Action required: Outlook Channel Changes coming December 19th, 2023
One of the most popular Pipelines integrations in Quickbase is the Outlook channel. This channel allows you to move email messages and their attachments, as well as calendar events, into other systems such as Quickbase. It also supports sending emails and scheduling meetings in Outlook automatically. Within the Outlook channel, one key component is the ability to work with shared mailboxes. These are commonly used to collect messages like support requests or orders, in a way that allows a team to access and respond in a timely manner. Based on customer feedback we will be making changes to our Outlook Pipelines and how they work with Shared Mailboxes to create a better and more consistent experience.
What is Changing and Who Is Impacted
You may need to make changes if you are currently using a shared inbox in an Outlook Pipeline using the following steps:
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Send an Email
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Send an Email with Attachments
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Reply to an Email
You can learn more about how these changes impact your existing Outlook Pipelines, the new ways you can use shared mailboxes in Outlook Pipelines, and how to set up your Pipelines to use a shared inbox correctly in the article below. We're releasing these changes with the product release on December 19, 2023.
Table of Contents
- Creating A More Consistent Experience
- Understanding changes to your current Outlook Pipelines
- Breakdown of changes
Creating A More Consistent Experience
We've heard from many of you that you would like to have more flexibility in how you work with shared mailboxes. Previously, working with shared mailboxes was only possible in a few steps with strict permission requirements. We are expanding this capability, allowing you to use shared mailboxes in the following steps: Send an Email, Send an Email with Attachments, Search Email, Look Up an Email, New Email, and Search Attachments.
Going forward, the Outlook channel will offer two ways to use the functionality of a shared mailbox, with either the Shared Mailbox field or the From address field.
Shared Mailbox field
This mode allows the user to fully impersonate a shared mailbox account. While using this option, all actions are performed using the shared mailbox account - send, receive, reply, and search. Sent Items will be kept in the Sent Items folder of the shared mailbox . To do so, you must have “Full Access,” in addition to “Send as or Send on Behalf” permissions in the shared mailbox. To use this option in Quickbase, look for the Shared Mailbox field. This field will be available in the following steps: Send an Email, Send an Email with Attachments, Search Email, Look Up an Email, New Email, and Search Attachments.
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Send, Receive, Reply, Search emails fully impersonating the shared mailbox.
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Full access in addition to Send as/Send on Behalf permissions are required.
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Sent items are stored in the shared mailbox’s Sent Items folder within Outlook.
The second option to send emails on behalf of a shared mailbox is to use the From address field. While using this option, all actions are performed using the pipeline builder’s personal Outlook account. Sent items will be kept in the Sent Items folder of the pipeline builder’s personal Outlook account. Microsoft required permissions in this instance are set only to “Send As/Send on Behalf” in the shared mailbox and not “Full Access.” To use this option, look for the From address field in Quickbase.
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Send email (with attachment) from the personal connected Outlook account on behalf of a shared mailbox.
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Send as or Send on Behalf permissions are required.
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Sent items are stored in the builder’s Sent Items folder of their personal connected account..
Some builders have not been able to fully use shared mailboxes in Pipelines because they lack the full access permissions in Outlook. If that applies to you, you can now use the From Address field to send emails with attachments from a shared mailbox if you have “Send As/Send on Behalf” permissions in Outlook. You do not need to reconnect to the Outlook channel to do this.
Understanding changes to your current Outlook Pipelines
In the sections below we will outline how your existing Outlook Pipelines that use a shared inbox may be impacted and the steps you can take to adjust your existing pipelines to avoid issues.
Reminder: You may be impacted if you are using a shared inbox in the following Outlook pipeline steps:
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Send an Email
-
Send an Email with Attachments
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Reply to an Email
If you are currently using the Send an Email with Attachments step you may need to update your Pipeline. Specifically, if you have a shared mailbox in your ‘From’ address field the way Sent Items are stored will be changed if you do not make an update. Going forward, the sent items will be kept:
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For those sending through the Shared Mailbox field – in the Sent Items Folder of the shared mailbox.
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For those sending through the From Address field – the personal Sent Items folder of the connected builder account.
You should take this time to make sure your pipeline is set up to match your needs to avoid any disruption.
If your pipelines run successfully today and your emails with attachments are properly sent, users in your organization are probably granted full access rights to the mailbox. With the new shared mailbox options, you may want to revisit this with your IT team to see if you would like to take advantage of the new option that works with more limited access rights. These changes do not impact your access to Pipelines.
The important change for your workflows remains the change to the Sent Items folder. Depending on the permissions granted, you should decide which field to use with your shared inbox, and make sure you are aware of which Sent Items Folder your sent items will be kept in.
If you are not sure whether your pipelines are affected by the change, but you want to keep them working in the exact same way as before, you need to:
- Find those pipelines that include the Send an Email with Attachment step.
- Check whether you have a shared mailbox entered in the From Address field.
- If so, fill in the Shared Mailbox field with the shared mailbox that was filled in the From Address.
Below is a list of all the possible setups for using shared mailboxes and sending on behalf of a different address. Also, each table explains the difference and the changes in the behavior of each step. There are also suggestions for what to do to preserve the setup as it works for you today.
Behavior of the Send an Email, Send an Email with Attachment, and Reply to an Email steps before the Dec 19 change:
|
Step |
If the From field is empty |
If the From field is filled with a shared mailbox |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Send an Email |
Receiver point of view |
The receiver of the email will see that the email is sent from the email of the currently connected account |
The receiver of the email will see that the email is sent from the shared mailbox / from the currently connected user on behalf of the shared mailbox (according to the permissions) |
|
Where the email will be saved |
In the Sent Items folder of the mailbox of the currently connected account |
In the Sent Items folder of the mailbox of the currently connected account |
|
|
Permissions |
NO additional permissions needed |
Send As / Send on Behalf permissions to the shared mailbox needed |
|
|
Send an Email with Attachments |
Receiver point of view |
The receiver of the email will see that the email is sent from the email of the currently connected account |
The receiver of the email will see that the email is sent from the shared mailbox / from the currently connected user on behalf of the shared mailbox (according to the permissions) |
|
Where the email will be saved |
In the Sent Items folder of the mailbox of the currently connected account |
In the Sent Items folder of the shared mailbox |
|
|
Permissions |
NO additional permissions needed |
Full access in addition to either Send As or Send on Behalf permissions to the shared mailbox needed |
|
|
If the target email is in the mailbox of the currently connected account |
If the target email is IN a shared mailbox |
||||
|
If the From field is empty |
If the From field is filled with a shared mailbox |
If the From field is empty |
If the From field is filled with another shared mailbox |
||
|
Reply to an Email |
Receiver point of view |
The receiver of the email will see that the email is sent from the email of the currently connected account |
The receiver of the email will see that the email is sent from the shared mailbox / from the currently connected user on behalf of the shared mailbox (according to the permissions) |
The receiver of the email will see that the email is sent from the shared mailbox / from the currently connected user on behalf of the shared mailbox (according to the permissions) |
The receiver of the email will see that the email is sent from the shared mailbox filled in the From field / from the currently connected user on behalf of the shared mailbox filled in the From field (according to the permissions) |
|
Where the email will be saved |
In the Sent Items folder of the mailbox of the currently connected account |
In the Sent Items folder of the mailbox of the currently connected account |
In the Sent Items folder of the shared mailbox |
In the Sent Items folder of the shared mailbox filled in the option field |
|
|
Permissions |
NO additional permissions needed |
Send As or Send on Behalf permissions to the shared mailbox needed |
Full access in addition to either Send on Behalf or Send As permission to the shared mailbox needed |
Full access in addition to either Send on Behalf or Send As permissions to the shared mailbox filled in the option field and Send on Behalf or Send As permissions to the shared mailbox filled in the From field |
|
Behavior of the Send an Email and Send an Email with Attachment steps after the Dec 19 change:
|
Step |
Shared Mailbox option field is empty |
Shared Mailbox option field is filled with a shared mailbox |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
If the From field is empty |
If the From field is filled with a shared mailbox |
If the From field is empty |
If the From field is filled with another shared mailbox |
||
|
Send an Email, Send an Email with Attachments |
Receiver point of view |
The receiver of the email will see that the email is sent from the email of the currently connected account |
The receiver of the email will see that the email is sent from the shared mailbox / from the currently connected user on behalf of the shared mailbox (according to the permissions) |
The receiver of the email will see that the email is sent from the shared mailbox / from the currently connected user on behalf of the shared mailbox |
The receiver of the email will see that the email is sent from the shared mailbox filled in the From field / from the currently connected user on behalf of the shared mailbox filled in the From field (according to the permissions) |
|
Where the email will be saved |
In the Sent Items folder of the mailbox of the currently connected account |
In the Sent Items folder of the mailbox of the currently connected account |
In the Sent Items folder of the shared mailbox |
In the Sent Items folder of the shared mailbox filled in the option field |
|
|
Permissions |
NO additional permissions needed |
Send As / Send on Behalf permissions to the shared mailbox needed |
Full access in addition to either Send on Behalf or Send As permission to the shared mailbox needed |
Full access in addition to either Send on Behalf or Send As permissions to the shared mailbox filled in the option field and Send on Behalf or Send As permissions to the shared mailbox filled in the From field |
|
*NOTE: The behavior of the Reply to an Email step will remain the same after the change.
We are also adding more guidance in the Outlook steps themselves to clearly describe the new shared mailbox functionality.
If you have any concerns or need assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out to our support team.
