📘 Overview
Followup CRM can send and track email from your connected Outlook or Gmail account. New emails are tracked with background metadata (Message-ID threading), so the subject line no longer needs the old (Project Name - ID) code.
You can work in two places:
- 🖥️ Followup CRM — connect your inbox, send from a record, Link / Unlink emails
- 📬 Outlook add-in — open an email and let Gregg AI help match a project or contact
This article covers:
- 🔌 Connecting your external email
- ✉️ Optional subject line pre-fill
- 📨 Emailing from a project or contact
- 📝 Using External Email / Compose Email (templates & sequences)
- 🔗 Linking emails from your inbox
- 🔓 Unlinking an email
- 🤖 Using the Outlook sidebar (Gregg, Sync, Create, Suggested Updates)
🔌 Step 1: Connect your external email
- Click your name in the top right → Your Settings.
- Scroll to External Email.
- If not connected, connect your Gmail or Microsoft account.
✅ Once connected, Followup can send from your mailbox and track replies tied to that connection.
✉️ Step 1b: Optional — Email Subject Line
Still under Your Settings, find Email Subject Line:
- Toggle: Include Project Title / Contact Name in Email Subject Line
- Off (default): when you start an email from a record, the subject stays blank
- On: Followup pre-fills the subject with the Project Title or Contact Name only — no project ID or tracking code
💡 Tracking works either way. This toggle only controls what appears in the subject box.
📨 Step 2: Email from a project (envelope icon)
- Open a project.
- Under project information, click the envelope icon.
- Use the pop-up editor like Outlook/Gmail (including your signature).
✨ What’s new: The subject no longer auto-adds a project ID code. Tracking happens in the background when you send from Followup. Replies continue to thread into the project’s External Email section as long as the mailbox stays connected.
- Subject Line toggle off → blank subject
- Subject Line toggle on → project title pre-filled (still no ID code)
💡 You do not need a project code in the subject for new mail.
📝 Step 3: Compose Email under External Email
- On the project, go to External Email.
- Click Compose Email.
- Use the in-Followup editor.
⭐ Bonus: This path supports templates and sequences.
Same subject rules as Step 2 — no tracking code; optional title/name pre-fill only.
🔗 Step 4: Link an email from your inbox
If an email wasn’t sent from Followup (or isn’t showing yet), you can link it manually — no Outlook plugin required.
- Open the project or contact → External Email / Emails.
- Click Link an email.
- Your connected inbox loads recent messages (roughly the latest 20–30).
- 🔍 Search by sender or subject to narrow results.
- If needed, use Scan inbox for matches.
- Select the message → Link.
📌 It appears in the External Email list.
Works on:
- 🏗️ Projects
- 👤 Contacts
🔓 Unlink an email
If a message was linked by mistake or shouldn’t stay on that record:
- On the email row, click Unlink.
- Choose:
- Yes, remove it — unlink and remove the comment saved with that email
- No, just unlink — unlink only; keep the comment
🤖 Step 5: Use the Outlook sidebar (optional add-in)
If you use the Followup Outlook add-in, open an email in Outlook. Gregg analyzes it in the Followup tab (My Day still works as usual).
While Gregg is analyzing
You’ll see Gregg with a spinning ring and: “Gregg AI is analyzing your email…”
Wait for a project or contact card. If something fails, use Retry.
Project match
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| Linked (thread already on a project) | Reply is logged automatically. Use Review in CRM, Unlink Email, or Back. No Sync needed. |
| Match (one strong project) | Check confidence / Why?, then Sync Email to Project (teal). Or Review in CRM, Create New Project, or Back. |
| Several projects | Select the right row (highest is pre-selected) → Sync Email to Project. |
| New project / not in CRM (coral) | Review Name, Address, City/State, Bid date → Create Project & Sync Email. |
After Sync or Create, you land on Linked. Related companies/contacts are not all created up front — they may appear as suggestions next.
No project? Contact flow
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| Known contact | Sync Email to Contact (teal) |
| Company in CRM, person missing | Create Contact & Sync Email (coral) |
| Person and company both new | Create Contact & Sync Email creates both together |
| Already linked to a contact | Linked card — Review / Unlink / Back; suggestions may appear |
💡 A new company is never added alone — a contact is always created with it.
Suggested Updates (Linked only)
On the Linked card, Gregg may list individual updates from that email (for example a new bid date or mobile).
- ✓ Accept — saves that one change
- ✕ Dismiss — ignores it; nothing is saved
- Amber highlight = the new value only
No “apply all.” If you Accept by mistake, fix the field in Followup (Review in CRM).
Colour cues
| Colour | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 🩵 Teal | Sync / Linked / Match / already in CRM |
| 🪸 Coral | Create / new / not in CRM yet |
| 🟡 Amber | New value inside a Suggested Update |
The plugin never sends email for you — sending stays in Outlook or Followup Compose.
⚠️ Old vs new tracking
| Topic | Behavior |
|---|---|
| 🆕 New emails | Tracked via Message-ID — no subject code required |
| ↩️ Replies | Follow the thread into Followup when the mailbox is connected |
| 📜 Old emails with the code | Still supported; existing records are not broken |
| 🚫 Automatic backfill | Older inbox mail is not bulk auto-linked |
| 🛠️ Manual cleanup | Link an email / Unlink in Followup, or Sync / Unlink in Outlook |
| ✉️ Subject Line toggle | Optional Project Title / Contact Name pre-fill only — never an ID code |
💡 Best practices
- 🔌 Keep External Email connected under Your Settings.
- ✉️ Prefer sending from Followup so threading starts cleanly.
- 🔗 Use Link an email for mail sent outside Followup.
- 🔓 Use Unlink if something is on the wrong project or contact.
- 📬 In Outlook, open the message and wait for Gregg before Syncing.
- ✅ Use teal Sync when the match is right; coral Create only for net-new records.
- ✓ Accept Suggested Updates one row at a time; dismiss what you don’t want.
- 📝 Use Compose Email when you need templates or sequences.
- ✉️ Turn on Email Subject Line only if you want a readable pre-filled subject.
✅ Result
You can run client email from Followup with Outlook or Gmail, track new conversations without a subject-line project code, optionally pre-fill the subject with a project or contact name, link or unlink inbox messages in CRM, and — with the Outlook add-in — match or create projects and contacts from the sidebar, then accept suggested CRM updates after you’re linked.
Happy Selling! 🎯