I wanted to see what kind of feedback is out there for the Outlook add-in...anyone have comments?

[RhondaTr1]

I wanted to see what kind of feedback is out there for the Outlook add-in...anyone have comments?

[DavidCo3]

Hi Rhonda, It's a promising start, but not yet fully developed in my opinion and we can't actively use it as-is. The biggest issues for us are: It only shows Commit Dates . As an organisation we want to use Planned Completion Dates and can enforce this via Layout Templates in the main web UI, but the Outlook add-in only provides Commit Dates which we find confuses users. The Outlook Calendar only shows the task name - not the Project Name . Users have no idea which project a given calendar entry is for and this really means it is of little use. The Outlook Calendar only shows the last day of a multi-day task . e.g. If a task spans 3 days, it only shows as an Outlook calendar entry for the last day. This at best makes it hard for users to know when tasks start, and at worst will mean that they believe they are available when they are not. Other lacking features which are of lower importance but would be nice to have are: Calendar entries don't sync to the Exchange calendar (and therefore to mobile devices). I know that Workfront have their mobile app but this doesn't interact with the user's calendar on their device. I would like to be able to create an Issue directly from an email (currenltly you can only create a task). There is a workaround where you can drag and drop the email and then click a few buttons in sequence but this is not intuitive for most users. I have raised feature requests for each of the above items. I do really like the overall concept of the Outlook add-in, and what is there already works quite well, so thumbs up for Workfront to get it to this point. I believe that Workfront are focusing more on Office365 integration, but at this point I don't see our organsation utilising it, so we are looking forward to any further enhancement of the regular Outlook add-in so we can start using it widely. Regards, David.

[AnnaGr1]

Thanks for using the Add-in and sharing your feedback, I am the product manager in charge of the add-in. Those all are great points, would recommend to submit those through Idea queue so they will get documented. At the moment we are building the 365 integrations, however we want to make sure out desktop add-in users stay happy, so any small changes that can help with adoption can be considered.

[GregBe1]

In regards to below, I CAN create an issue directly from an email, unless I'm not understanding this. The project needs to be setup as a request queue though. Maybe that's what you're referring to? In Reply to David Cornwell:

I would like to be able to create an Issue directly from an email (currenltly you can only create a task). There is a workaround where you can drag and drop the email and then click a few buttons in sequence but this is not intuitive for most users.

[EricLu2]

Greg is right. We have a number of email-enabled request queues. People send an email to a specific email address, WorkFront sweeps a POP3 email box, and converts the email to an issue. It’s pretty neat how it works. I am not aware of a way to create an issue from an email, except to set up the request queue to sweep the POP3 email box. Let me know if you’d like to know how to do this… Eric In Reply to David Cornwell: I would like to be able to create an Issue directly from an email (currenltly you can only create a task). There is a workaround where you can drag and drop the email and then click a few buttons in sequence but this is not intuitive for most users. -----End Original Message-----

[GregBe1]

Yes, we use the POP accounts as well. But I"m talking about receiving any email in my Outlook in box, I can click on the Workfront plug-in and create an Issue, add it to "My Work" as a task, or add it to a Project, Issue, or Task as a note. I use it a lot for updating Notes for Projects. (see screenshot).

[EricLu2]

Oh, I get it now. Hey, that would be a neat capability to have. Good idea!

[GregBe1]

Good idea? I'm saying this functionality exists NOW.

[EricLu2]

Now that I read your comment, in context of the thread, I feel silly. I lost the context of the discussion, thus my silly reply. Oops!

[KatherineHa1]

I second what David said, especially regarding Commit Dates - we only look at Planned Dates as well, and hide the Commit dates from our tiles and layouts. And syncing to the Exchange calendar (in the same view of the calendar) would be a BIG win!

[DavidCo3]

Hi Anna. Thanks for your response. As mentioned in my post, I've already submitted all of these ideas as feature requests. If the 3 high-priority items can be delivered, it will enable adoption by the bulk of our users. Without it, adoption is unlikely to be widespread. Greg and Eric - thanks for your input, however I am not talking about creating Requests or creating items via a POP3 email box. What I would like is to be able to right-click on an email in Outlook and choos an option to create an Issue within a project. Currently you can create a Request, create a Work Item (which can then be moved to a project later) or Update an existing item. Anna has previously advised the drag-and-drop workaround, but my (low-priority) feature request is to allow it via a right-click direct from the item.

[AlisonW]

Hi Greg, I would be very interested in how the POP3/email sweep functionality is setup, as well as instructions on the add-in. This would be huge wins for our organization's use of WorkFront - even as is now! Thanks in advance!

[GregBe1]

To use the POP email to create issues, you can go to any project and click on the Queue Setup tab. At the bottom, you'll see a section for "Email Settings". You can check the box to "Allow Issues to be added via email" and then fill in the fields appropriately for your setup. Then when anyone sends an email to that email address, and Issue is created for that Project. As far as the Add-in for Outlook, just run the plug-in executable and start Outlook and it will be there. Let me know if you have any specific questions about it.

[MarcMo]

We have a strong interest in the add-in but it's not reliably showing up after it's installed. Users are on Outlook 2010. So far 2 users have it installed and working; everyone else can't see it after installation. We've been exploring the possible cause with no luck and Support hasn't been able to help us, either. Has anyone run into this issue? Thanks in advance for any help or ideas

[AdinaPi1]

Yes, we have run into this issue (in fact while getting the instructions for you, I found that mine is disabled too). What’s happening is it stays installed for a little while, and then suddenly it stops loading properly so Outlook disables it. In Outlook 2010, to see if it is disabled, go to File -> Options -> Add-Ins At the bottom there is an option called "Manage:" so go and select 'Disabled Items' and click go. If you see the Workfront plugin listed there, go ahead and select and click Enable. [cid:image001.png@01D24EDD.55B48AC0] For Outlook 2013, go to File -> Manage COM Add-Ins. [cid:image002.png@01D24EDD.55B48AC0]

[EricLu2]

It worked for a little while for us and Outlook said it had problems too and disabled it. Then our network nanny wouldn’t let us download it, as it was determined to have some kind of threat. Finally, the software greatly facilitated creating work requests for people not associated with a project. We don’t allow that, so we aren’t using the Outlook add-in. Eric

[TammyCa]

I haven't found another thread regarding the Outlook Add-in but looking for some support/suggestions. We are using it but the "Update in Workfront from Selected User" function, to add an email to a task or project, is a terribly slow search function for some users. For me it takes 15 or 20 seconds sometimes but for another user it takes many minutes! Any ideas why or suggestions on where to get some assistance? This function is really great, if it can save time instead of taking longer!

[DavidCo3]

Hi Tammy, Now that you mention it, the search does seem a bit slower than normal, but it is not 15 to 20 seconds for me. My main issue with the search function is the way it works using "SOLR" functionality. This affects the accuracy of the results and means that there are times when the search doesn't return the result you need. The current search, as explained by Workfront Support: "The functionality of the search is currently as follows - it searches for the different words of the name separately and returns results for all matches but shows up to 5 results only. If the task in question does not end in those 5 results, it will not appear in the dropdown list. This is a limitation of Workfront search engine when accessed via API which is how Outlook generates the list. However, you can use reference number to search for the task and it will bring that task only in the results. " I submitted a feature request (Ref# 16309051) which is actually now at a status of "Implementation in Progress", which sounds promising! I'll follow up with the product manager and see how they are going. Regards, David

[TammyCa]

Thank you for the comment, David! That's helpful! We're going to test using the Ref # and see if that doesn't speed things up for that user! Also, having a better idea of how to search should help too!

[DavidCo3]

Hi - I have heard back from Workfront product management, and they advised that the search is being changed in the new Office 365 add-in. The regular Outlook add-in still uses the old SOLR search though. We don't use Office 365 but may have a look at it if/when the add-in solves the current lack of Exchange calendar syncing to mobile devices.

[DavidCo3]

Hi - just a bump to see if anyone has heard anything about when Workfront's Outlook 365 add-in will sync tasks into the Exchange Calendar? I heard around a year ago that this was being developed but no news recently. This is an ongoing complaint of some of our users that we still have no Exchange calendar integration. I would love to be able to introduce a solution to this.... We could look at building our own integration to do this, but surely Workfront would be building this for customers as it's a pretty basic need I'd think? Cheers, David David Cornwell Pentana Solutions