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WORK[etc] Web App Blog
Beta: Outlook CRM Add-in for WORK[etc]
Sep
UPDATED: This is now out of Beta and full available with every account.
And yes, it is a bit late, but I made a last minute and then another last-last minute decision around adding extra functionality and streamlining. It is better for it to be late and totally awesome, than for it to be on time and just "meh" - or worse, for it to just not work (good news though, it does work and work really well)
We also put a whole lot of additional testing into this release as Outlook isn't the most hospitable of environments to develop for.
The core idea behind the Outlook connector is to get important emails into WORK[etc] with just a few clicks:
- Click any email from Outlook and attach to a contact (company, person or employee)
- Attach any email to a particular project, sales lead, support case, task, event or expense
- Create a new activity, such as a project, from an email, without leaving Outlook.
If you've used the WORK[etc] Gmail CRM widget, then you'll already be familiar with how much of a timesaver a direct link from email is.
Simply right-click on any email to pull up the WORK[etc] menu.
From a business perspective we make sure that the project is fully up to date which of course is a huge benefit for issues such as businesses continuity. Also notice that we use the same Activity Picker from WORK[etc], keeping the user-experience consistent.
It is an equally simple matter to attach an email straight to a contact. By doing this we start to create a richer database and customer intelligence:
The connector automatically looks up your WORK[etc] contacts and attempts match a contact based on the email address. If no match is found, you can simply search for a contact or create a new contact on the fly:
The last part of this release is the ability to create a new WORK[etc] activity on-the-fly and attach that email to the new activity. In the example below we're creating a new sales lead from an email. As you can see, all the basic and advance lead options are available in the dialog box, just the same as if you were doing this inside of WORK[etc]:
Syncing Contacts and Calendars
Syncing continues to be a huge concern for us. Part of this concern is that when syncing goes wrong the results can be disasterous. Think about missing that all important meeting or disapearing sales leads all because of a conflict between sources, employees and timezones.
The other challenge is of course privacy. We need to make sure employees have the freedom to not sync up personal items and that employers have the confidence to limit what is sycned down to mobile devices. It is hugely complex.
So, unfortunately syncing contacts and calendars is not part of this beta release. We'll continue testing syncing over the next few weeks and then release it as a second beta. The Outlook Add-in has been designed to auto-update so adding in this next stage to the beta should be fairly painless.
Downloading the Installer
To get hold of the Outlook Installer, simply complete the form below. We'll then automatically email you the download link.
Please note that you need Windows Vista and above and Outlook 2007 and above; although we recommend upgrading to Windows 7 and Outlook 2010.
Also, as with all betas, we can only support them through the forums. This allows us to spot patterns and prioritise issues across the entire user base.
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- See all from Coalface
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Sounds great.
Will you release the same kind of connector for Thunderbird?
I doubt worketc will do anything for thunderbird considering the recent announcement by mozilla which states they are discontinuing it
Thanks for releasing this. We consider interaction between Outlook and WorkETC to be the most important feature to ensure adoption by our organization of 15 people. Thank you for pushing this out. This will be a game changer for workETC.
Excellent! Excited to start using this.
@Frederic - Dave is right, zero plans for Thunderbird as not enough business users and Mozilla has made it clear its a low/discontinued priority for them.
@Mike - thanks, we think so too!
@Bill - your excitement is contagious!
Sounds great!
Will you be releasing the same kind of connector to apples mail program?
Keep up the good work!
So far so goo - very impressed.
@Henrik - unlikely sorry, not enough users, but we may offer a bounty if a third party developers wants to take it on.
@Damian - thank you, appreciated.
Looking forward to trying this. You guys are great. Worketc just keeps getting better and better. Well done.
Unfortunately, I wished I could try this very important feature since we can all use it at my business, the download is a .exe file so it won't work on my mac outlook, if there is any mac extension file please advise
Total Great!!! Thanks a lot of!
We look forward to being part of the Beta team.
Excited to start having Windows Outlook users in our organization try this. This feature could well lead towards much larger adoption within our organization.
+1 for Outlook 2011 for Mac support as at least a third of our users now user it.
@ Andrew, Gabriel, Carl, Aaron - thanks, really appreciated.
@Tamer, unfortunately windows only
I use a MacBook Pro OS 10.6.8 with Microsoft Office for Mac. Will you be creating a CRM add-in for Mac? If so, when? I would be a big proponent of this.
that sounds great. Will it work on Outlook for Mac?
I know it's been mentioned. But can't put to fine of a point on it. Would really like to see some development around the Mac version of Office.
--- Great work guys!! This is a fantastic enhancement!
Wow, this is going to be a HUGE time saver for me. Great job on this guys!
Dan, does this means that WorkEtc will also have access to mails sent from Outlook? If not I think it maybe tricky to have some emails in Worketc and some outside.
Cheers, Ben
Ben's questions is important to our organization also. Will WORKetc pick up outgoing e-mails and add them to the correct contact?
Dan, does this means that WorkEtc will also have access to mails sent from Outlook? If not I think it maybe tricky to have some emails in Worketc and some outside.
Cheers, Ben
@Ben, you can configure your WORK[etc] account such that you BCC your email dropbox on all outbound communication. Click below or contact support@worketc.com to learn more: http://support.worketc.com/community/docs/11
I've installed and it looks good.
Question: in Outlook, how can I see that an email has been attached to a WorkETC item?
Thanks, Daniel
Any plans to make that great add-in compatible with mac Outlook2011 ?
Thanks
In our company we also use MAC, so would be grate if there would be some solution for Mac.
@Daniel - the latest update adds this functionality - it shows a category ("WORK[etc]") on each message that got to WORK[etc] through Outlook.
Hope this makes sense.
Whats the timescale for Calendar + Contact Sync as this is a key requirement for us moving forward ?
This sounds great. Please Please Please support Mac!
Anyone know if this is working on preview 2013 yet?
I was invited to update this today which included something about Microsoft SQL Compact 4 I think. Eversince I have completely lost this Outlook Add-On. Help?
@Andrew, responded in the support forums and directly.
Could you please send me the link for the Outlook CRM Add-in.
Many thanks
@John, it is now available in all accounts. Please go to Settings -> Apps & Integration
Sorry - skip it, just found it in the Apps & Integrations Menu under Settings.
Great work! We need a Apple Mail or Outlook 2011 (Mac) Support to start really good work with worketc.
Do you have plans to support Mac?
Thx
Christian
Support Mac version, plaseeeeeeeeeee
need it to work on a MAC