Attaching Outlook Email to an ACT! Contact

How many of us just click right through the install messages of new software because we are anxious to get started. It is easy sometimes to click so fast that you miss important install instructions.

A long-time ACT! user contacted me after hearing my podcast with BusinessWeek and wanted to know how to attach emails in Outlook to his ACT! contacts. The ACT! 2008 by Sage (version 10) installation walks you through connecting these two softwares to allow you to do things like this. However, earlier versions informed you during the install that you would need to manually complete an additional step to create a link between ACT! and Outlook. If you are one of those that missed setting up an Address Book in Outlook, follow these simple instructions.

First, to see if your link is already set up, in Outlook, click Tools, Options. Do you see an ACT! tab? If so, then the connection between ACT! and Outlook has already been set up and you can stop reading.

1. In Outlook, click Tools, E-mail Accounts… (or Services if you are using an earlier version of Outlook)
2. Select Add a new directory or address book and click Next>
3. Select Additional Address Books and click Next>
4. Select ACT! Address Book and click Next>
5. Your ACT! database and user name should be displayed here. Browse to select a different database if you like.
6. Enter your User name and any associated password.
7. Click OK, OK to acknowledge that you need to restart Outlook and Finish
8. File, Exit from Outlook and then open Outlook again. The Atach to ACT! Contact(s) icon is added to the Outlook toolbar.

But wait, we’re not finished yet. You need to also set up a default history option.

1. In Outlook, click Tools, Options.
2. On the Mail Format tab, verify that Use Microsoft Word to edit e-mail messages is not checked.
3. On the ACT! tab, click the History Options button.
4. Select a default history.
5. OK.

OK, now we’re done. So, try attaching any email in your Inbox to an ACT! contact (select the message, click on the new icon on the toolbar, select the contact and click OK). You can now delete the email from the Outlook Inbox. A copy of the email is now attached to your ACT! contact.