Email Communications and Logging

Send and Receive Emails in Clarra

You can send and receive emails within Clarra by connecting your Outlook or Gmail account to Clarra. This synchronizes the Send an Email feature in the Communications section with your external email account. 

Emails sent from and received in Clarra are automatically logged on the Communications page, as well as the Communications tabs for the associated Matter and Contacts. Email replies are automatically tracked as threads, keeping associated communications organized and accessible.

An Admin must first enable Gmail or Outlook integration for the company and assign Users permissions before Users can connect their individual accounts.

Enable Email Integration (Admin)

(Admin) Enable Gmail integration for your company:

• Click on your Profile Icon
• Select “Account Settings”
• Select the “Integrations” tab
• Scroll to “Gmail” under “Communications Tools”
• Press “Enable” to the right
• Sign in to your Gmail account
• Consent to Permissions on behalf of your organization
• Gmail is now enabled for your company in Clarra

(Admin) Enable Microsoft 365 Outlook integration for your company:

• Click on your Profile Icon
• Select “Account Settings”
• Select the “Integrations” tab
• Scroll to “Microsoft 365 Outlook” under “Communications Tools”
• Press “Enable” to the right
• Sign in to your Outlook account
• Consent to Permissions on behalf of your organization
• Outlook is now enabled for your company in Clarra

Enable Email Permissions for Users (Admin)

• Click on your Profile Icon
• Select “Account Settings”
• Select the “Roles” tab
• Click the three dots to the right of “Standard User”
• Press “View Details”
• Press “Edit” at the bottom of the page
• Scroll to “Communications”
• Check the following boxes
  • “View Email Communications”
  • “Add Email Communications”
  • “Edit Email Communications”
  • “Delete Email Communications”
  • “View Communications Section”
• Press “Save”

Connect Email (Users)

To use the Communications feature, the User must connect their email account to Clarra.

(User) Connect Gmail:

• Click on your Profile Icon
• Select “User Settings”
• Select the “Integrations” tab
• Scroll to “Gmail” under “Communications Tools”
• Press “Connect” to the right
• Sign in to your Gmail account
• Gmail is now enabled for your company in Clarra

(User) Connect Microsoft 365 Outlook:

• Click on your Profile Icon
• Select “User Settings”
• Select the “Integrations” tab
• Scroll to “Microsoft 365 Outlook” under “Communications Tools”
• Press “Connect” to the right
• Sign in to your Outlook account
• Outlook is now enabled for your account in Clarra

Companies can enable either Gmail or Microsoft 365 Outlook for Email Communications. If you would like to switch from one platform to the other, disable the existing integration and follow the steps above to enable the new one.

Log Emails Automatically

You can also log emails to Clarra directly from your Outlook account by installing the “Log to Clarra” Add-in in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. This allows you to create Communication items, timeslips, and ClarraDocs within Outlook.

Install the “Log to Clarra” Outlook Add-in:

1. Open the Microsoft 365 Admin Center and sign in with your Global Administrator or Exchange Administrator account.
2. Navigate to Settings → Integrated Apps.
3. Click Upload custom apps.
4. In the App Type dropdown, select Office Add-in.
5. Download the Clarra Log to Clarra Add-in manifest file: Download.
6. Upload the Clarra Log to Clarra Add-in:
   1. Select upload manifest file (.xml) from device.
   2. Click the Choose File button.
   3. Select the downloaded Clarra manifest file.
7. Click the Next button.
8. Assign the Add-in to users by selecting Just Me, Entire Organization, or Specific users/groups.
9. Click the Next button.
10. Review and click the Accept Permissions button.
11. Accept the permissions.
12. Click the Next button.
13. Click the Finish deployment button.
14. Click Done.

Note: It can take up to six hours for the app to appear in Outlook.

Users can also automatically log emails sent outside of Clarra by enabling the Bcc integration. The Bcc integration allows Users to enter a Matter-specific email address as a Bcc recipient, which then automatically logs the email to that Matter in Clarra. Learn more in our article here.

Log Emails Manually

As with calls and texts, you can manually log emails that aren’t already synced with Clarra. You can also create timeslips for emails, which generate automatically if a duration is entered. 

Logged Emails are organized in the Communications tabs of their associated Matters and Contacts, as well as any attachments uploaded with the email.

Navigate to Log an Email:

• Select the Communications section on the left
• Click “+ New Communications”
• Hover over “Log Communications”
• Select “Log an Email”

OR

• Select the “+” icon in the top right corner
• Hover over “+New Communications Item”
• Select “Log an Email”

Log an Email:

• Select “Email” as the “Type”
• Enter the duration of the email or use the running timer 
• Select which Contact the email was from
• Select which Contact the email was sent to
• Select which Matter the email is related to
• Choose Tags for the email (optional)
• Enter the email’s Subject
• Paste the body of the email (optional)
• Attach Files to the email record (optional)
• Select the Date and Time the email was sent
• Press “Save”