Setup WiredContact to send an email through Outlook

Sets default e-mail program to Outlook for WiredContact.

Export Contacts from WiredContact to Outlook Contacts

Demonstrates how to export a look of contacts from WiredContact to the Outlook contacts module.

Should I use Outlook as a CRM tool ?

Short answer: No.  It lacks too many essential features.

CRM Abstract Photo

Given that we use Outlook in house to manage e-mail, personal contacts and a personal calendar, our opinion isn’t out to snub Outlook just to pitch CRM.

In fact, you don’t need to abandon Outlook to get a CRM.  Most CRMs will integrate with Outlook to integrate e-mail, contacts or a calendar so critical information can be seen on the smartphone.  Furthermore, you can see the email correspondence on the contact record from the CRM.

Difficulties of Using Outlook as a CRM:

Frustrated Computer User
Courtesy: Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels.com
  • Documenting conversations by date/time stamp and easily sharing them among your team.
  • Implementing contact security among your peers.
  • Creating a sales forecast.
  • Creating a mail-merge to a Word document.
  • Creating effective user fields to classify contacts by more than one field such as "category".
  • Re-Entering the same data among different applications like Word or Excel becomes a chore to create call reports or sales forecasts.
  • Using Outlook is ineffective as a help desk ticketing system.

Zoho Bigin allows an easy way to get into CRM.

And you can still use Outlook.

In a matter of minutes, you can have a starter CRM system that tracks contacts, companies and a pipeline along with a mobile app.

Integrations include:

  • E-Mail: Zoho Mail, Outlook, Office 365, IMAP
  • Zoho Apps: Zoho Flow, Books, Invoice, Campaigns, Analytics, Desk and Meeting.
  • Popular Apps: MailChimp & Zoom Meeting.
  • Advanced Tools: Zapier & API
Good on the budget:

  • Pricing starts at $9/user/month.
  • Annual discounts available.
  • Training videos included.  Chat support provided by Zoho at no additional charge.
Start a Free Trial

What if Bigin isn't enough?  Don't worry.  We offer plenty of options.

Question Marks
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What’s the best CRM platform for you?  It depends on what business processes you want to improve.  For instance, if you want one point to see all meeting notes, emails and ability to create a report based on those activity KPIs then WiredContact is a great solution.    If you want to have one platform to manage CRM, e-marketing, help desk, projects and accounting then Zoho One is a great candidate.

Conversely, if your focus is marketing automation on a tighter budget, Benchmark One has many capabilities similar to Hubspot at a lower price.

Once we know the features you need; then, we craft with a custom solution based on your budget.  If you aren’t sure how to approach this, feel free to contact us for a complimentary discovery call.


E-Mail Merge for Custom Form Letter Crashes in Act!

Act! and Outlook 2016

I have witnessed Act! crashing when performing a mail-merge for a custom form letter in Act! to be sent via Outlook.  In this case, the merge works a couple times, then it chokes with Act! crashing.  Here is one possible cure.

  1. Close Act!
  2. Close Outlook
  3. Close Word
    1. Go to Task Manager (Start -> Run -> Taskmgr)
    2. End all instances for Microsoft Word (screen shot)
    3. Close Task Manager
  4. Find “normal.dotm” using Windows Explorer
    1. Press Windows Start -> Run -> %appdata%
    2. Find the directory C:\USERNAME\appdata\roaming\microsoft\templates
    3. delete normal.dotm
  5. Restart Act!
  6. Restart Outlook
  7. Test the Mail-Merge

Please note if you are on Act! subscription, this common tech support is covered by their phone support if this article is unclear.  Or,  you can contact us for fee-based support for this issue.  This is just one possible cure for the mail-merge issue not working among the three programs (Act! + Word + Outlook).


Act! and Outlook Tech Support Check List

Act! and Outlook 2016This checklist outlines the most common solutions to solve Act! Outlook E-Mail integration:

Initial Checklist:

  • Make sure your version of Act! is compatible with Office, and you can use this chart to checklist to ensure your versions are compatible.
  • Office must be installed before Act!.  If this didn’t happen, uninstall and reinstall Act!.
  • Until Act! v19, only 32 bit versions of Outlook are supported, and here is how you check your edition of Outlook. If you have to downgrade Office; then, reinstall 32 bit Office. Then, reinstall Act!.
  • Click to Run versions of Office are known to problematic, and here is the deep article to determine whether its present even if you installed a full version.

If you have Outlook 2016, and made a software update after June 13, 2017, read this before going further.  Many of these problems were solved with v20.1, and we recommend upgrading.

If emails are not recorded to Act! history, try these procedures:

Solution 1

  • For Office 2013+, re-enable the Act! Outlook Addin. Instructions

Solution 2

  • Sometimes, for reasons unknown, Act! trashes the user name/password setting.  Add the Act! Address book credentials back to Outlook.
    • From Outlook go to File -> Account Settings -> Account Settings -> Address Books
    • Select Act Address Book and press change
    • Enter the Act! user name and password
    • Restart Outlook

Solution 3 (up to v21)

Solution 4 (up to v21)

Solution 5 (up to v21)

  • If only one e-mail didn’t work, look at the history queue for individual messages’ status

Solution 6

  • Re-Enable the Redemption Helper Extension in Outlook. Picture

Solution 7

If starting Outlook, and it states the “Act! Address book isn’t found..Would you like to edit the settings ?” try one of these fixes:

  • Restart SQL. This usually applies to single user deployments or sync databases. Instructions
  • Click on Yes and change the settings to your current Act! file location, user name and password. If you changed the Act! user name or password or the path on the network where Act! is hosted, this error will come up.

Solution 8

If the above suggestions didn’t work, here are additional articles from Swiftpage for history not recording to Act!.

Solution 9

Here are additional reasons on the address book not connecting from the Swiftpage website.

Additional Options

Here are the tech support options if these articles don’t work:

  • If your company is on Act! subscription; then, you can contact Act! LLC at 866-578-7875 for phone support at no additional charge.
  • For Act! Pro clients, Act! LLC offers a $150/user/year support contract for Act! v23+. The number of users purchased must equal the number of licenses you own. So even if one workstation out of a five user license has this problem, a 5 user support contract must be purchased.
  • Use actkb.com as self-help tool
  • Acquire fee-based support from MondoCRM

Sometimes, we recommend Act! 4 Outlook written by another consultant that is more stable and offers more features. For $40 a workstation + optional installation services, it’s a good deal.