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Written by Madison Potter      

Synching Email Conversations through IMAP
 

Email conversations are a great way to connect with people and build relationships, but keeping track and sharing this information can seem tedious. Keeping track of these conversations are helpful to nurturing the relationship and making sure the right people on your team have access this information as well. Setting up the integration between your email account and your GreenRope CRM account could not be easier. This article is going to cover how to use our IMAP feature to synchronize your CRM data with your personal email account.

How does IMAP work?

Similar to how you synchronize your smartphone with your email, this system connects your GreenRope contact data with the folders you choose in your email account. You can connect one email account to a specific group within GreenRope, which will sync the conversations between the correlating contacts. Since the IMAP syncs email conversations to contacts in this group, the synchronized emails will be visible to users with all shared access.

Which credentials do you need?

  • GreenRope Account Access

  • Email server access (i.e. Gmail, Outlook, etc.)

  • Server domain information

  • Your server username and password

  • Device used for 2-step verification

Once within your GreenRope account, as a main account holder or with shared access permissions, you can set up the IMAP configuration within the email options tab of the group settings. You will need to know the server domain  your username and password - this will set up the data collection and storage in your GreenRope account. Then, when you call up a contact in your CRM, it will automatically show any one-to-one emails you sent from your email inbox program.

Enabling IMAP Connection

Within GreenRope, identify the specific group, then go into the Settings > Group. Within the Email Options tab, click on the “Configure IMAP” button to add your server credentials. 

 

 

To initiate the connection with your email server, you’ll need to add the log-in credentials into the popup window (shown below). If you’re wanting to only sync client/lead conversations into your CRM, you can check the “ignore” options to remove team member conversations from being recorded. Check the “automatically synchronize emails” option to update these threads every 30 minutes, otherwise you can manually fetch the emails. 

Lastly, “Mine Email Contacts” will add contacts, from your email server, into your CRM if they’re not already created. By default, you’ll want to leave this option unchecked, but the IMAP gives you the option to also pull contact data into your CRM and create new contact records based on your email server connections.

 

 

Once you have a successful connection, you’ll be asked to identify the specific folders in your email server to sync. By default, the inbox and sent folders are checked, but you can specify any additional folders to include. If your sync is unsuccessful the first time, there are a few options you can do to help troubleshoot:

  • EnableTwo-Step Verification is required for GMAIL and GSUITE connections

  • Must have “Less Secure Apps” enabled

  • Must have “Unlock Display CAPTCHA”

  • Password provided is the same one used when setting up IMAP in the “Password” field

Updating and Managing Configurations 

As the main account holder, you have access to view, manage, and remove any IMAP sync into your Account. Within the Settings > Shared Access page, click on the “Edit IMAP Configurations” option along the left.

 

 

The configuration page allows you to view the group and user who set up the IMAP, as well as when the last sync happened. You can manage the sync activation, update any of the initial sync options, as well as remove the IMAP connection. 

 

 

Viewing IMAP Email Conversations

All conversations threads synced are stored within the Contact’s CRM Activities record. Within this page, you can filter for specific IMAP emails and update the filters for quick view. This will show you the offline conversations that are happening between your team and this contact record. It will be a copy of the email from your server inbox and display here for reference.

 

 

Since IMAP pulls a copy of the conversations, we cannot track the open, click, or reads of these emails. However, it’s a great idea to add this connection as a way to store a collective overview of all interactions with your contacts. All shared access users who have permissions into this group and contact will also be able to view the conversation thread.

If your email server allows it, attachments will be stored within the CRM as a link to view and download. In most cases we cannot pull and store these attachments into the contact’s record as it does not have a direct place to be stored and could contain viruses. You can, however, upload the attachments manually into the “Documents” section of the contact’s record.

Opening this communication thread for your team will help manage the contact relationship, increase transparency, and also increase accountability among the team. To help walk you through this set-up process, here’s an overview video to share with your team. Please let our team know at support@greenrope.com if you have any questions or would like additional assistance with setting up this connection.

 

Additional Resources: 

17 GreenRope Updates & Upgrades We Are Thankful For

25 Cyber Security Tips

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