button to search for other records.

      • Subject

        Type a subject for your e-mail message.

      • Duration

        This field is not required, but if you are tracking the amount of time spent on cases, and this message is related to a case, enter the amount of time spent on this message.

      • Due

        If you are not sending your e-mail message immediately, enter a date to complete and send the message. The message is not sent automatically.

      • Enter any additional information you want. Use the Formatting toolbar

        You cannot enter HTML tags or insert images into the body text of the message.

      Tip

      • You can copy and paste content from Microsoft Office Word. This lets you take advantage of features such as spelling check and some text formatting. If your text is double-spaced, you can press SHIFT+ENTER to single-space lines of text.
      • You can include an image if the file is hosted on a public Web site. Use the copy and paste feature of Microsoft Internet Explorer to include a link to the image in the message. The image is displayed as long as the receipient has access to the Web site.

   You can also attach an article, template, or file to an e-mail activity.

   To attach an article

   1. To look up and select an article, on the Formatting toolbar, click Insert KB Article.
   2. Use the Search tab to specify conditions or criteria to locate the article.
   3. In the results list, select the article, and then click OK.

      The article appears the body of in your e-mail message.

   4. Type any additional text, or edit the article.

   To attach an e-mail template

   1. To look up and select an e-mail template, click Insert Template.
   2. On the Insert Template dialog box, select the template you want to use. You can either use a global template, or a template specific to the record type you selected as the recipient. For example, account or customer.
   3. Click OK.

      The template appears in the body of your e-mail message and the subject line is updated with the subject line of the template.

   4. Type any additional text or edit the text provided. Editing the text or subject line in the message does not change the template.

   To attach a file

   1. Save the activity.
   2. On the Attachments tab, click New E-mail Attachment.
   3. In the Add Attachment dialog box, in the File Name box, type the name of the file, or click Browse to locate the file that you want to attach.
   4. Click Attach.

   1. To send the message immediately, click Send.

      The message is sent and the new closed activity appears in the History area with an assigned message number appended to the Subject column and the date sent in the Actual End column.

      - OR -

      To send the message at a later time, click Save and Close. The new draft activity appears in the Activities area. You can delete draft messages.

      To send the message, in the list of activities, open the e-mail activity, and click Send.

      Important: If you are working offline, e-mail messages sent from the e-mail form will not be sent until you go back online. The status will still be Closed. You can view a list of unsent e-mail from the Activities list, with the My Pending E-mails view.

Important

After you save your e-mail message as a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online e-mail activity, the saved message can be accessed by anyone who has access to your activities in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.

Notes

• After a message is sent, the status is changed to Closed and displayed in the History folder. You cannot change the status or edit the message, except to link a record in the Regarding box, if one has not been selected.
• You can forward or reply to an e-mail activity, but you cannot resend it.

To reply to only the original sender, on the Actions toolbar, click Reply.

To reply to the original sender and to send copies to everyone who originally received the message, click Reply All.

To forward the e-mail activity to new recipients, click Forward, and then select new recipients.