Managing Emails from Outlook

When you send or receive an email in Outlook, you can file it directly from your Outlook using the FYI Drawer.

Video Walkthrough
For a video walkthrough of this feature, refer to Filing Emails from Outlook (4 mins).

Displaying the FYI Drawer in Outlook

From the Desktop version of Outlook

1. Select the email.
2. Click the FYI icon in the ribbon menu.
   
   The FYI Drawer displays on the right-hand side.

From Outlook Online

1. Select the email.
2. Click the More Actions button (the three dot icon at the top of the opened email).
   
   
   A list of options displays.
   
   
3. Select FYI for Outlook from the list.

The FYI Drawer displays on the right-hand side.

Pinning the FYI icon
When you have displayed the FYI Drawer, to keep it always open and save it from reloading each time, click the Pin icon at the top of the Drawer. You can pin the FYI Drawer from the desktop version and from the Online version of Outlook.

Note: If you are working on an old version of Outlook or on a Citrix environment, you will not be able to “pin” the FYI Add-in. Refer to the FAQ Why is the Pin icon not available or not working in the FYI Drawer in Outlook?

Email has been Filed

When an email has been filed, it displays as in the following example in the FYI Drawer. This is when you are not using In Tray Review or if the email is a thread of an email that has already been filed.

It includes the Remove from FYI icon (the red bin icon) in the top right-hand corner (see below for how to remove from FYI).

At the top of the body of the email, it also displays a blue category indicator with “Filed in FYI".

Filing Status

If the email has not been filed in FYI, it displays a Filing Status at the top of the FYI Drawer. This is one of the following:

• Not Filed
• Draft Filed
• AutoFiled

Note: There are settings for AutoFile and In Tray Review which control how emails are auto-filed. These are set for your practice by an FYI administrator and you can also set your own preference for some of these in your individual settings. Refer to Email AutoFile Settings, Exclusions and Practice Filing Defaults and Setting Defaults and Filing Defaults for your own Login - My Settings.

Filing Status is Not Filed

 An email shows as "Not Filed" when:

• The email address cannot be matched to a client in Xero Practice Manager.
  Or
• AutoFile is turned "Off" (either for your practice or in your individual settings) and the email has not been manually filed.

Filing an Email from your Outlook Inbox or Sent Folder

1. In the FYI Drawer, select the Client name.
2. Select a Cabinet.
3. Complete or change any filing fields.
4. Click Create.
   
   

Filing Status is Draft Filed

An email shows as “Draft Filed”, where FYI has found a match on the client email address to the Xero Practice Manager client but one of the following applies:

• You have In Tray Review turned on and you have not yet filed the email from FYI.
  Or
• In Tray Review is "On" and there are multiple clients associated with that email address.

For details of filing an email from your In Tray, refer to Managing your In Tray.

In there are multiple clients with the address, you can select the one applicable for that email from FYI or from Outlook. Refer to Managing your In Tray for how to file emails where the address is shared by more than one client. Refer also to Setting Filing Defaults for a Client.

Once the Client is selected, the relevant Filing Defaults are offered in the same way as when creating an email. These can be changed if needed from Outlook so that the next time an email is received from this client, these new Filing Defaults are used. Refer to Setting Filing Defaults for a Client from Outlook.

Filing Status is AutoFiled

An email is "AutoFiled" when:

• In Tray Review is turned "Off", and FYI is able to completely file the email based on the defaults.
  or
• The email is part of an existing thread or conversation, that has already been filed.

When an email is AutoFiled, there is nothing else required as the email is already in FYI. If needed, you can refile the email by changing the filing details. refer to Using the Email Drawer.

You can see the details of the AutoFile in the Activity section in the drawer. This also shows how any Filing Defaults were applied. In the following example, the Activity section shows that the email was sent to the In Tray (using the Practice Settings of AutoFile and In Tray Review) and then filed using the Filing defaults set for the user and the name of that user.

Using the Tools at the Top of the Drawer

At the top of the Drawer are the tools Comments, Add Task, Add Time and Starred.

• Click the Comments icon to add a Comment.
  When a Comment has been added to the email, this icon shows as a green icon with the number of comments that have been added to that email. Refer to Adding and Displaying Comments from Outlook or Office in Adding Comments and Notifying Team Members.
  
  
• Click the Add Task icon to add a new Task for the selected email. Refer to Working with Tasks.
  
  
• Click the Add Time icon to add Time information. Refer to Adding Time.
  
  
• Use the Starred icon in the drawer to mark an email as Starred, or Unstarred. This allows you to mark specific documents that you personally want to be able to access easily. Refer to Marking and Displaying Starred Documents. Starred functions are only available for practices on the "Pro" plan. Refer to Subscribing to an FYI Plan.

Deleting Emails from your Outlook Inbox or Sent Folder

If you delete an email from your Outlook Inbox or Sent folders this will not delete the email filed in FYI.

This allows you to clear your inbox in Outlook without affecting the copy of the email within FYI so you can have a clear inbox while still maintaining a record of client emails in FYI.

From Outlook, Deleting Emails in FYI

From Outlook, you can also remove emails from FYI by clicking the Remove from FYI icon (the red bin) in the top corner of the FYI Drawer in Outlook.

This functionality is only available in Outlook. When used, it will return the email to a Filing Status of "Not Filed".

The Remove from FYI icon will only appear if:

• The email is filed in FYI.
  Or
• The email is in your In Tray waiting to be filed.

If you click Remove from FYI for an email that is in your In Tray, it will remove the email from your In Tray.