Search

Setting up email integration (CAMS)

Chris Horroll
Chris Horroll
  • Updated

Email integration within Alto, sometimes referred to as CAMS (CA Messaging Service), allows emails sent through Alto (along with their replies) to be seen and actioned directly within Alto.

This allows you to follow a complete history of email contact with clients straight from the Contacts and Property timelines. It also negates the need to manually add file notes when email replies are received in Outlook, saving valuable time and the possibility of replies being missed.

 Note

In July 2022, Microsoft began the process of retiring their basic authentication service in Microsoft Exchange in order to improve security.

  • If you would like to set up email integration for the first time as of July 2022 onwards, you’ll need to follow the steps in the section below titled Setting up email integration (CAMS) for the first time
  • If you had set up email integration prior to July 2022, you’ll need to follow the steps in the section below titled Email integration already set up - Switching to Office 365 from Microsoft Exchange, to switch your email integration from Microsoft Exchange to Office 365. This will ensure your emails continue to function correctly in Alto
Setting up email integration (CAMS) for the first time

This article includes: 

Preparing for email integration (CAMS)

There are a few points to note prior to CAMS being enabled:

  • CAMS will add a Reference Code to every single email Subject line sent from Alto going forward. This cannot be changed
  • CAMS will pull in ALL emails once you sync your Outlook account. For this reason, you must make sure that no negotiators' work email addresses (the ones accessed through Office 365) are on any contact cards in Alto

 Warning

CAMS will automatically assign any emails to contacts with matching email addresses. This means that if members of staff have set up contacts using their work email addresses, emails between them will upload to the contact record, including potentially confidential ones. This is avoided by making sure no negotiators’ email addresses are on contact records

 Note

You need to be using Office 365 for your emails in order for the integration to work.

If you need to migrate your agency's email to Office 365, you should discuss this with your email administrator as the migration process needs to be carefully planned and executed in order to retain access to your mailboxes and email.
Microsoft provides comprehensive documentation on the different migration options that are available depending upon your existing email server in use. For more information on this, click here

When you're ready to proceed, please email exchangeintegration@propertysoftwaregroup.com to arrange for the email integration service to be enabled for you, prior to you then setting it up.

Setting up email integration

Regardless of whether you’re already using Office 365, or if you’ve just migrated to it, there are a small number of steps that need to be undertaken in Alto so that Alto can import Alto-related message replies.

 Note

These steps only need to be completed once by your organisation

To complete this process, you will need Group Administrator permissions within Alto. You'll ALSO need Administrator access for your Office 365 account

You may not have one person with both of these permissions so it is possible that two people will need to work in tandem with each other to complete the setup process. There are initial steps which can be completed independently of each other, however, to complete the process one final step must be done in collaboration with each other. If you are not working in the same physical location, this can be completed by the Office 365 Administrator logging into the Alto Group Administrators computer remotely for a brief time.

 

Initial actions required by the Office 365 Administrator

Your Office 365 Administrator needs to find and make a note of your Tenant ID:

  1. Go to https://portal.azure.com/ and log in with your administrator account
  2. Click View under the Manage Microsoft Entra ID section Screenshot 2024-06-06 at 09.15.30.png
  3. The Overview screen shows the Tenant ID within the Basic information section. Either copy the Tenant ID by selecting Copy next to the ID or manually make a note of it and pass it on to your Alto Group Administrator if necessary, as this will be needed for the next steps change_exchange_credentials3.png

Initial actions required by the Alto Group Administrator

Once your Office 365 Administrator has identified and provided your Tenant ID, your Alto Group Administrator will need to connect Alto to your Office 365 account.

  1. Click Tools on the main toolbar
  2. In the dropdown menu, click Templates and admin
  3. On the side menu, under System Tools, click System Administration
  4. Click Group Settings
  5. Scroll down and click Office365 Settings
  6. Enter your TenantID that you obtained earlier, in to the field
  7. Click Save

Final actions requiring both the Office 365 Administrator and Alto Group Administrator

These final steps will need to be completed from within Alto, however they'll require your Office 365 Administrator to enter their username and password for Office 365 in order to authorise the set up.

  1. Within your Alto Group Settings, click Office365 Settings again to re-open the screen containing the TenantID
  2. Click Office365 Consent
  3. A separate screen opens. Your Office 365 administrator will need to log in with their credentials in order to authorise Alto to connect to your email change_exchange_credentials4.png
  4. If you attempt to log in with an Office 365 account that does not have Administrator access, you'll get the below message - sign in with an Administrator account instead change_exchange_credentials5.png
  5. Once logged in under an Administrator account, the following screen will show and indicate that Alto is requiring access to your Office 365 system. Click Accept to allow this change_exchange_credentials6.png
  6. Once your Office 365 Administrator has logged in and accepted the permission request, a confirmation screen appears
    1. If it says that that Access consent is granted, the process was successful and you can click Close
    2. If it was unsuccessful, close this screen and repeat the above process again ensuring the Tenant ID and Office 365 login details are correct
  7. Once you've closed the confirmation and you're back within Group Settings, click Office365 Settings again to re-open the screen. There should now be a tick alongside Verified, this means that Alto is correctly linked up to Office 365
    change_exchange_credentials7.png

     Note

    If any users email addresses have changed during the migration to Office 365, each user will need to update their email address in Alto. To do this, they should:

    1. Click on their name on the main toolbar
    2. Click Account Settings
    3. Alongside Exchange Credentials, click Change
    4. A Change Exchange Credentials window appears. Enter the new email address in the User Name field
    5. Click Save
    6. A confirmation message appears. Click Check Settings
      change_exchange_credentials8.png
    7. If successful, the following message should appear after a few moments change_exchange_credentials9.png

Handling email notifications

Once the above steps have been completed and your email integration is set up, any emails sent from within Alto will enter the message syncing process.

When a recipient replies to an email, a notification will appear on your Alto main toolbar along with a number to indicate how many notifications you currently have. If you're logged in to Alto at the time it arrives, you'll also see a pop up notification.

 Note

The notifications will only appear to the user who sent the original email, although everybody will be able to see the emails sent and their replies, on the relevant timelines

If you click the notification, you can view the reply or dismiss the notification to remove it from the list. The reply will still be visible on the relevant timelines once the notification has been dismissed.

Identifying replies in timelines

Emails that have originated from Alto appear as normal in the Contacts and Properties timelines. Replies to these emails, once processed by the system, will appear in the Timeline as an Email Reply.

You can filter the timelines to separate these replies by using the Synced Emails filter option at the top of the Timeline.

Viewing synced emails

Email replies are handled in a similar manner to normal communications that have originated from Alto. If you click on a notification or an Email Reply in the Contacts/Properties Timeline, you'll be able to reply to the email as normal and download any attachments (a paperclip symbol on the Timeline entry indicates if an email contains an attachment).

blobid2.png

Email integration already set up - Switching to Office 365 from Microsoft Exchange

Until now, Alto has used a basic authentication (username/password) method to connect to mailboxes via Microsoft Exchange. However, this method will soon be retired by Microsoft.
For more information on this from Microsoft, click here

As a result, we need you to migrate to the more modern Office 365 so that your email synchronisation functionality continues to work.

This article includes: 

How will this affect me?

Alto conforms to the highest technical standards for security to ensure your data is secure.

Microsoft are removing the ability to use basic authentication in Exchange Online for Exchange ActiveSync (EAS), POP, IMAP, Remote PowerShell, Exchange Web Services (EWS), Offline Address Book (OAB), and Outlook for Windows and Mac.

The vast majority of Microsoft users will utilise at least one of these services for their emails. If you're using any of these products for your email hosting, we need you to migrate to the more modern Office 365 so that your email synchronisation functionality continues to work.

How do I know if my agency's Alto is already configured to use Office 365?

It’s quick and easy for any Alto user to check if your Alto set up has already been configured to use Office 365:

  1. Click on your name on the main toolbar
  2. Click Account Settings
  3. Alongside Exchange Credentials, click Change
  4. A Change Exchange Credentials window appears
    1. If the window only contains a field to enter a User Name, your agency is already integrated with Office 365. Provided your User Name email address is correct, there is nothing further for you to do as Alto has already been connected to Office 365
    2. If there are fields for User Name, Password and Server address, your agency has not been configured to use Office 365 and this must be done as soon as possible

change_exchange_credentials.png

How do I migrate my agency's email to Office 365?

You should discuss this with your email administrator as the migration process needs to be carefully planned and executed in order to retain access to your mailboxes and email.

Microsoft provides comprehensive documentation on the different migration options that are available depending upon your existing email server in use. For more information on this, click here.

Once you have migrated your email to Office 365, there are a small number of steps that need to be undertaken in Alto so that Alto can continue to import Alto-related message replies. For details of what is required, see the next section.

What do I need to update in Alto so it can continue to import message replies?

 Note

These steps only need to be completed once by your organisation

To complete this process, you will need Group Administrator permissions within Alto. You'll ALSO need Administrator access for your Office 365 account

You may not have one person with both of these permissions so it is possible that two people will need to work in tandem with each other to complete the setup process. There are initial steps which can be completed independently of each other, however, to complete the process one final step must be done in collaboration with each other. If you are not working in the same physical location, this can be completed by the Office 365 Administrator logging into the Alto Group Administrators computer remotely for a brief time.

Initial actions required by the Office 365 Administrator

Your Office 365 Administrator needs to find and make a note of your Tenant ID:

  1. Go to https://portal.azure.com/ and log in with your administrator account
  2. Click View under the Manage Microsoft Entra ID section Screenshot 2024-06-06 at 09.15.30.png
  3. The Overview screen shows the Tenant ID within the Basic information section. Either copy the Tenant ID by selecting Copy next to the ID or manually make a note of it and pass it on to your Alto Group Administrator if necessary, as this will be needed for the next steps change_exchange_credentials3.png

Initial actions required by the Alto Group Administrator

Once your Office 365 Administrator has identified and provided your Tenant ID, your Alto Group Administrator will need to connect Alto to your Office 365 account.

  1. Click Tools on the main toolbar
  2. In the dropdown menu, click Templates and admin
  3. On the side menu, under System Tools, click System Administration
  4. Click Group Settings
  5. Scroll down and click Office365 Settings
  6. Enter your TenantID that you obtained earlier, in to the field
  7. Click Save

Final actions requiring both the Office 365 Administrator and Alto Group Administrator

These final steps will need to be completed from within Alto, however they'll require your Office 365 Administrator to enter their username and password for Office 365 in order to authorise the set up.

  1. Within your Alto Group Settings, click Office365 Settings again to re-open the screen containing the TenantID
  2. Click Office365 Consent
  3. A separate screen opens. Your Office 365 administrator will need to log in with their credentials in order to authorise Alto to connect to your email change_exchange_credentials4.png
  4. If you attempt to log in with an Office 365 account that does not have Administrator access, you'll get the below message - sign in with an Administrator account instead change_exchange_credentials5.png
  5. Once logged in under an Administrator account, the following screen will show and indicate that Alto is requiring access to your Office 365 system. Click Accept to allow this change_exchange_credentials6.png
  6. Once your Office 365 Administrator has logged in and accepted the permission request, a confirmation screen appears
    1. If it says that that Access consent is granted, the process was successful and you can click Close
    2. If it was unsuccessful, close this screen and repeat the above process again ensuring the Tenant ID and Office 365 login details are correct
  7. Once you've closed the confirmation and you're back within Group Settings, click Office365 Settings again to re-open the screen. There should now be a tick alongside Verified, this means that Alto is correctly linked up to Office 365change_exchange_credentials7.png

     Note

    If any users email addresses have changed during the migration to Office 365, each user will need to update their email address in Alto. To do this, they should:

    1. Click on their name on the main toolbar
    2. Click Account Settings
    3. Alongside Exchange Credentials, click Change
    4. A Change Exchange Credentials window appears. Enter the new email address in the User Name field
    5. Click Save
    6. A confirmation message appears. Click Check Settings change_exchange_credentials8.png
    7. If successful, the following message should appear after a few moments change_exchange_credentials9.png

Was this article helpful?

0 out of 0 found this helpful

Have more questions? Submit a request