Dynamics 365 Email Tracking

2023-11-10

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Overall

Email Ingesttion Layer > Ingestion Sources

Personal email mailboxes via users
Other email mailboxes via queues

Email Ingesttion Layer >

Tracking Method	Trigger	Trigger Source	Matching Logic	Match Target
Tracking email conversations	Automatic	Outlook Inbox Folder	Email subject, recipients and etc.	Previous email activity records
Exchange folder-level tracking	Automatic	Outlook Sub-folders	Outlook folders	Contacts, Oppoortunities etc, depending on the folder tracking configuration
Dynamics 365 App for Outlook	Manual	Manual	Manual	Manual

Email Ingesttion Layer > Dataset

In the “Personal Options” of Dynamics 365 CRM, users can configure the email messsages to be tracked in Dynamics 365 CRM. Normally we don’t recommend to track all emails in Dynamics 365 CRM, as not only it will create a lot of noise in the system, but also to prevent the potential privacy issues, for example, tracking personal or confidential emails in Dynamics 365 CRM.

Email Activities Records in Dynamics 365 CRM

Eventually the tracked emails will be processed and stored in Dynamics 365 CRM as email activities records. The email activities records will be associated with the relevant records in Dynamics 365 CRM, such as contacts, opportunities, cases, etc.

Mapping to Regarding Records

The email tracking mechanism in Dynamics 365 CRM will also try to link the tracked emails to the relevant records, like contacts, opportunities, cases, etc.

Post Tracking > Email Rules

After the emails are tracked in Dynamics 365 CRM, we can also configure record creation rules to convert the incoming emails to other records and tasks.

Tracking against Categories

Tracking against categories is specifically for the Customer Service app. You have to turn it on via OrgDBOrgSettings.

Scenarios

Scenario 1: Automatic Plus Manual Tracking

Let’s say you have already turned on tracking email conversations use correlation method in Dynamics 365 CRM. And sometimes there are missing emails in Dynamics 365 CRM, so the user can manually track the missing emails in Dynamics 365 CRM by clicking the “Track” button in the Dynamics 365 App for Outlook.

Scenario 2: Manual Tracking

Maybe the users want fine control over what emails will be tracked in Dynamics 365 CRM, so we can configure a folder level tracking in Dynamics 365 CRM without mapping to any specific records. This way, the user can just drag and drop the emails to the specific folders to track them in Dynamics 365 CRM.

FAQs

Q: if I turn on both “folder-level tracking” and “Tracking email conversations”, and an incoming email lands in a tracked email folder and is also a reply email to an email originated from CRM, will both tracking logic execute? Will it generate duplicates email activities in CRM?

Dynamics 365 has a built-in mechanism recognizes that both folder-level tracking and token-based tracking are trying to associate the same email. It will allow one of them to proceed and block the other, ensuring you only have a single email activity created in Dynamics 365. Dynamics 365 usually gives precedence to the more specific tracking method (token-based in this case), as it provides a stronger link to the related CRM record.

Q:How to determine if and why an email was automatically tracked?

Microsoft documentation provides a good explaination on how to determine if and how an email was automatically tracked.

Look into the Correlation Method field on the email activity record is a good starting point as it determines which tracking method is used for mapping the email to the email activity records in Dynamics 365 CRM.

Best Practices

Use Smart Matching

Use smart matching will tell the system to search in more fields to find the matching records, for example, email subject and recepients. This will lead to false positives and cause noise and confusion to the end users.