Aptify  includes an add-in plugin for Microsoft Outlook (versions 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016) that lets users create Aptify Persons and Contact Logs records directly within Outlook without having to access an open Aptify session. You can also configure the add-plugin to automatically create contact logs when a particular account receives or sends an email, which is useful for automated mailboxes.

Installing the Aptify Add-in for Microsoft Outlook

To install the Aptify add-in, refer to the instructions below:

1. Locate the AptifyOutlookAddIn installer. 
   • You can find the installer on your organization's FTP folder (typically under the Version_50 folder). The installer name is OutlookAptifyAddinSetup.zip
   • You can also find a copy of the installer in the Aptify Database (5.5.1 and higher) distribution folder under the Utilities sub-folder, as shown below.
     
     
2. Select the appropriate installed for your version of Outlook. Options are:
   • Outlook2016AptifyIntegrationSetup: for Outlook 2016
     
   • Outlook2013AptifyIntegrationSetup: for Outlook 2013
   • Outlook2007_2010AptifyIntegrationSetup: for Outlook 2010 and 2007
      
3. Double-click the appropriate AptifyOutlookAddIn to launch the installer.
4. Once the Publisher has been verified, click Install to install the add-in.
   
   
   
   
5. Click Close and confirm successful installation of the AptifyOutlookAddIn.
   

Once the feature is successfully installed, an Aptify drop-down menu will be available via the Add-Ins tab on the Outlook Ribbon bar (shown below) and through Outlook's right-click context menu. 

 

Copying and Configuring the OutlookAddinConfiguration Config File

Once the add-in has been installed, you need to copy the OutlookAddinConfiguration XML file to the baseline path of your local Aptify installation and then configure it appropriately.

Follow the steps below to copy and configure the OutlookAddinConfiguration file:

1. Locate the AptifyOutlookAddIn config file.
   You can find a copy of the file in the Aptify 5.5.1 distribution folder under the Utilities > OutlookAptifyIntegrationSetUp sub-folder.
2. Copy the file to the baseline path of the Aptify client on the local machine.
   
   

    

   Note

   The Aptify Outlook Add-In assumes that the configuration file is placed in the baseline path of the Aptify client on the local machine, which is, by default, the instance that was last installed. If you have installed more than one instance of the Aptify client on the current machine, you should verify which instance is specified as the default path and modify as needed. See Verifying the Local Aptify Installation for more information.

3. Right-click and select edit to modify the attributes as needed, as shown below. Below is a description of each attribute:
   
   

• • AptifyServer: Specifies the server in which the user is connecting to the Aptify database.

• • AptifyUserDatabase: Specifies the database that stores record data. By default, this value is set to Aptify.

• • AptifyEntitiesDatabase: Specifies the database that contains the entity definitions. By default, this value is set to Aptify.

• • AptifyLoginTrusted: Specifies whether or not Windows Integrated Security (or a trusted connection) is used. By default, this option is set to True and the connection between outlook that the Aptify database is established via a trusted connection.
    
    

    Note

    Aptify recommends uses a trusted account to establish a connection between Outlook and the Aptify database.

• • User: Can be used to specify a username when AptifyLoginTrusted is set to False.

• • Password: Can be used to specify a password when AptifyLoginTrusted is set to False.

• • FolderPath: When ContactLogSync is set to True, the full path to the Outlook mail folder in which contact logs will automatically be created.
    
    

    Note

     The full path to the mail folder is the name of the folder preceded by the E-Mail Delivery Location found under Outlook's Accounting Settings > E-mail tab. 

    
    For example, Mailbox - User Name\Inbox\NameofFolder OR testuser@domain.com\Inbox\NameofFolder.

• • ContactLogSync: When set to True, contact logs are created automatically for messages that are found in the Outlook mail folder location specified with the FolderPath attribute. When set to False, contact logs are not created automatically and the manual option is enabled.
  • ContactSync: When set to True, new or updated contacts that do not exist in Aptify are automatically created as Persons records or existing Persons records are updated if applicable. When set to False, a user can create and update Persons records manually by using the Create Aptify Person or Show Person in Aptify options.
  • TypeID: Specifies the record ID of type of contact (Contact Log Type). By default, this value is 3, which is E-mail in a standard Aptify installation.
  • CategoryID: Specifies the record ID of the Contact Log Category. By default, this value is 1, which is Sales in a standard Aptify installation. 
  • CreateContactLogForSentItem: When set to True, contact logs are created for all outgoing emails. When set to False, no Contact Logs records are created for outgoing messages. 

Verifying the Local Aptify Installation

Once the add-in has been installed, you need to copy the OutlookAddinConfiguration XML file to the baseline path of your local Aptify installation. By default, the baseline path is the last instance of Aptify installed on your local machine, however, if you have multiple Aptify instances, you should verify which instance is specified as the default path and modify as needed.
To locate your baseline path a user or administrator can review the following registry key path in the Registray Editor on the local machine:

• 64 bit hardware:
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Aptify\LatestInstallDirectory
• 32 bit hardware:
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Aptify\LatestInstallDirectory

If the value specified for LatestInstallDirectory is not the path in which you plan to interact with your Aptify client, you can modify the value by:

1. Open the Registry Editor on the local machine (regedit)
2. Double-clicking LatestInstallDIrectory.
3. Specifying the appropriate path. 
   
   
   
   
4. Click OK to save the changes.

Using the Aptify Outlook Add-In with Microsoft Outlook

The Aptify Outlook add-in feature provides the users with the ability to create Persons and Contact Log records directly through Outlook. You can create Persons and Contact Log for specific mail and contact items manually, or these tasks can be done automatically, depending on your configuration. This section describes the different features available when using the Aptify Outlook Add-In.

The Aptify Outlook Add-In is in addition to the Microsoft Outlook integration that Aptify already includes for Contact Log creation from within Aptify. See Importing Emails from Microsoft Outlook for more details.

• Creating a Persons Record for Selected Contacts
• Opening a Contact in Aptify
• Creating a Contact Log for Selected Emails
• Automatically Create Contact Logs for Emails in a Specified Folder
• Automatically Create Contact Logs for All Outgoing Emails
• Disconnecting from the Aptify Database

Once the feature is successfully installed the Aptify features will be available via the Add-Ins tab on the Outlook Ribbon bar and through Outlook's right-click context menu (shown below).

Creating or Modifying a Persons Record for Selected Contacts

When you create a new or modify an existing contact in Outlook, you can create or modify a corresponding Persons record in Aptify. This feature is available via the Aptify drop-down menu under the Add-Ins tab on the Outlook Ribbon bar or the Aptify menu on the Outlook right-click context menu (as shown below) when one of more Outlook contacts have been selected. Users canTo use this feature, right-click on any one or more Outlook email contacts and select the Create Aptify Person option. If the particular contact does not have a corresponding Persons record in Aptify, a new record will be created. If the contact already exists in Aptify, they would like to create a Persons record for and the new record will appear in Aptifytheir corresponding Persons record will be updated as necessary.

This feature can also be automated to generate or update existing Persons records anytime a new contact is added or an existing contact is updated. This behavior is controlled with the ContactSync attribute found in the OutlookAddinConfig config file. If ContactSync value is True, new or updated contacts that do not exist in Aptify are automatically created as Persons records or existing Persons records are updated if applicable. See Copying and Configuring the OutlookAddinConfiguration Config File for more information.

Opening a Contact in Aptify

You can open a contact's Persons record in Aptify directly from Outlook, without having to launch an Aptify session. This feature is available via the Aptify menu on the Outlook right-click context menu (as shown below) when an Outlook contact has been selected. To use this feature, right-click on an Outlook contact and select the Show Contact in Aptify option. If a Persons record exists in Aptify for the contact, an Aptify form will open for the corresponding Persons record. If a Persons record does not exist, selecting this option will create a corresponding Persons record and then open the form.

Creating a Contact Log for Selected Emails

With the Aptify Outlook Add-In, you can create Contact Log records for mail items directly from Outlook. This feature is available via the Aptify menu on the Outlook right-click context menu (as demonstrated in the graphic above) or by . selecting. Users can right-click on any email they would like to create a Contact log record for and the Contact Log will appear in Aptify.

Note that when adding an email as a Contact Log, Aptify automatically adds links to the appropriate Persons, Companies, Employees and/or Organizations records specified in the email message (both the Sender and all Recipients). The system using the following logic:

• The system compares each email address in the message against the email address of Persons in the system. If there is a match, the system adds a link to the Contact Log entry for that Person and that Person's Company (if one is specified).
• The system compares the name of internal recipients (that is, recipients who have accounts on the organization's Microsoft Exchange server) against the First and Last Names of the Employees in the system. If there is a match, the system adds a link to the ContactLog entry for that Employee and the Employee'sOrganization.
• Note that when performing the Persons match, the system only considers email addresses in the name@domain.com format. Outlook does not use this format internally for email messages sent to other employees whose addresses are on the same Microsoft Exchange server. Therefore, if an employee has both an Employees record and a Persons record, the system will link the employee's Employees record to Contact Log but it will not link the employee's Persons record to the Contact Log.

Automatically Create Contact Logs for Emails in a Specified Folder

This feature can also be automated to generate Contact Log records as followsYou can also configure the Aptify Outlook Add-In to automatically create Contact Logs records for emails that arrive in a particular folder. The behavior is controlled with the ContactSync and FolderPath attributes found in the OutlookAddinConfig config file. See Copying and Configuring the OutlookAddinConfiguration Config File for more information.
Once you have modified the attributes specified above, any emails delivered to this folder (via filter rules or dragged manually to the folder by a user) will generate an associated contact log.

Automatically Create Contact Logs for All Outgoing Emails

You can also configure the Aptify Outlook Add-In to automatically create Contact Logs records for all outgoing emails. This behavior is controlled with the CreateContactLogForSentItems attribute found in the OutlookAddinConfig config file. See Copying and Configuring the OutlookAddinConfiguration Config File for more informationIf ContactSync value is True, anytime a new contact is created in Outlook, a corresponding Contact log record is automatically created in Aptify.

If. ContactLogSync value is True, anytime a new email arrives (in the specified folder) a Contact log record is created in Aptify.

To designate a folder to correspond to the ContactLogSync attribute, edit the OutlookAddinConfiguration file to provide the details for the desired path. For example:

<add name="FolderPath" value=testuser@domain.com\Inbox\Sales Email/>

Once you have enabled modified this attribute to provide the appropriate paththe attribute specified above, any emails delivered to this folder (via filter rules) or dragged manually to the folder by a user, will generate an associated contact logsent from the Outlook account on this computer will generate an associated contact log.

Disconnecting from the Aptify Database

When using the default configuration settings, users with valid user accounts in the Aptify database are automatically connected to Aptify when Microsoft Outlook is launched. However, there may be times when you don't want Contact Logs and Persons records created or modified in Aptify. In this case, you can disconnect from the Aptify database by navigating to the Add-Ins tab from the Outlook Ribbon bar and selecting the Disconnect option from the Aptify drop-down as show below. If you want to re-connect to the Aptify database during the same Outlook session, select the Connect option.