Umitake Outlook Connector for Kintone User Manual

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. Installation
3. Administrator setup
   • Verify the licence key
   • About Microsoft 365 authorisation
   • Granting admin consent
   • Creating the storage apps
   • Features
   • Field Mapping
   • Email Import settings
   • Linking Rules
   • Registering the API token
   • Adding the plugin to a second app
4. What each user needs to do — connecting to Microsoft 365
5. Importing email
6. Choosing the right import action
7. The Related Email panel
8. Sending email
9. Calendar
10. Connected user limits
11. Operational notes
12. If something goes wrong

1. Overview

Umitake Outlook Connector for Kintone lets you send and receive Microsoft 365 (Outlook) mail and manage calendar events from Kintone records.

Correspondence is collected into Kintone regardless of who handled it, so opening a case record shows the whole exchange. History is not lost when the person responsible changes.

Main features

• Send mail from your own Outlook account, with record values merged in
• Collect mail sent and received by different team members onto the same record
• Bulk merge-send over a filtered list view, one message per record (up to 500)
• Undo send (30-second grace period by default)
• Create Outlook events from record dates, and keep them updated as the record changes
• Send from and import shared mailboxes (info@ and similar)
• Centrally managed signatures and email templates

How this manual is organised

Administrator setup alone is not enough to start exchanging mail. Each user also needs to connect to Microsoft 365 once.

2. Installation

1. Open the Kintone administration screen (gear icon)
2. Click Plug-ins
3. Click Import
4. Select and upload kintone-outlook.zip
5. Open the settings of the app where you want to use the plugin
6. Add "Umitake Outlook Connector" from the Plug-ins tab
7. Click Settings to open the plugin configuration screen

Install the plugin in the apps you work from — case management, customer management and so on. Do not install it in the history, signature or settings apps described below.

3. Administrator setup

Work through the tabs in the settings screen from the top.

3.1 Verify the licence key

On the General & License tab, enter your licence key and click Verify.

Verification also registers the app with the backend automatically. You do not need to press Register in the next step.

In a second or later app, this verification also carries over the history, signature and settings app selections (3.10).

3.2 About Microsoft 365 authorisation

Connecting to Microsoft 365 involves two separate steps.

Admin consent alone does not import any mail. A user's mailbox becomes available only after that person signs in to Microsoft 365 themselves.

Why admin consent is needed

Technically the plugin also works with individual user consent, but in many environments users are not permitted to consent for themselves — either through Microsoft's default settings or through company policy. In those tenants a user is stopped with "Need admin approval" and cannot resolve it.

Granting admin consent first means every user afterwards simply signs in.

The Kintone administrator does not need to be a Microsoft 365 administrator. The button in the settings screen only opens a consent URL, so you can pass that URL to your Microsoft 365 administrator. Whoever runs it needs one of these roles: Global Administrator, Privileged Role Administrator, Cloud Application Administrator, or Application Administrator.

Admin consent does not expose company-wide mail

The plugin requests delegated access only. No mailbox can be accessed unless its owner signs in. Application permissions — the kind that read every mailbox without anyone signing in — are not requested.

3.3 Granting admin consent

This is done on the Connection tab.

1. Under Scope of consent (select the features you plan to use), select the features you will use
2. Click Grant Admin Consent. Microsoft's consent screen opens in a separate window
3. When it completes, confirm with Test Connection

Please select every feature you expect to use at this point.

Adding a feature later means granting admin consent again. Until that is done, users are stopped with "Need admin approval" when they try to connect.

At the same time, selecting features you will not use requests permissions you do not need. If you will not use the calendar, it is better not to request Calendars.ReadWrite.

Features you have not consented to cannot be enabled under Features.

Permissions requested (Graph scopes)

Only the permissions needed by the features you selected.

Test Connection results

Each connected user is checked against Microsoft 365 to confirm their stored credentials still work (five at a time).

"Recreate the Token", inside the collapsed section of the same tab, is not needed in normal use. Running it stops the plugin working in your other apps until you press Refresh Registration in each of their settings screens. It exists to recover a lost shared token.

3.4 Creating the storage apps

On the Storage Apps tab, create the history, signature and settings apps, or select existing ones.

Please do not recreate the history, signature or settings apps. Mail can no longer be consolidated if you do.

3.5 Features

On the Features tab, select what this app uses. Disabled features do not appear in the interface.

Features are configured per app. Please enable what you need in a second app as well.

3.6 Field Mapping

The plugin does not create fields in your app. Please add the fields in Kintone first, then map them here.

The Related Email panel takes the width and height of the space field you map. If it appears cramped, enlarge the space field in the form editor.

3.7 Email Import settings

The Email Import tab controls what is imported. These settings are shared across the environment — editing them from any app changes them everywhere.

If both the customer domains and the contact masters are empty, no mail is imported.

3.8 Linking Rules

The Linking Rules tab decides which record imported mail attaches to. This tab is configured per app.

Please do not use "A. Address match" on a case management app. Mail about entirely different cases with the same customer will also be attached. For case management we recommend B + C + D.

Extracting a case number from the subject (rule B)

Specify a regular expression that extracts an identifier from the subject.

• It matches anywhere in the subject, not only the whole of it, so Re: prefixes are fine
• The contents of the first capture group are used as the identifier. Without a group, the whole match is used
• The extracted value is compared to the chosen field using an exact match

Removing the brackets widens what matches. To avoid unintended matches, anchor to a word boundary — for example (?:^|\s|\[)Case-(\d+).

Changing a rule does not change mail that has already been imported. Please run Re-Evaluate Links (6.2).

3.9 Registering the API token

A Kintone API token is registered for each app so that linking can be evaluated.

If this is missed, that app simply stops linking mail. No error is displayed.

3.10 Adding the plugin to a second app

You do not need to press Register.

Verifying the licence key on the General & License tab carries over the backend registration and the history, signature and settings app selections. The settings are saved and the screen reloads.

Please do not press Register again. You will be asked whether to recreate the token. Recreating it causes every call from your other apps to fail, and those apps will show "not connected".

The hand-over is automatic when there is exactly one candidate in the environment. If there are several history apps, for example, select one on the Storage Apps tab.

For a second app, there are effectively two things to configure: Features and the API token.

4. What each user needs to do — connecting to Microsoft 365

Each user connects once, themselves, from the list-view header.

1. Open the list view of an app with the plugin installed
2. Click Connect in the header
3. Sign in with your Microsoft 365 account

An administrator cannot connect on someone's behalf, and this cannot be done from the settings screen. The person has to sign in.

No mail is imported until this step is done, even when administrator setup is complete. Please include these instructions when you announce that setup is finished.

When a connection expires, the header changes to Reconnect. Click it and sign in again.

Connecting puts that person's mailbox into the polling set, so their personal correspondence is also matched against the import conditions. If you would prefer not everyone to connect, please see 12.5.

5. Importing email

5.1 How mail reaches a record

Mail passes through four stages before it appears on a record.

"Not imported" and "not linked" are checked in different places. If the message is in the history app, stages ①–③ succeeded and only ④ has not happened. Please open the history app first and look for the message.

5.2 What is read, and when

Reading a user's mailbox requires that person to have connected. A shared mailbox only needs one person with access to be connected.

5.3 Which mail is imported

Not all mail is imported. After removing your own domains from the senders and recipients, the remaining external address must match one of:

• a customer domain
• an address in a contact master

Please make sure your own domains are set. If they are not, matching runs against colleagues' addresses in internal mail and attaches messages to unrelated records.

Mail that does not meet the conditions is not saved to the history app. Loosening the conditions later does not import it automatically; see 6.4.

5.4 Where mail is stored

Imported mail is saved to the mail history app, including the message body, one record per message.

When the same message reaches several people (To and Cc, for example), it is merged into a single record automatically. Duplicate records are not created.

5.5 About linking

Linking is decided when the message is imported. It is configured in 3.8.

One message can attach to several records. If the plugin is installed in both customer management and case management, the same message attaches to the customer record and the case record. This is expected (up to 10 records per message by default).

Records created afterwards are not linked automatically. Please use the actions in the next chapter.

6. Choosing the right import action

Some actions search Outlook; others work entirely within Kintone.

6.1 Actions on a record (users)

Find Past Email is a single button. Clicking it lets you choose which of the two to use.

Search email already imported

Examines up to 2,000 messages, newest first. If it reaches that limit, the result says so.

Search back through Outlook

Imports mail that did not meet the import conditions at the time and was therefore not saved.

To gather what colleagues received, please ask them to run it as well. The same message merges into a single record.

6.2 Maintenance actions (administrator)

Found under Maintenance on the Sync Status tab.

Scope of Re-Import Past Email

If you want to go back further, change the look-back window on the Email Import tab first, then run the re-import. In the other order, older mail is read but not saved.

Because every connected mailbox is re-read, this takes a while. It never runs automatically.

6.3 Choosing by symptom

6.4 Mail that was not imported

Mail that did not meet the import conditions is not in the history app. Loosening the conditions or extending the window does not import it automatically. Please use the re-import actions above.

Note that a re-read still saves only mail that matches the import conditions and the window.

6.5 Mail you have unlinked

Mail you Unlink is not restored by re-evaluation or by a past-mail search. Please link it manually if you want it back.

Re-evaluation only adds links; it never removes them. If loosening a rule attached mail to the wrong record, please unlink it manually.

7. The Related Email panel

The record detail shows mail linked to that record, grouped into threads.

7.1 Display

• The subject is the thread heading (the grey band). The line below it is an excerpt of the body; click it to open the message
• Quoted text in replies is collapsed. Open it with Show Quoted Text
• Open history record opens the history record for that message
• A thread stays as one group even when the messages came from different mailboxes
• Messages within a thread, and the threads themselves, are ordered newest first

Message bodies are collapsed by default.

7.2 Attachments

Attachments on incoming mail are not imported by default. You can enable them with Import attachments on the Email Import tab. This setting is shared across the environment.

Images are not displayed inside the message body. Please open them from the attachment list.

Imported attachments are listed between the body and the reply buttons, so you can see them without opening the body.

Enabling this later does not import attachments on mail already stored. Please run Re-Import Past Email.

7.3 Who can read the mail

History app permissions determine who can read the mail. The Related Email panel reads the history app with the viewer's own permissions.

If mail should only be visible through a case record, please set record view permissions on the history app (11.1).

8. Sending email

Send Email on the record detail composes a message from that record. Sent mail is saved to the history app and attached to that record, and later replies are collected on the same record.

8.1 Sending a message

1. Click Send Email on the record detail
2. Choose a template. {fieldCode} in the subject and body is replaced with record values
3. Check From, To, Cc, Subject, Body and Signature
4. Attach files with Choose files if needed
5. Use Preview to see the message as it will be sent
6. Click Send

The body supports bold, underline, bullet lists, links and tables. Images cannot be used, in the body or in signatures.

8.2 Attachments

Attach files from your computer with Choose files, up to 20MB in total. Over the limit the message cannot be sent; please remove some files.

Attached files are also saved on the history record, so you can check later what was sent.

Files cannot be selected from the record's own attachment field. To send a file held on a record, please download it first and then attach it.

For files over 20MB we recommend putting a share link in the body, as receiving mail servers often reject larger messages.

When forwarding, the original message's attachments are carried through unchanged.

8.3 Recipient checks

Recipients are treated in three groups.

The check reuses your import settings. In an environment with no contact master and no customer domains, no warning is shown.

8.4 The sender

By default, mail is sent from your own address. It also appears in your Outlook Sent Items.

A shared mailbox (info@ and similar) can be used as the sender. Enable Send from a shared mailbox under Features, and a field for permitted sender addresses appears below it, one per line. Those addresses then appear in the From list on the send screen.

This field is separate from the import settings. The shared mailbox field on the Email Import tab decides what is read; this one decides what mail is sent from.

After enabling it, please grant admin consent again. You also need Full Access and Send As on that mailbox, granted in the Exchange admin centre.

8.5 Undoing a send

Sending has a grace period (30 seconds by default), during which Undo cancels it. After that the message cannot be recalled.

If a send fails during the grace period, no error appears on the sender's screen, because the message is sent after they have moved on.

Please set up a conditional notification on the history app — one that notifies the administrator or the sender when a record is created with a status of failed. You can create it under App Settings → Notifications → Conditional notifications. Without it, a failed send goes unnoticed.

8.6 Bulk Send

Run it from Bulk Send in the list-view header. It appears only when you are connected.

• The targets are the records matching the current list filter, not checkbox selections
• One message per record, with values merged. Messages are not combined into a single send
• Up to 500 records at a time

A confirmation step (dry run) always runs before sending. Every row's recipient, subject and body preview is shown, with problem rows in red.

A single problem row prevents the whole send. Please correct the row and run it again.

Progress is shown while it runs. During the grace period, "Cancel all" stops the whole batch. If any rows failed, you can retry just those.

In the bulk send settings you can limit which departments or groups may run it. When limited, the send is refused if membership cannot be confirmed. Individual sends are not restricted.

8.7 Test Mode

To try things out before go-live, please use Test Mode on the Send Safeguards tab. Turn on Enable Test Mode and set a Redirect Address.

While it is on, every recipient is replaced with that address, so you can check templates and merge fields without sending to customers.

Please remember to turn it off when you have finished. While it is on, mail does not reach its intended recipients.

9. Calendar

Create an Outlook event from a record and keep it updated as the record changes. This works one way, from Kintone to Outlook. Changes made in Outlook are not reflected in Kintone.

9.1 Creating an event

Use Create Event on the record detail. In the Create an Outlook Event dialog, check the subject, date and time, location, body and Attendees. Select Make it a Teams Meeting to generate an online meeting link.

When the event is created, its event ID is written back to the record and used for later updates and deletions.

Create Event does not appear on a record that already has an event ID, because creating a second event would leave the first one impossible to update or delete.

9.2 Updating a record updates the event

Changing the start, end, subject, location or body and saving also updates the Outlook event. If none of the mapped fields changed, the event is left alone.

Saving with an empty start time deletes the Outlook event.

9.3 All-day events

Mapping Date fields to the start and end creates an All Day event. Using the same date for both gives a single-day event.

9.4 Reusing a record

When you copy a record, the event ID is cleared automatically. The original event is not affected.

9.5 Deleting a record

If an event is linked, you are asked what to do before the record is deleted.

Closing the dialog with ✕ or Esc is treated as cancelling.

9.6 Events created by other people

Events created by someone else cannot be updated or deleted, because the event is in that person's calendar.

The message names the person who created the event, so you can ask them. The record itself saves and deletes correctly. If events are handed between team members, we recommend using a shared Outlook calendar.

10. Connected user limits

The number of people who can connect depends on your plan.

Only people who connect to Microsoft 365 are counted, not your Kintone users. People who only read mail are not counted, so the figure is usually well below your Kintone licence count.

The current figure appears above the connection list in the settings screen, as "Connected users 12 / 30".

• At the limit, the next person who tries to connect is told so
• People who have already connected are unaffected, and can still reconnect
• A plan change is applied automatically within a day

To apply it immediately, click Refresh Registration under step 1 of the Connection tab. It is safe to run at any time.

11. Operational notes

11.1 History app permissions

Please consider this during rollout.

Imported mail is stored in the Kintone history app, including the message body. The Related Email panel reads that app with the viewer's own permissions, so anyone who can open the history app directly can also read messages that are not linked to the records they work with.

11.2 History app capacity

Because mail is consolidated, records in the history app accumulate over time.

Kintone limits the number of records per app, and at the limit no more records can be added. Cybozu can raise the limit on request.

There is no advance warning as you approach the limit. We recommend checking the record count periodically, or deciding a policy for deleting or archiving older mail.

Ways to reduce volume

• Narrow the import conditions (customer domains, contact masters)
• Shorten the look-back window (30 days by default)
• Turn off attachment import, or lower the size limit
• Ask Cybozu to raise the limit

11.3 Data handling

Message bodies and attachments are not stored on our servers. They are stored in your Kintone (the history app), and read directly from Kintone, so who can read the mail is determined by your Kintone record permissions.

Our servers hold only encrypted credentials, sync state, sync errors and connection history.

11.4 Not supported

Known constraints

12. If something goes wrong

12.1 Mail is not being imported

Please open the history app first and look for the message. If it is there, importing succeeded and only linking has not happened.

If the message is not in the history app, please check in order.

If the message is in the history app but not linked

12.2 Where errors appear

The only thing a user can resolve themselves is Reconnect. Please pass anything else to your Kintone administrator.

12.3 Where the administrator looks

Everything is collected on the Sync Status tab.

The graph request-id is required when raising a case with Microsoft. Including it when you contact us also speeds up diagnosis.

The Connection tab shows the connected users and whether admin consent covers the features currently enabled.

12.4 Common messages

"Insufficient permissions" is resolved by granting admin consent again. There is no need to contact us.

The following cannot be resolved by an administrator, so please contact us:

• Server-side credentials are invalid
• Licence verification failed
• The same error occurs repeatedly

12.5 Frequently asked questions

A customer's email address has changed

Please update the address field on the contact record. Mail is imported and linked from then on. A few points to note.

If you keep the old address, put it in a separate field

Please do not enter two addresses in one field. The message is still imported, but linking (rule A) only works when the field value matches the address exactly, so you end up with mail that is imported but attaches to no record.

Add a separate field such as email2 and name both fields in linking rule A.

If the old address is not kept anywhere, mail sent to it is not imported

It no longer meets the import conditions. Forwarding rules at the other end often keep delivering from the old address, so we recommend keeping it until the change is complete.

Changes take up to 10 minutes to apply

To apply immediately, run Find Past Email → Search back through Outlook on that record.

Mail already imported is unaffected

Messages that are already linked stay linked.

We want to import only a shared address (info@)

First, please check what info@ is.

Common settings

Under Features, turn off Ask Users to Connect to Microsoft 365. The connect control and the actions that read a personal mailbox no longer appear.

Please also turn off Send Email, Reply and Forward and Calendar, as all of them require a personal connection.

The Related Email panel continues to work. It only reads the history app and does not access Microsoft 365.

Please note the order. If you turn the setting off first, even the first person cannot connect.

1. Leave the setting on
2. The person who will poll the mailbox connects from the list view
3. Confirm it in the connected users list on the Connection tab
4. Then turn the setting off

People who have already connected keep their status and actions afterwards.

Shared mailbox settings

1. Select Also import shared mailboxes on the Email Import tab
2. Add addresses one per line. For each address you can select Inbox and Sent Items
3. Grant admin consent again
4. The person who will poll the mailbox connects

• You can choose the User used for polling for each address. Please select someone with access to that mailbox. Left on "automatic", it is whoever connected first
• This is independent of each user's own Inbox and Sent Items settings, so you can import shared mailboxes without importing anyone's personal mailbox
• Only one person polls each mailbox
• Changing the assigned person re-reads that mailbox back to the look-back window

The history record's source field records the shared mailbox address.

Someone has left the company

Please revoke their connection from the connected users list on the Connection tab. Their mailbox is no longer polled.

Mail already imported remains in the history app, so the history of cases they worked on is still available.

The consent screen says "unverified publisher"

This is a display warning and does not affect operation.

In this situation, users in many environments cannot consent for themselves, so please grant admin consent first (3.2).

Can mail be missed?

The read position advances only on success, so if a run fails part-way the next run reads from the same place. Messages are not skipped.

Can we try it before rolling it out?

Please use Test Mode (8.7). Every recipient is replaced with an address you specify, so you can check without sending to customers.