Use email
One proven way to build long-term relationships with customers is through consistent communication. Effective communication with customers can affect all areas of your organization, from increased sales to higher overall customer satisfaction. While more communication channels are becoming available, email is still the most-used form of communication. Often, email is especially important in customer service scenarios. Service representatives use email to communicate with the customer as they work on issues and as a way to communicate critical items, such as images, that are related to the issue. Without these details, representatives might not be able to resolve the issue quickly.
With the available email capabilities in Dynamics 365, your service representatives have the ability to respond quickly and engage in timely customer interactions. Additionally, representatives can compose, reply, and review email, and then quickly attach and send images that add value and support to customer communication by using streamlined functions. The email capabilities help to ensure that interactions between you and your customers are consistent and professional by letting you create rich email templates with abundant text and images.
Explore the email experience
As service representatives are working in Dynamics 365 Customer Service applications, they have two primary experiences when using email capabilities:
Navigate-to - Always displays the email in a new screen.
Contextual - Started from the records timeline, displays email in a pop-up screen, and allows you to:
Move to different pages without losing email content.
Minimize the email window to return to the records that you were working on.
View, compose, and reply to five emails simultaneously in pop-up windows, when enabled.
The only difference between the two experiences is where the email displays on your screen; otherwise, no difference occurs in the available functionality.
Important
Contextual email is also referred to as enhanced email. Be aware that no special functionality is associated with the contextual email experience other than the fact that it's a pop-up experience.
The contextual or enhanced email must be enabled by an administrator in your organization. That process is examined in more detail later in this module. For more information, see Enable the enhanced email experience.
View, compose, and respond to email
As a service representative, you might have many communications throughout the day, and it's important that you can access your emails quickly when you need them. In Dynamics 365, you can view, create, and send email faster, with streamlined access that helps you effectively compose, reply, and send emails by using features like rich text editing and drag-and-drop attachment features and functionalities.
The Activities view, which is available in the left navigation pane, provides you with quick access to all your Dynamics 365 activities, such as tasks, emails, and phone calls. From the Activities view, you can view and respond to email across your Dynamics 365 apps.
Corresponding with the numbers in the preceding screenshot, the following list describes elements that are available in the Activities view:
Activities - Navigates to the Activities view in your current application.
All Activities - View selector that lets you filter the activities that are displayed, such as displaying only your activities.
Activity Type - Lets you specify the type of activity that you want to display, such as email.
Activity list - Displays a list of activities based on the filters that you selected. In the previous screenshot, the list is displaying emails.
Compose an email
Other than receiving emails from customers, service representatives also frequently compose new email messages to customers. The advantage is that the email is associated with records in Dynamics 365, and items like replies are also accessible from the application. As a representative, you can create email messages in multiple ways, based on where you are in the application. You can create new email messages by selecting the Email button on the command bar when you're working in an activity view. If you're working within a record, you can create new emails by selecting the Create timeline record icon and then selecting Email.
Important
Depending on your organization and how the system is configured, you might find different versions of the Email form that are available. While each form provides email capabilities, which capabilities are available and how they are presented on the form can vary based on the form that you are using. Working with these different form versions is examined later in this unit.
When the new email form opens, multiple items are available to help you compose the email. The following image shows the Enhanced Email form, which provides extra visualization capabilities.
Corresponding with the numbers in the preceding screenshot, the following list describes the more common elements on the Enhanced Email form:
From - Automatically populated based on the user who is currently signed in.
Expand - Allows you to compose your email in a full-screen view and minimize when you're done.
Rich text editor - This tool bar helps you format emails. The editor is displayed as a single line that you can expand to view the full list of editing features by default.
Body - The body is where you compose or reply to an email.
Insert Signature - Inserts a signature to personalize your message.
Insert Template - Lets you specify a predefined email template that you want to use with your message.
New Attachment - Lets you attach files to your email.
Attach File - Use to move or copy and paste attachments.
Send - Sends your email message when you're ready.
Rich text editor toolbar
The rich text editor toolbar provides features and functionality that allow you to work with rich text formatting controls in emails so that you can build better communication with your customers. The toolbar helps make it easier for you to handle tasks, such as formatting text in the email, and it also lets you include visual elements, such as images or links, to other items.
The following table describes the different formatting features and functionality options that are available in the rich text editor that you can use in the email form.
| Icon | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Format Painter | Applies the appearance of a particular section to another section. |
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Font | Changes to your selected font. The default font is Segoe UI. |
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Font size | Changes the size of your text. The default size is 9. |
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Bold | Applies bold style to your text. |
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Italic | Applies italic style to your text. |
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Underline | Underlines your text. |
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Text Highlight Color | Makes your text stand out by highlighting it in a bright color. |
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Font Color | Changes the color of your text. |
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Bullets | Creates a bulleted list. |
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Numbering | Creates a numbered list. |
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Decrease Indent | Moves your paragraph closer to the margin. |
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Increase Indent | Moves your paragraph farther away from the margin. |
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Block Quote | Applies a block-level quotation format in your content. |
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Align Left | Aligns your text to the left. |
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Align Center | Aligns your text to the center. |
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Align Right | Aligns your text to the right. |
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Link | Creates a link in your document for quick access to webpages and files. |
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Unlink | Deletes a link in your email or document. |
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Superscript | Type small letters above the line of text. |
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Subscript | Type small letters below the line of text. |
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Strikethrough | Cross out text by drawing a line through it. |
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Insert Image | Insert an image by directly copying and pasting it inline in the editor, by moving it from your desktop or local folder directly into the editor, or by entering a URL. |
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Left to Right | Change the text to left-to-right for content such as a paragraph, header, table, or list. Commonly used for bidirectional language content. This setting is the default. |
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Right to Left | Change the text to right-to-left for content such as a paragraph, header, table, or list. Commonly used for bidirectional language content. The default setting is left-to-right. |
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Undo Typing | Undo changes that you made to the content. |
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Redo Typing | Redo changes that you made to the content. |
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Clear All Formatting | Remove all formatting from a selection of text, leaving only the normal, unformatted text. |
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Add a Table | Add a table to your content. |
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Expand Toolbar | Displays when the toolbar is collapsed and not all options appear. Select to expand the toolbar and make all options visible. |
For more information, see Use the rich text editor toolbar in email.
Reply to an email
Similar to composing an email, the manner in which you reply to an email as a service representative depends on where you are in the application. Often, you work with a case or contact record where the email activity is reflected on the record timeline. In those instances, you can reply directly from the timeline. When you're replying to emails from your timeline, the command bar in the upper-right corner provides you with reply options. When you select an option, your email is set automatically and opens in that state, ready for you to begin your message.
You can use the following command options when working with emails in the timeline (numbers in the screenshot correspond with ensuing numbered list).
Reply - Use this command to directly reply to the sender of the email that you received.
Reply All - Use this command to reply to everyone on an email that you received.
Forward - Use this command to forward the email to someone else.
If you opened the received email directly in Dynamics 365, such as from the Activities list, then the Reply, Reply All, and Forward commands display on the command bar in the upper portion of the record.
Explore email forms
Depending on your organization and the items that are being configured, you might discover that you have multiple email forms available. While each form provides email capabilities, the functions and how they appear can vary based on the form that you're using. The default form is Enhanced Email; however, you can switch to one of the other available forms by using the form selector icon on the email and then selecting the form that you want to work with.
File attachments are affected by the different forms, but the ability to attach files isn't affected. Essentially, file attachments display differently based on the email form that you're working in. If needed, you can email files without losing information.
The following image shows what the form looks like and how attachments display when you use the standard email form.
Corresponding with the numbers in the preceding screenshot, the following list describes the elements on the standard email form:
Email - Identifies that you're using the Email form.
Attachment - Displays a vertical list of the first three file attachments.
File count - Use to navigate to other pages when you have more files than what can be viewed.
The following image shows what the form looks like and how attachments display with the Enhanced Email form.
Corresponding with the numbers in the preceding screenshot, the following list describes the elements on the Enhanced Email form:
Enhanced Email - Identifies that you're using the Enhanced Email form.
Attached files - Displays all your email attachments in a horizontal tile view above your message.
File count - Use to navigate to more pages when you have more files than what can be viewed.
Attachment commands - Allow you to use the select, select all, sort, delete, and download functionality when working with your file attachments.
Attach a file to email
Attaching files to an email message is one of the most-used features of email. Customers might send you attachments that represent screenshots or items that can be used for troubleshooting. As a service representative, you might send items, such as configuration files or instructions.
You can attach a file by using one of two methods:
Attach File - Located on the command bar, this option lets you do file attachments.
New Attachment - Located above the rich text editor when you're using the Enhanced Email form, this option allows you to use drag-and-drop or copy-and-paste functionality.
After the record is saved for the first time, the Attach File and New Attachment options can be used interchangeably.
No limit is placed on the number of files that you can attach to an email; however, file size limitations are established that your system administrator manages. By default, the limit for an email file attachment is 5 MB.
When you attach one or more files to a message by using the Enhanced Email form, you can manage and perform commands on individual or groups of file attachments by using the file attachment commands.
Corresponding with the numbers in the preceding screenshot, the following list describes the file attachment commands:
Select All - Allows you to select all visible file attachments at once. Select file attachments on other pages independently.
Tile Color Transparency - The background color of selected file attachments changes to light grey to identify which files are selected.
Checkbox - Displays a checkbox when the file attachment is selected.
As you work with images and attachments, you might find that you don't need a field that is attached to the email or that you want to download a copy of the file. Both options are supported.
Corresponding with the numbers in the preceding screenshot, the following list describes the delete and download commands:
Delete - Deletes any selected file attachments.
Download - Downloads the selected file attachment.
View and insert images in email
The use of visual aids helps users convey a tremendous amount of information with just a glance. The ability to view and insert inline images in email using drag-and-drop or copy-and-paste is a powerful tool for users. Additionally, you can browse to a file or reference an online URL using the image toolbar button.
You can drag-and-drop or copy-and-paste images into the email.
Corresponding with the numbers in the preceding screenshot, the following list describes the commands for adjusting and saving images:
Email images - You can adjust the image size.
Save - When you complete your edits, select Save or Save & Close.