Outlook Integration Options For Hosting Services

Within the Hosted Edge products users are able to set up functionality to send emails from within the product, and even access their Outlook account from directly within the hosted environment. The option best for your organization depends largely on the needs of your users.

If users only need to be able to send emails from the application (for example– email constituents individually from their record, or email a report to someone else in the office) and perhaps save those emails as actions (in RE), then the SMTP Relay option is a quick and easy way to perform those tasks. SMTP Relay is also the option for organizations that use Outlook 365 or an email program other than Outlook, such as Gmail.

SMTP Relay is configured for every organization when your hosting services are installed, but in order to use it, each user must enter their email address in the mail configuration by logging into the hosted Edge product and clicking Tools > Mail Configuration from the mail toolbar of the program. Once this is entered, you can test that it is working properly by selecting Tools > Microsoft Outlook. Please note that the Outlook client needs to be open from within the hosting environment for emails to be sent.

If your organization uses Outlook and users need access to their full Outlook functionality, such as Calendar items, Contacts and their personal profile, then you may want to consider the option to use the full Outlook Anywhere (RPC over HTTPS) integration.

Because the Outlook Anywhere (RPC over HTTPS) integration connects to your organization’s Exchange Server, there is more setup and configuration required than the former option to properly set it up. If you are interested in this option, please review the Knowledgebase solution, How to configure Outlook Integration using Outlook Anywhere (RPC over HTTPS) in Blackbaud Application Hosting, for more information and instructions to get started.

Once your Exchange server is prepared and Outlook Anywhere integration is configured on our servers, each user will go through slightly different steps than SMTP Relay users to complete the setup in their hosted database. The full steps for both types of configuration are located in the Knowledgebase solution, How to set up your Microsoft Outlook account after integration has been configured?

If you have questions or need assistance with Outlook Integration, please contact our Hosting Support team using our chat feature or create a case on Case Central, choose your product, and select the Blackbaud Application Hosting topic.

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