Working with Email in Actionstep

In this article:

• Getting Started
• Working with Outbound Emails in Actionstep
• Working with Inbound Emails in Actionstep

Actionstep offers multiple ways to send and receive emails. To send emails, you can use Office 365, Gmail, SMTP, and Actionstep's built-in email client (which uses Mailgun). To receive emails and track them in Actionstep, you can use email client-specific plugins, add-ins, POP3 collections, or Actionstep's built-in client.

The following article covers the many aspects of setting up and using email functionality in Actionstep. 

Getting Started

Before setting up an email system in Actionstep, you should review the services you already use to determine your best configuration.

The following table shows some of the most common configurations:

While these are common, other configurations can be used. Multiple services and methods can be utilized to manage email in Actionstep. For instance, you could have both Office 365 and Gmail (or other combinations) configured in your system.

When new Actionstep systems are created, no mailboxes are configured. Until these are set up, some email functions may not work as expected.

Working with Outbound Emails in Actionstep

Actionstep uses mailboxes to send emails. Mailboxes can be setup for specific users (personal mailboxes) or for use by anyone in your Actionstep system (system mailboxes). Personal mailboxes are available (and viewable) only to the user who sets it up. System mailboxes can be used by any user with email access.

See the following sections for more information:

• Mailbox Types
• About Composing Emails
• Getting to Know the Compose Email Window
• Automated Emails

Mailbox Types

The following describes the different types of mailboxes:

See Setting Up Personal Email Mailboxes and Setting Up System Email Mailboxes for more information.

About Composing Emails

Once mailboxes are set up (see Setting Up Personal Email Mailboxes and Setting Up System Email Mailboxes),  email messages can be composed and sent from Actionstep. There are multiple places from which emails can be composed.

Instructions	Screenshot
Click the global Create button and choose Email from the Other section. You may need to click Show all if you don't see this option.
Go to Comms > My email and choose My Inbox / Drafts / Sent Items. Then click Compose.
From a Scratchpad field, click the Smart Create icon and choose Email. When you use this option, the contents of this note will be included in the email's subject line.
From a File Note you've already created, click the Smart Create icon and choose Email. When you use this option, the contents of this note will be included in the email's subject line.

Getting to Know the Compose Email Window

The following shows the Compose Email window:

Automated Emails

With automatic notifications, reminders, and invitations (client portal), many emails are sent from Actionstep without user-intervention.

This table outlines the source of the emails and how the FROM mailbox is determined.

Calendar event invites/reminders	Calendar invites/reminders are sent from the default personal mailbox of the user who creates the event. In the case that the user does not have a personal mailbox, the email is sent from the default system mailbox.
Task notifications	Task notifications are sent from the default system mailbox. This is true of both manually created and automatic tasks.   Note: Task reminders will not be sent if there is no system mailbox.
Step change emails	Step change emails can be sent from either personal or system mailboxes. This is based on a setting in Admin > Email > Outbound email. System or personal mailboxes can be chosen to send the emails
Client portal invitations	Portal invitations are sent via support@actionstep.com. They do not use personal or system mailboxes.
Client Portal (Client replies)	When a client replies, an email is sent from the default system mailbox to the email of the user assigned to the matter of the portal client.
Client Portal - Communications to client	Communications to clients are sent via the default system mailbox.
Bill emails	When bills are produced, emails are sent from the system mailbox. If only a personal mailbox is set up, the bill will not be produced.   Manual bill emails can be sent from either personal or system mailboxes.
Matter alerts	Matter alerts are sent from the default system mailbox.   Note: Alerts will not be sent if there is no system mailbox.   For more information on alerts, see Creating Matter Alerts.

Working with Inbound Emails in Actionstep

Having access to emails inside Actionstep is valuable, as it makes it simple to see a history of communication for specific matters. There are multiple ways to get emails into Actionstep. The method is largely determined by your email configuration and the services you use.

See the following sections to learn more:

• Email Associations
• Accessing Email Through Actionstep Menus
• Email Aliases
• Email Templates

The following table contains all methods of getting emails into Actionstep and considerations for specific configurations:

Outlook add-in for Office 365	The Outlook Add-in for Office 365 is the best option for users with an Office 365 subscription. The add-in offers a wide array of functionality to manage your emails and multiple items in your Actionstep system.   Features include: Assign emails to be available in Actionstep Use of Actionstep email templates Attach files from Actionstep matters View assigned matter information Create contacts Create file notes Manage and create tasks Create time entries Organize email attachments in Actionstep Send SMS messages For more information, see Setting up the Outlook Add-in.
Gmail add-on	The Gmail add-on is the best option for Gmail users.   The Gmail add-on allows users to assign emails to matters and view information about matters, parties, file notes, and tasks. Items in the add-on are hyperlinked to Actionstep. So, selecting some items launches that item for quick access in your system.   For more information, see Installing The Gmail Add-on.
Actionstep's built-in mail client (which uses Mailgun)	Mailgun (Actionstep built-in) is the best option for users who do not wish to connect any service to Actionstep. When Mailgun is enabled, Actionstep provides a wildcard email address for the system.   By default, that email address is matters@yourorgkey.actionstep.com.   To send an email to a specific matter, that email address uses the letter "a" before the matter number to route it correctly. For instance, to send an email to matter 243, the email address would be a243@yourorgkey.actionstep.com   This method is used for both inbound and outbound. When sending an email from a matter, or just from Actionstep when the email has associations, the email address is updated with the proper routing information. This ensures that the email is associated with the correct matter/invoice when a reply is sent.   One consideration is that the Mailgun address may be marked as spam by your recipient's email provider. It's best to communicate with the recipient to allow emails coming from your Mailgun domain.
POP3	With POP3 configured, Actionstep automatically checks the connected inbox every 5 minutes to pull emails into Actionstep.   There is also a Check for Mail button on email list pages to manually pull in items from your inbox.   To determine the email associations, Actionstep looks at the subject of the email. Certain routing information must exist for the emails to be assigned correctly.   For more information on POP3 email routing (via the subject line), see the "Email Associations" section, below.   Note: Some popular services are discontinuing POP3 support. We suggest those with Office 365 or Gmail use the Actionstep add-in respective to those services.

Email Associations

The purpose of the aforementioned inbound methods is to associate emails with items in your Actionstep system. Associations can also be created when sending emails from Actionstep.

You can associate emails to specific matters by manipulating the subject line on outgoing emails. To trigger this association, add ID= to the subject line, where the = is followed by an identifier. The identifiers can be categorized based on the following:

You can apply multiple associations through the subject line method by stringing them together. For example, the subject line id=a1234a1111p123 will associate the email with the matters with the IDs 1234 and 1111, respectively, as well as the system  user with the ID 123. There is no limit to how many can be included in the same string.

TIP:  You can also manually associate emails with a matter by viewing the received email and clicking Add Association. 

Accessing Email Through Actionstep Menus

Actionstep has several places to access and view emails. Each email menu has a specific purpose to make it easy to find emails based on their associations.

To view this menu, click Comms in the main menu. Then choose from the following options and submenu options:

While viewing a matter, hover over the Comms menu icon and choose Inbox, Sent Items, or Drafts.

Email Aliases

Email aliases are used for wildcard/catchall accounts. They assign a specific email address in your domain that can contain several members to receive copies of emails when that address receives a message.

Email Templates

Email templates are preconfigured email messages that are used to automatically populate an email. These can be selected in parts of the program as automatic emails or they can be selected when composing an email. This can save you a lot of time by reducing or eliminating the process of writing out out repetitive communications.

Related Articles:

• About Using Email in Actionstep
• Supported Email Integrations