Hi Steve,
This feature are really cool! We’ve been using your tool for a while now and are starting to love it!

About this new feature I noticed that is places the whole conversation in Gmail in Solve360. Sometimes our staff can have a long conversation with a client, but there are only a few of those which is so important that we want them in Solve360.

Is there a way to use this new feature with Gmail labels so that only specific email we chose appear in Solve360, instead of the whole(something enormous) conversation?

Kind regards,
Jon

Hi Jon,

When we release the UI elements for this feature in the gadget you will be able to link a single message in a thread.  Until then I’m guessing the option is to turn conversation mode off (for the moment) so you can label each message independently.

Thank you for the good news. We rather wait until the “UI elements” is done then. I can not see how mankind could ever live without the conversation mode in Gmail.

This is definitively what we also need.
Hope it’ll come soon !

The UI is actually ready and we’re just ensuring that the base functionality here is producing the expected results etc.  So it’s only time now

Good to read!

Engineering SpecialOps - Jul 14, 2011 01:00pm

The UI is actually ready and we’re just ensuring that the base functionality here is producing the expected results etc.  So it’s only time now :)

chop chop people!  ;)

Also, can you explain what the difference between this and archiving is?

When I archive to workgroup, won’t that show up under the appropriate contact anyways?

Archive = copy the message to the Solve360 database, remove inbox label (message is “moved” to Solve360)

Link = label is applied to message, Solve360 refers to the message in the user’s account (message stays in the user’s Gmail account)

The advantage of this new feature for me is that I can assign messages in bulk rather than one by one because of the flexibility of GMail tagging. However, I don’t seem to be able to get it to work. I set up the tag in my second GMail account, confirmed it is linked to Solve360 (I can see contacts etc) and checked the Webmail settings, but when I apply the tag, nothing shows up in Solve360. The second account is a Google Apps account (ie the domain isn’t gmail.com), does that make a difference? Getting this working would really be a great help to me.

Thanks for a great product.

Ian

@ismith94949 Exactly.  Here are some tips..

1) Ensure this is a Google Apps account and not a normal Gmail account,

2) Ensure you can open Workspace > Webmail and see the messages in your Google Apps email account’s Inbox (this confirms the link between the two systems is working)

3) Recheck the names of the labels you manually created (when this feature rolls out completely we’ll create them for you / have another UI), #Solve360/{your workgroup name}

3) Confirm that the contact is in the same workgroup as the label, the contact has a linked-email activity, and that the criteria to link is there e.g. email address(es).

If you’re still having trouble you can reach out to our support team directly.

Thanks for the kind words!

Thanks for the blazing fast response. I think my problem is at 2) because I see my main email account, but not the secondary in the webmail window. I’ll reach out to support as you suggest. Thanks again.

Question.  Is there a way to get an email in my Gmail Sent items linked to a contact in Solve.  In this example I forgot to CC my web mail group when I sent a reply to a contact.  I looked in my sent Gmail however Solve wants to link the email to me not to my contact.

Nevermind, it linked them to the correct contacts, just threw me off when the button options in the Gmail gadget were “Open Matt Herron” (me) and “Archive to ....”  I wold have thought it would have read “Open Joe Blow” (contact)

Yup makes sense. If you were in your “sent items” the last email in the conversation is likely to be one from you. Thats why the gadget is offering to open your record.

I’m not clear on whether this works with conversation view or not? I prefer conversation view, since it keeps relevant information in the order of original communication. Will it be possible to move entire conversations into Solve360?

I’m not clear on whether this works with conversation view or not?

As each message is labeled it will show up in Solve; so generally yes it does work.  But Solve will show the message thread in a traditional list view.

Engineering SpecialOps - Aug 05, 2011 06:40am

I’m not clear on whether this works with conversation view or not?

As each message is labeled it will show up in Solve; so generally yes it does work.  But Solve will show the message thread in a traditional list view.

Thanks. Has anyone else had a problem with this feature slowing performance of Gmail?

Engineering SpecialOps - Aug 05, 2011 06:40am

I’m not clear on whether this works with conversation view or not?

As each message is labeled it will show up in Solve; so generally yes it does work.  But Solve will show the message thread in a traditional list view.

Right now, the linking works only with conversation view turned off in G apps, at least for me. Is this how it’s supposed to be? It seems like it was working with conversation view turned on, before. Now, it links the first message in a thread but not the following messages.

@Peyton The linking feature won’t slow Gmail (it’s impossible actually).  It only relies on messages having a label on them; there is no other dependency or interaction currently.  Labels are standard Gmail functionality.

Normally when you apply a label to a conversation all the messages in the thread are also labelled, so in this way conversation view is also supported.  However, in some cases this i not desirable (sharing all messages in a thread).  To address this we have ready to implement a feature in our contextual gadget which will allow you to apply the label a single message.

Engineering SpecialOps - Aug 17, 2011 01:03pm

@Peyton The linking feature won’t slow Gmail (it’s impossible actually).  It only relies on messages having a label on them; there is no other dependency or interaction currently.  Labels are standard Gmail functionality.

Normally when you apply a label to a conversation all the messages in the thread are also labelled, so in this way conversation view is also supported.  However, in some cases this i not desirable (sharing all messages in a thread).  To address this we have ready to implement a feature in our contextual gadget which will allow you to apply the label a single message.

Yes, it would be good to have the option to link a single message, but most of the time I want to link the whole thread, and this doesn’t seem to happen. Any idea why this would not work?

The criteria is that the message has the label and the context of the message matches the criteria in the linked-email activity (each message in the conversation is matched individually).

Engineering SpecialOps - Aug 18, 2011 06:59pm

The criteria is that the message has the label and the context of the message matches the criteria in the linked-email activity (each message in the conversation is matched individually).

Some of the messages in the threads must not match the criteria. I will make sure that they do, from now own. I also find it helps if I include the contact’s full name as a search term, so that if the email is about them rather than with them, it links correctly. Is there a way of changing the default search criteria to include this?

Peyton Stafford - Aug 19, 2011 10:24am

Engineering SpecialOps - Aug 18, 2011 06:59pm

The criteria is that the message has the label and the context of the message matches the criteria in the linked-email activity (each message in the conversation is matched individually).

Some of the messages in the threads must not match the criteria. I will make sure that they do, from now own. I also find it helps if I include the contact’s full name as a search term, so that if the email is about them rather than with them, it links correctly. Is there a way of changing the default search criteria to include this?

Yes you can modify the linking criteria for the ‘View for Linked Email’ activity by hovering over the Envelope icon in the Activities Panel. The ‘Edit’ button will pop up and you can click on this and tweak the linking criteria.

I have been playing with this and have found that if I set up Gmail filters to tag certain emails with my #Solve360/ tag, then I don’t have to do this manually. The filters I set up are patterned to capture emails associated with specific clients. They seem to work on outbound as well as inbound messages, though my understanding of Gmail filters was that they worked only on inbound.

This saves a huge amount of time, and if I don’t want a message in Solve360, I can always remove the tag from it. Most of the time, I want all my messages associated with these clients in Solve360, so I don’t have to do this.

The one downside is that when using the #Solve360/ tag and sending through the Solve360 webmail client, Solve360 ends up with two copies of the message. One is the message in Gmail, linked with the #Solve360/ tag; the other is the message truly stored in Solve360.

Is there a way around this? Should I change the Save In choice in the webmail client? If so, to what?

Peyton Stafford - Aug 23, 2011 11:20am

I have been playing with this and have found that if I set up Gmail filters to tag certain emails with my #Solve360/ tag, then I don’t have to do this manually. The filters I set up are patterned to capture emails associated with specific clients. They seem to work on outbound as well as inbound messages, though my understanding of Gmail filters was that they worked only on inbound.

This saves a huge amount of time, and if I don’t want a message in Solve360, I can always remove the tag from it. Most of the time, I want all my messages associated with these clients in Solve360, so I don’t have to do this.

The one downside is that when using the #Solve360/ tag and sending through the Solve360 webmail client, Solve360 ends up with two copies of the message. One is the message in Gmail, linked with the #Solve360/ tag; the other is the message truly stored in Solve360.

Is there a way around this? Should I change the Save In choice in the webmail client? If so, to what?

Changing the ‘save in’ to ‘Sent Items’ should do the trick. Give it a spin and let us know?

Engineering SpecialOps - Aug 23, 2011 11:45am

Peyton Stafford - Aug 23, 2011 11:20am

I have been playing with this and have found that if I set up Gmail filters to tag certain emails with my #Solve360/ tag, then I don’t have to do this manually. The filters I set up are patterned to capture emails associated with specific clients. They seem to work on outbound as well as inbound messages, though my understanding of Gmail filters was that they worked only on inbound.

This saves a huge amount of time, and if I don’t want a message in Solve360, I can always remove the tag from it. Most of the time, I want all my messages associated with these clients in Solve360, so I don’t have to do this.

The one downside is that when using the #Solve360/ tag and sending through the Solve360 webmail client, Solve360 ends up with two copies of the message. One is the message in Gmail, linked with the #Solve360/ tag; the other is the message truly stored in Solve360.

Is there a way around this? Should I change the Save In choice in the webmail client? If so, to what?

Changing the ‘save in’ to ‘Sent Items’ should do the trick. Give it a spin and let us know?

Thanks! Works perfectly!

Thanks for the good news. We prefer to wait until the “elements of user interface” is then performed. I can not see how mankind could live without the mode of conversation in Gmail.

We’re in the process of enabling the “Link to” feature for all users with the enhanced gadget option.

With this release the “Link to” feature is not enabled by default.  If you’re the admin and your team has been testing this feature, please enable the feature now:

- reload the Solve360 page (so you get the latest updates)
- under Workspace > Add-ons > Google Apps > enable the “Link to” option in the gadget.

Notes on the related changes are on their way.

New documentation on the Link to feature is at Connect private Gmail messages to your shared CRM records

Hmmm, I must be missing something because when I use the archive to feature it works like it’s supposed to and the emails show up both in the Workgroup (Sales) folder in webmail and show up within the email container in the activities pane…

but, when i use the link to option it links the email to the #Solve360/{Workgroup} folder in webmail but DOES NOT show up within the activities pane of the contact

btw, I am trying this with MY own contact in Solve and sending an email to myself that contains my full name (also have the link options to recognize “full name”)

@MarshallCCA did you enable the link to feature under Workspace > Add-ons?

Yep, sure did…after that, the Link To {Workgroup} button popped up in emails, restarted Solve and still wont work…

EDIT: just went through some trouble shooting using the write ups to no avail…whats confusing me now is when i try to use the link in google apps>more>Solve360 it redirects me to an error page that says “Please have Marshall Chamberlain grant you access to Solve360.” but the gadget in google apps works (with the exception of Link To) and Webmail in Solve works just fine, why is it telling me I need to grant myself access?

Maybe Solve isn’t recognizing the label that has been created in google apps? because I see the label #Solve360/Sales in the Solve Webmail area and the “Linked” emails are there, they just aren’t showing up in under the mail activity container

@MarshallCCA Thanks for the info.  It seems that there’s a dot that needs to be connected between the accounts.  Could you reach out to our team (contact info on the website) and the’ll be happy to review and make this perfect.

Ok, will do…not sure if this helps any but a few other things I am noticing..

1. When I try to remove the Contextual Gadget via the red [X] under My Account>Authorized Websites it returns the error message [Token Revoke: Non-Authorized Request]

2. I tried making the Username under webmail settings “empty” but as soon as I do that I lose everything in Webmail and the gadget ceases to work inside google apps!
and
3. When I try to access any of the [https://secure.solve360.com/marketplace/] links found in the Google Apps>Dashboard>Solve360 Settings I get either “Please have Marshall Chamberlain grant you access to Solve360.” or “Invalid Parameters.”

I am Marshall Chamberlain and I Grant myself access to Solve360!! if only it were that easy…

@MarshallCCA We think we know what happened relating to “connecting the dots”, it may work for you now, and if not just reach out to our team so they can reset a value for your account.

Hey! SpecOps, works great now! man, you guys are awesome..thanks a bunch

I think I have this working right, that putting a label #solve360/workgroup labels the email in gmail and webmail and attaches to contacts- awesome!  For g apps users with outlook sync, this mean you can put an email into a folder in outlook, and it’ll make its way to the contact record in 360… VERY cool.

I have a question though- I have clients (contacts) who have many open or closed transactions (blogs) with me.  How would I label usign this linking feature to put a specific email into a specific blog?

Good eye, not many people realize this feature can eliminate the Bcc from Outlook etc.

The linking works the same for project blogs - ensure there is a linked-emails activity on the page and something in the message matches the linking-criteria on that activity.  By default for project blogs it’s only the title, so depending on your case you may need to expand that.

this is a killer application- except for one thing, I can’t get it to work reliably.  I can tag, I see all the emails under the contact, but for the blogs, it’s just not pulling in the messages I want- it’s pulling ALL the messages from the related parties (my wholesaler and the client)  Each client may have several transactions with me- each is a blog- and my wholesaler is with me in every transaction- about 15 open current blogs.  thus the linked emails is a jumbled mess of every clients emails and all my supplier mails.  when filtering for one of my specific fields, which would be awesome, it doesn’t seem to work.

feature request- make the linking work like this- #Solve360/{workgroup}/{blog} and be able to assign an email to a blog via tag

that would be super duper slick!

Thanks for the feedback.  The issue with blogs dosen’t relate to this feature so much, it’s that you need to be more particular about the filtering criteria.  By default it’s “title” which is often to general or two specific.

Now this feature is in place we are well positioned to “play” with Gmail labels more.  The thought of using them to file messages to projects has crossed our mind

I love the idea of this feature but I’m getting a fail.  When i try to Archive, I get an Archive Failed error.  Sometimes the Linking button appears and sometimes not.  Selecting Linking says that Imap folder limitations prevent it from working.  Changing imap settings makes no difference.

Dan Brazelton - Nov 02, 2011 12:38pm

I love the idea of this feature but I’m getting a fail.  When i try to Archive, I get an Archive Failed error.  Sometimes the Linking button appears and sometimes not.  Selecting Linking says that Imap folder limitations prevent it from working.  Changing imap settings makes no difference.

Perhaps its best if you reached out to our team directly so we can take a closer look.

Ok.  I did that.

Thanks for the help - I had to add new permissions in Gmail. Resolved.

I think that I am having the same “archive failed” problem that Dan was having. Any ideas?

in Gmail, go to the bottom right and select Manage This Domain - Select Solve360 in Google Apps Marketplace at the bottom -  make sure Data Access has full permissions.

I guess I am dense.  I have read:

http://norada.com/?uri=norada/crm/connect_private_gmail_messages_to_your_shared_crm_records

But I still don’t see when I might use Archive and when I might use Link.

Can someone tell me in practice how these are different?  The grid on the explanation page doesn’t help me.  I’ve tried both buttons and they SEEM to do the same exact thing.

Thanks for the hand holding.

- Paul

Hey Paul,

I’ve tried both buttons and they SEEM to do the same exact thing.

Identical results is actually the goal.  The single important difference is LINK TO keeps the message in the Gmail account (it essentially “shares” the message with Solve360); it’s a very unique feature.  While ARCHIVE TO moves the email message from Gmail into Solve360 (a more conventional approach).

Generally you should decide to use one or the either but not both (to keep the process consistent and simple).

What are the prons and cons of each of these methods?