ContactMonkey’s handy plugin for Outlook Web Access (OWA) makes it easy to send beautiful emails to all your internal teams from the tools you use every day. Read this article to learn how to set up and use the ContactMonkey Internal Communications plugin for Outlook OWA.

ContactMonkey has a handy plugin that allows you to send your internal communications emails from within your Outlook OWA account.

Getting Started

Outlook on the web (Outlook OWA) is a web-based mail client that is part of Microsoft Exchange Server, Outlook.com, and subscribers of Microsoft 365 for Business/Enterprise/Education and Exchange Online.

If you're using a web browser to open your email, then your organization is using Outlook on the web or Outlook.com.
Before sending an email with Outlook OWA, you’ll want to:

• • • Add ContactMonkey to your Outlook instance. Reach out to your Customer Success Manager or contact support@contactmonkey.com for assistance with this.
    • Create an email within your ContactMonkey dashboard. Check out our how-tos on using the email builder.

Connect Your Account

Before you can send your internal communications emails, you'll first need to connect ContactMonkey with your Outlook account.
To connect your account, follow these steps:

• • 1. Log in to your Outlook OWA account
       
       
    2. Click New Mail to create a new email

3. Click on the ContactMonkey icon in the top right of the new email screen. If it’s not currently visible, you can locate it in one of two places:

• • • Within the midline ellipses in the navigation ribbon
    • Within the “Apps” menu, represented by this symbol in the top ribbon

4. Select your region. Regardless of your physical location, you should select US unless specifically discussed with the ContactMonkey team. Check out our troubleshooting guide if you accidentally select the wrong region.

5. Click Connect with Outlook and log in to Outlook

6. Reload the add-in by closing and re-opening it.

That’s it! Now it’s time to preview, send or schedule an email with ContactMonkey and Outlook OWA.

Preview And Test An Email

Before sending your Internal Communications email, we always recommend sending a test email to ensure you are happy with the outcome and can make any final edits.

To preview and test your email, follow these steps:

1. Open Outlook and click New Email
   
   
2. Click the ContactMonkey icon to open the sending sidebar. If you don't see it, check out the steps in Connect Your Account.
   
   
3. Insert the email you wish to preview by clicking on the icon within the Emails section of the sidebar
   
   
4. Select Send Test in the ContactMonkey sidebar

5. Enter who to send a test email to: either your own email address or any email you've entered in the Outlook "To" field

This can be useful if you want feedback from your teammates!

Sending Checklist:

• Sender: Checking if it is coming from the right sender
• Format: Check if the email is formatted correctly
  

Send An Email

Now that you've connected your Outlook account and sent a test to ensure it's perfect, you can send an email or schedule it to send later.

Follow these steps to send a ContactMonkey email through Outlook OWA:

1. 1. Open Outlook and click New Email
      
      
   2. Click the Apps icon in the top navigation bar and then click the ContactMonkey icon to open the sending sidebar
      
      
   3. Enter your "From" email.
      

      
      Want to send from a different email? Check out How do I send an email using another email address in Outlook and Sending from a shared mailbox?

      
      
   4. If you can't see the From field, select Options > Show From in Outlook

5. Enter your recipients: Upload your CSV using the sidebar or insert your distribution list into the To field.

6. Select your tracking option. Learn about tracking options here.

Sending overall? Ensure count is turned on if you are sending to under 5000 recipients unless you have set up backend counting with your Customer Success Manager.

8. Insert the email you wish by clicking on the icon within the Emails section of the sidebar

9. Enter your subject line along with any desired merge fields. Learn about merge fields.

10. Once you're ready, hit the big yellow "Send And Track" button within your ContactMonkey
sidebar.

Schedule An Email 

If you aren't ready to send the email but you want to set it up so it's ready to go, you can follow these steps:

1. Open Outlook and click New Email
   
   
2. Click the ContactMonkey icon to open the sending sidebar
   
   
3. Enter your "From" email. Sending from a shared mailbox?
   
   
4. If you can't see the From field, select Options > Show From in Outlook

5. Enter your recipients: Upload your CSV using the sidebar or insert your distribution list into the To field.

6. Select your tracking option. Learn about tracking options here.

Sending overall? Ensure count is turned on if you are sending to under 5000 recipients unless you have set up backend counting with your Customer Success Manager.

7. Insert the email you wish by clicking on the icon within the Emails section of the sidebar

8. Enter your subject line along with any desired merge fields. Learn about merge fields.

9. Once you're ready, hit the icon in the ContactMonkey sidebar

10. Select your date and time. Keep in mind that the time is based on the time zone you configured in your settings. If you need to send it to a different time zone, convert it to your local time and schedule it for that time.

11. Select Schedule.

Related articles:

Personalizing Your Communications With Merge Fields

Best Practices on OWA (Outlook 365 via Browser)

Understanding Individual Tracking VS Overall Tracking

What's the difference between Outlook Non 365 vs. Outlook 365?