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This article applies to:

  • Product: Practice CS
  • Subject: Clients

Sync contacts with Microsoft Outlook

If your firm is licensed for the Client Management module and uses Microsoft Outlook, you can sync your Practice CS contacts with an Outlook contacts folder.
note
The term “contact” is customizable in Practice CS. Your firm may use a different term. To review the default terms for all customizable terminology, go to
Help
Enable Default Terminology
.

Setup

Before you can sync contacts between Practice CS and Outlook, you must set up Practice CS for synchronization.
Setting up synchronization
Use the
Contact Synchronization Setup
 window to choose an Outlook contacts folder, choose which contacts to sync, and set your synchronization preferences.
You can also choose whether to turn on automatic synchronization, which triggers synchronization anytime you change contact information in a synced field, and whether to review a confirmation window before changes occur.
note
All settings in the
Contact Synchronization Setup
 window are user-specific. Each staff member can select different settings, including different Outlook folders and filters.
  1. Go to
    Setup
    System Configuration
    Outlook
    Contact Synchronization
     to open the
    Contact Synchronization Setup
     window.
  2. Mark the
    Synchronize with Outlook folder
     checkbox.
  3. Select the button for the
    Synchronize with Outlook folder
     field and go to the Outlook folder you want to sync with Practice CS.
    note
    You can sync with a personal Outlook contacts folder on your computer, or with a firm-wide public contacts folder on your firm's network.
  4. In the
    Select Folder
     window, select the Outlook folder, then
    OK
    .
  5. In the
    Practice CS Contacts to synchronize
     field, choose a filter for the contacts you want to sync. If you don’t have a filter, select the button to create one.
    note
    Filtering is optional. If you use a filter, Practice CS removes all contacts that don’t meet the filter criteria from the specified Outlook folder.
  6. In the
    Import contacts from Outlook as
     field, choose whether to import Outlook contacts as
    Clients
     or
    Standalone contacts
    . Client contacts are companies, individuals, or other entities who are clients of your firm. Standalone contacts are attorneys, bankers, or other miscellaneous contacts who are not necessarily associated with your firm's clients.
  7. The
    Display confirmation dialog prior to committing changes
     checkbox is marked by default. Clear it if you don’t want to get this window.
  8. To turn on automatic synchronization, mark the
    Enable automatic Contact Synchronization with Microsoft Outlook
     checkbox. If you leave this checkbox clear, synchronization occurs only when you trigger it manually using the
    Sync
     button in the toolbar.
  9. Select
    OK
     to close the
    Contact Synchronization Setup
     window and sync contacts with the selected Outlook folder.
  10. Unless you chose to hide it, the
    Pending Outlook Synchronization Changes
     window appears and lists the changes that will be made to the selected Outlook contacts folder.
note
After an import, you may need to add information to contacts to complete all relevant Practice CS fields. You can do this from the
Manage Clients
 screen (
Actions
Manage Clients
).
Any subsequent changes you make to synced contacts pass between Practice CS and Outlook at the next synchronization. The most recently changed record takes precedence. We recommend that you make changes in Practice CS.
Choose which contacts to sync
:
If you don’t want to sync all of your Practice CS contacts, you can create filters to select only certain contacts. To create a new filter, follow these steps.
  1. If it is not already open, go to
    Setup
    System Configuration
    Outlook
    Contact Synchronization
     to open the
    Contact Synchronization Setup
     window.
  2. Select the button for the
    Practice CS Contacts to synchronize
     field.
  3. In the
    Contact Filters
     window, select
    Add
    .
  4. In the
    Filter Name
     field, enter a name for your filter. Because your filter is added to a firm-wide list, consider including your name or initials in the filter name.
  5. In the 1st
    Filter by
     field, choose a criterion. For example, if each contact you want to sync has your name in the
    Associate
     field (
    Clients setup
     screen,
    Main
     tab), filter by
    Client Associate
    , using
    Single
     as the method and your name.
  6. When you finish building the filter, select either
    Must match all criteria
     or
    Must match one or more criteria
    .
  7. Select
    Enter
     to save your changes.
  8. Select
    Done
     to close the
    Contact Filters
     window, then select the filter you created in the
    Practice CS Contacts to synchronize
     field of the
    Contact Synchronization Setup
     window.
  9. Select
    OK
     to close the
    Contact Synchronization Setup
     window and sync your filtered contacts with the selected Outlook contacts folder.
note
Your contact filter choice is unique to your user profile, so each staff member can use a different filter. For example, you may want to create a filter that syncs only the contacts you work with directly.

How synchronization works

The fields on the
Contact Info
 tab of the
Clients setup
 screen closely mirror those in a Microsoft Outlook contact record, letting Practice CS pass contact information back and forth between the 2 applications.
Contact synchronization follows these basic guidelines:
  • When you change a contact record in 1 application, the change transfers to the other application at the next synchronization.
  • The most recently updated record always takes precedence. If you change a record in Outlook, and then change the same record in Practice CS before synchronization occurs, the Practice CS changes replace the Outlook changes. We recommend that you keep Practice CS open throughout the day and either use automatic synchronization or remember to sync contacts each time you make a change in either application.
Synchronization creates a 1-to-1 correspondence between related records in Practice CS and Outlook. If you later add duplicate records to either application, synchronization treats them as new records and adds them to the other application.
note
Blank spaces at the end of fields in contact records may appear to Practice CS as differences between Outlook and Practice CS records. Though these differences may not be visible to you, Practice CS removes the blank spaces during synchronization. Accepting such changes syncs the differences the 1st time, and they won’t reappear in subsequent synchronizations.

How to sync your contacts

Practice CS offers 2 methods for contact synchronization:
automatic
 and
manual
. Automatic synchronization transmits changes to contact information immediately after you make them. Manual synchronization accumulates changes and transmits them only when you trigger the process manually.
Both methods require you to set up contact synchronization as described earlier in this topic.
Choose a synchronization method
:
You can switch between automatic and manual synchronization at any time. To choose your preferred method, follow these steps:
  1. Go to
    Setup
    System Configuration
    Outlook
    Contact Synchronization
    . The
    Contact Synchronization Setup
     window opens.
  2. To turn on automatic synchronization, mark the
    Enable automatic Contact Synchronization with Microsoft Outlook
     checkbox. To turn it off, clear this checkbox.
  3. Select
    OK
     to save your change.
Practice CS syncs contacts each time you select
OK
 in the
Contact Synchronization Setup
 window. With automatic synchronization turned on, Practice CS syncs contacts each time you change information for a contact selected by your chosen filter (if any).
Sync contacts manually
To sync contacts manually, select the
Sync
 button arrow in the Practice CS toolbar, then
Sync Outlook Contacts
 from the menu.
note
If you have set up data sharing in Practice CS but don’t want to sync that information at the same time, don’t select the
Sync
 button itself, as this syncs both data sharing information and contacts. Data sharing synchronization can be time-consuming. If you only want to sync contacts, select the arrow and choose
Sync Outlook Contacts
 from the menu.
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