SmartOUTLOOK Settings - what do they mean and how should I first set them up?

SmartOUTLOOK Settings - what do they mean and how should I first set them up?

If your IT team have not provided you with a settings file to use then you can set up SmartOUTLOOK yourself very quickly. If they have provided a file then you may only need to change the 'My email address' setting to match your own email address.

In either case we cover the settings and what they mean below along with firstly the main ones you will have to have right. You can also watch our Outlook video which covers some of the setup process and how to use SmartOUTLOOK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T3oGdlN9I4

Note: If you have any problems just email support@smartthing.org and we can help you with the settings.

You can get to the settings dialog by right clicking the yellow 'O' icon in the windows tray (bottom right of the screen) and selecting settings. When you do so you will see this screen. Note: when SmartOUTLOOK starts it checks for a license which can take up to a minute so if the tray menu does not appear just wait a while and try again:

Core settings
For all the below we suggest you open an action in Raiser's Edge or create a new one so you can refer to it when adding the settings below. You will need to know valid action types, status entries and action notepad types as a minimum. SmartOUTLOOK relies on these values being correct and if they are not you may see issues such as prompts saying 'Did you press any keys...':
  • Received action type: A valid action type from Raiser's Edge to use for received emails
  • Received action status: A valid action status from Raiser's Edge to use for received emails
  • Sent action type: A valid action type from Raiser's Edge to use for sent emails
  • Sent action status: A valid action status from Raiser's Edge to use for sent emails
  • My email address: Your email address in Outlook (used to tell if you sent or received an email)
  • Notepad type: A valid action notepad type (go to the notepad tab of an action and check the Type drop down as per the below screenshot):

  • Action status field hidden: If the status field on the first action tab is hidden tick this box - this is important as otherwise SmartOUTLOOK will not work BUT only tick it if the field is hidden. This is the status field in the below screenshot (2/3rds down on the left of the image). Sometimes RE administrators hide certain fields to make RE simpler for users hence why we have these options in SmartOUTLOOK:

  • Notepad Title field hidden: Again only tick if the field is hidden when viewing an action Notepad (this is the title field in the below screenshot):

This should be all you need to configure so go ahead and try it out.

Search by email:
You can enable search by email address by selecting the 'Use email address' option. You then also have to have the right value in the 'Email tabs' entry. The only way you can get this right value is trial and error as it varies depending on which version of RE you have, which fields are hidden by your RE administrator and which modules you have in RE. Typically it is between 11 and 15.

It is not difficult to discover though as all you need do is try and record an action now the Email option is selected and see which field the email address is put in. If it is above the email search field increase the number of tabs, if it is below the email address field decrease the number of tabs - then try again.

As an example, if the email address is going in the phone field and the Email tabs is 14 then increase it to 15 to get the right entry. If the email is going in the credit card no. entry and the Email tabs is 16 then decrease it to 14 i.e. two above Credit card no.:


Default canvasser:
It can be useful for fundraisers to always tag their actions with their Canvasser details. To do this they should manually tab an action with them as a canvasser and then when looking at the action General tab enter the EXACT text shown next to the Canvasser button into the 'Default canvasser' setting in SmartOUTLOOK. This MUST be an exact copy of the text i.e. 'Sherliker, Warren'

Allow highlighting:
Sometimes you will want to record just part fo an email rather than the whole thing. To do this you tick the 'Allow highlighting' option and then highlight the text you want to record in the email in Outlook. When you then record the email it will ask you if you want to record just the highlighted text OR the whole email.

Confirm details (and manually copying an email):
If you select this option you will see a preview of the email before it is added to RE. You will also have the option to copy the content to the clipboard so you can manually process it i.e. add it to an existing action or as a prompt when the record is opened etc.

All the other settings are more obvious or only for advanced use so you would be guided for the advanced one when on calls with the SmartTHING team.

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