Using the Workbooks Outlook Connector

Converting native Outlook Contacts

Once the Connector is installed, items in Outlook have one of the following 'sharing states':

• Native - these are items which have been created in Outlook, but have not been converted for or shared with Workbooks.  These items are identifiable in list views in Outlook as they still use the Outlook icon;

• Unshared - these are items which have been converted into the format which allows them to be shared with Workbooks, but have not yet been shared.  These items are identifiable in list views in Outlook as they use the Workbooks icon but it's greyed out;

• Shared - these are items which have been converted and shared with Workbooks, and will therefore appear both in your Outlook and your Workbooks account. These items are identifiable in list views in Outlook as they use the Workbooks icon.

Converting Native Outlook items to a 'shareable' state

In a list view in Outlook highlight the item you want to make 'shareable', then click Actions in the menu bar and choose Convert to Workbooks as shown in the screenshot below (click to enlarge). You'll notice that the icon changes to the icon used in Workbooks for that record type but is greyed out.

This doesn't mean that the item will be shared with Workbooks when the next synchronisation takes place.  If you want it to appear in Workbooks you must share the item as described below.

Sharing Outlook items

NOTE:  When applying the First Run Assistant if you checked the box to always share new Appointments, Contacts and Tasks, you won't need to manually share items.

If you create an email within Outlook that you want to appear in Workbooks, just click the grey ribbon at the top of the item, where it says Share this email with Workbooks after sending.  This will change the ribbon text to This email will be shared with Workbooks after sending.  You can populate the rest of the email as normal, including any attached files, if appropriate.  Similarly, if you have an inbound email that you want to share, open the mail and click on the grey ribbon which says Share this email with Workbooks.

The next time the synchronisation runs, the email will appear in Workbooks.

If you create a Task or a Meeting in Outlook, you'll see a similar grey ribbon at the top of the item saying either Share this task with Workbooks or Share this meeting with Workbooks.  Just as with emails, you can click on this ribbon which means that the item will be shared with Workbooks when the next synchronisation is run.

Relating to other items

You'll notice that clicking on the ribbon not only changes its colour but also opens up a Related Items window at the bottom of the item.  This enables you to link the item to other Workbooks records, including Organisations, Cases, Opportunities and Sales Leads.  You can link an item to more than one Workbooks record.  To relate items, simply click the Add Related Item(s) button and choose the relevant records. By default you'll see a list of Organisations but you can use the dropdown under Show to access records of different types.

Remember, you can only relate items to records that you've already synchronised with.  More information about this can be found in our Forum article 'Why can't I find records in the Outlook Connector's Related Items screen?'

Synchronising

Once you've installed the Workbooks Outlook Connector the synchronisation will run in the background depending on the frequency you applied when working through the First Run Assistant.

If you want to force a synchronisation at any other time, click on the Workbooks Outlook Connector icon in your system tray at the bottom right of your screen, which looks like this .

Changing your settings

If you want to change the filter settings that the Connector uses or change your options you can do this at any time.

To amend the filter settings, right click on the Workbooks Outlook Connector icon and choose Show Control Panel.  Here you can amend the filter settings that control which Workbooks items are synchronised with Outlook.

To change your options, right click on the Workbooks Outlook Connector icon and choose Options.  Here you can amend the frequency with which the synchronisation takes place.  You can also switch on/off the automatic sharing of new Outlook appointments, contacts and tasks within the Advanced option.