Read this article to learn how to sync an email account into Full Fabric using IMAP, making it easy to read and respond to messages directly from our platform.
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How an IMAP sync works in Full Fabric
The IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) sync will retrieve and display emails that you have sent and received from your own email client, such as Outlook, in Full Fabric, with the mail server retaining the master copy. The emails are displayed in the Emails tab of the staff and student profiles in Full Fabric. All emails in your mailboxes will be synced, so you will see emails that have already been sent. The IMAP should sync emails instantly, but this will depend on your email client.
This will make the CC function that copies sent emails into Full Fabric redundant, as the IMAP sync can sync both sent and received messages automatically.
By the way, each staff user can only integrate one email account.
Which emails are synced with IMAP?
Emails are synced using the following rules:
Sync emails if there is an addressee in the To, From, CC or BCC fields who is a candidate or contact profile (this includes the following profile types: contact, prospect, applicant, student and alumnus).
Do not sync emails if all of the addressees are a staff or lecturer profile.
How to set up an IMAP sync for a staff account
An IMAP sync needs to be set up separately for each staff account as the details of their own email inbox need to be added.
To be able to access the IMAP sync please ask Full Fabric support to activate the core.institutions.user_emails_imap_settings permission for your staff role.
Once this permission is activated, click your initials on the bottom left-hand corner and choose the option Profile Settings:
Then switch to the tab IMAP preferences. The following steps will vary depending on your email client.
If your email account isn't from Microsoft
Select IMAP auth 1.0 with username and password as the authentication method and proceed to enter your IMAP details and select the mailboxes you want to sync. In order to receive both sent and received emails then both the "inbox" and "sent" mailboxes need to be selected.
To find your IMAP details if you have a Gmail account, please come here.
If you have a Microsoft email account
Before following the steps below, your institution will need to have set up an integration between Full Fabric and Microsoft. If that hasn't been done please read the following article to learn how to set that up - Setting up MS Azure for IMAP integration.
1) Select OAuth 2.0 with a Microsoft email account as your authentication method
2) Click the button Authenticate with Microsoft, which will redirect you to a Microsoft sign-in page
3) Sign in via Microsoft and tick the option to remember your sign-in details
4) Lastly, back in Full Fabric, select your mailboxes (as already mentioned, in order to receive both sent and received emails, both the "inbox" and "sent" mailboxes need to be selected)
Microsoft authentication is only valid for 90 days, after which your IMAP will be disconnected and you will need to authenticate again by returning to your IMAP settings and repeating the above steps. Full Fabric notifies you by email whenever this happens.
IMPORTANT!
Please note that your email account may require you to verify that you allow Full Fabric to sync emails via IMAP. This should come in the form of an email after you set up your IMAP sync in Full Fabric or may only appear in your email account settings.
If you have two-factor authentication (2FA) set up, then you may also need to create an application-specific password. See the guide for setting up an application-specific password for your Google account here. Alternatively, if you have an Outlook account, come here.
How to create new profiles via IMAP sync
If you would like to create new profiles when you receive an email then you have the setting below where you can choose whether new profiles will be created or not.
Frequently asked questions
Will emails continue to sync for suspended users?
No, syncing will stop as soon as a user is suspended.
How can I delete emails that have been synced?
Please contact support to delete any emails. Once emails have been synced they will remain in Full Fabric even after you delete the emails from your email client.
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LAST UPDATED: October 24, 2022 at 2:19 p.m.