Version 5.1.8c Update

Integration with Email in Microsoft Outlook

You must first do the following:

You will still be able to use Email in A1Law and utilization of the A1Law Email forms in Outlook should not affect any other departments not using A1Law.

1.    You must have Outlook installed on the workstations that you want to send Email in Outlook from A1-Law.  Not all workstations need Outlook installed.  If a workstation does not have Outlook installed on it, you will not be able to send Email in Outlook.
2.    You may still use A1-Law Email as well as Email in Outlook just like you may use Microsoft Word with some letters and the A1-Law word processor with others.
3.    You may post the Outlook Email to any case activity you like.
4.    Click Tools, System, Configure System Defaults, General, Email.  Microsoft Outlook. Check the box Enable Email with Microsoft Outlook.
5.    Click Case Activity (near the middle on the left side of the configure system defaults window) so that you may view the category numbers for case activity  (ie:  1 = Main Case Activity, 2 = Rehab, etc...).  Find the default case activity number you want to post Outlook Email to.  Click the General, Email tab again and under the box that you checked to Enable Email with Microsoft Outlook you will see Category to Post to.  Enter the type of case, a dash and the category number.  For example:  W-4, P-2 would default to case activity category number 4 for workers' compensation cases and PI cases would default to category #2.  You may change the category to post to in Outlook before sending the Email.
6.  Single click on the party you want to send an Email to in the party sheet.  The Email address should be entered in the rolodex (for that party) before clicking the Outlook button otherwise the Email address will be blank when the Outlook Email form is displayed.  Single click the Outlook button at the Party sheet to display an Email to send in Outlook.  The Email is automatically posted to case activity when you click the Send button in Outlook.  You do not need to be signed in A1-Law for the Outlook Email to post to case activity.  If you want to send an Email to someone not on the Party sheet such as another staff member then you may right click on the Outlook button and it won't use the Email address of the currently highlighted party at the party sheet.
7.  If you send an Email to another staff member in A1-Law they may then Reply to that Email and Outlook will know it is an Outlook/Email from A1Law and automatically bring up a Reply form that will also be posted to A1Law.  You will need to put your 3 letter initials on the reply form so that the proper initials are posted in the case activity along with the Email.

8.  It is possible to set up User Defined Views in Outlook so as to view the case caption, case activity category, case number, client, etc for those Emails that are integrated with A1-Law.  More on how to do this later.

9.  If there are any problems sending an Email the very first time - you may need to restart your workstation one time.

Configuring Your Custom Views
This is optional.  You do not need to do this when integrating A1Law with Outlook. But, you may decide to configure Outlook to show some or all of the user defined fields when viewing Emails in your Inbox.  The names of the user defined fields are as follows:

CaseNo
CaseCaption
CaseCategory
CaseFrom
CaseClient

CaseCategory is the case activity category name where the Outlook Email was posted to in A1Law.  CaseFrom is the A1Law initials of who sent the Email.  CaseClient is the name of the applicant.  You may decide to display one or several of these user defined fields.  You may customize your view in Outlook as follows:

In Microsoft Outlook, click View, Current View, Customize Current View.  Click the Fields button.  Next, click the New Field button and type in the name of one or several of the user defined fields listed above that you would like Outlook to display as a Custom View.  For example, you might decide to enter CaseNo and CaseCategory.  Next, highlight those fields and click Add button so that the fields moves in the list from Available Fields (on the left) to Show these fields in this order (on the right).  You may then move the fields up or down in the list so that Outlook orders the fields in the columns you want.  Click the OK button to save your Custom View.