After you have set up and enabled the Outlook Online Add-in, any email initiated within AdvisorEngine CRM will open Outlook Online in a new tab for you to draft and send your email.

Sending an Email using Outlook Online

Initial Options

After selecting Email > Email or Email > Email (Include Additional Emails), you will be presented with a dialog to set your initial options for the mail merge.

1. Select whether to start blank (No Template), Upload Template, or Use Existing Template. Select or upload a template as needed based on your selection.
2. Verify and make any adjustments to your recipient list by adjusting the Selected checkboxes as needed.
3. Click Next to continue to Outlook Online.

Opening the Add-in

Once the Outlook Online tab has loaded, select AdvisorEngine for Outlook Add-in icon from the Add-in section of the Message Ribbon.

You are now able to draft your email, add in Merge Fields, save or load Templates, preview the mail merge or finally merge and send the email when you are ready.

Adding Merge Fields

Merge fields are available by default from the AdvisorEngine for Outlook add-in window. If they are not showing, click the More Options icon > Load Merge Fields.

To add a merge field to your email draft:

1. Position the cursor in the email body where you want the merge field to be inserted.
2. Locate the desired merge field in the list on the right pane.
3. Double-click the merge field name to insert it into the email body at the cursor’s current location.

To remove a merge field, simply delete it as you would any other text in the email.

See Common and Useful Merge Fields for a starting guide to AE CRM’s available merge fields.

Saving/Loading Templates

Though you can select a template when launching Outlook Online, it is also possible to choose to load a template after the email has been started. To do so, click More Options > Load Templates from the AdvisorEngine for Outlook add-in pane and select the template to load. Doing so will load the template and remove any current content you have drafted into the email.

To save what you have drafted as a Template, click More Options > Save Template.

If you started from an existing Template, click More Options > Save Template to save any changes you made to the Template. Or click More Options > Save Template As to create a new Template from the current draft.

Be sure to save the template to your EmailTemplate folder.

Merge Preview

To preview the contents of your merge prior to sending, click More Options > Preview. From here you can page through the merged previews of the emails. You must click Undo Preview to return to editing prior to sending the email.

Merge and Send

When everything is drafted to your satisfaction, you are ready to send your email.

1. Click Merge & Send in the AdvisorEngine for Outlook add-in pane.
2. An Action will be created and the email attached to the Action:
1. In the Add Action to Records Using drop-down, select the Action Template to use for the created Action. Only Active, single-step Workflow Templates can be used. (If you want this template to pre-populate for emails, select the Default checkbox.)
2. If any additional detail is needed, click Edit Action to enter more information about this email in the Action.
Warning! Be careful which settings you select for the Action you create. Adding an Action with Action Required could potentially create hundreds of pending Actions in your database.
3. Decide whether to create a Recipent List, and name the list appropriately if so. Note that the email will not appear in Correspondence History unless this option is selected.
4. Select the folder the merged email will be stored on each recipient’s Record.
• It is recommended to also populate the Description, Type, and Tags to provide context for the communication in the future.
5. Click Merge & Send to save the Action, fill any merge fields, and send the email.