Set Up Email

People in businesses send information and documents, such as sales and purchase orders and invoices, by email every day. Administrators can connect one or more email accounts to Business Central, so you can send documents without having to open an email app. You can compose each message individually with basic formatting tools, such as fonts, styles, colors, and so on. You can also add attachments of up to 100 MB. Additionally, administrators can set up report layouts that include only the key information from documents. For more information, see Send Documents by Email.

The email capabilities in Business Central.

[!NOTE] You can use the email capabilities of Business Central online to an on-premises version of Exchange.

If you're using Business Central online, we handle this for you.

Required Permissions

To set up email, you must have the EMAIL SETUP permission set. For more information, see Assign Permissions to Users and Groups.

Adding Email Accounts

You add email accounts through extensions that enable accounts from different providers to connect to Business Central. The standard extensions let you use accounts from Microsoft Exchange Online. However, other extensions that let you connect accounts from other providers, such as Gmail, might be available.

After you add an email account, you can specify predefined business scenarios in which to use the account to send emails. For example, you can specify that all users send sales documents from one account, and purchase documents from another. For more information, see Assign Email Scenarios to Email Accounts.

The following table describes the email extensions that are available by default.

Extension Description Examples of when to use
Microsoft 365 Connector Everyone sends email from a shared mailbox in Exchange Online. When all messages come from the same department, for example, your sales organization sends messages from a sales@cronus.com account. This option requires that you set up a shared mailbox in the Microsoft 365 admin center. For more information, see Shared mailboxes.
Current User Connector Everyone sends email from the account they used to sign in to Business Central. Allow communications from individual accounts.
Other (SMTP) Use SMTP protocol to send emails. Allow communications through your SMTP mail server.

[!NOTE] The Microsoft 365 Connector and Current User Connector extensions use the accounts you set up for users in the Microsoft 365 admin center for your Microsoft 365 subscription. To send email using the extensions, users must have a valid license for Exchange Online. Additionally, these extensions require that the Allow HttpClient Requests setting is enabled. To check whether it is enabled for these extensions, go to the Extension Management page, choose the extension, and then choose the Configure option.

External users, such as delegated admins and external accountants, cannot use these extensions to send email messages from Business Central.

[!VIDEO https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/videoplayer/embed/RE4JsUk]

Legacy SMTP Settings and the Email - SMTP Connector Extension

If you're using the legacy SMTP setup in Business Central to the next release version, we'll copy your legacy SMTP settings to the Email - SMTP Connector extension. When ready, your administrator can turn on the enhanced email capabilities and you'll start using the Email - SMTP Connector extension. For more information, see About Feature Management. However, there's no synchronization between the SMTP Connector extension and the legacy settings. If you change the SMTP settings in the extension, you should make the same changes in the legacy SMTP setup, or vice versa.

[!NOTE] If you have customizations that rely on the legacy SMTP email setup, there's a chance that something will go wrong with your customizations if you start using email extensions. We recommend that you set up and test the extensions before you turn on the feature switch for enhanced email capabilities.

[!IMPORTANT] If you are using Business Central to connect to Azure AD. For more information, see Create an App Registration for Business Central in Azure Portal.

Add Email Accounts

The Set Up Email assisted setup guide can help you get started quickly with emails.

[!NOTE] You must have a default email account, even if you add only one account. The default account will be used for all email scenarios that aren't assigned to an account. For more information, see Assign Email Scenarios to Email Accounts.

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon, enter Set Up Email Accounts, and then choose the related link.
  2. Fill in the fields as necessary. Hover over a field to read a short description.

Assign Email Scenarios to Email Accounts

Email scenarios are processes that involve sending a document. For example, a sales or purchase order or a notification, such as an invitation to an external accountant. You can use specific email accounts for specific scenarios. For example, you can specify that all users always send sales documents from one account, purchase documents from another, and warehouse or production documents from a third account. You can assign, reassign, and remove scenarios whenever you want, but you can only assign a scenario to one email account at a time. The default email account will be used for all scenarios that are not assigned to an account.

Set Up View Policies

You can control the email messages that a user can see in the Email Outbox and Sent Emails pages.

On the User Email View Policies, choose a user, and then choose one of the following options in the Email View Policy field:

  • View own emails - The user can view only their own email messages.
  • View all emails - The user can view all email messages, including emails that were sent by other users.
  • View if access to all related records - This is the default view policy. The user can view email messages that other users sent if the user has access to the record that was sent and all related. For example, User A sent a posted sales invoice to a customer. User B can see the email message if they have access to both the invoice and the customer.
  • View if access to any related records - The user can view email messages that were sent by other people if the user has access to at least one record that is related to the record that was sent. For example, User A sent a posted sales invoice to a customer. User B can see the email message if they have access to either the invoice or the customer.

[!NOTE] If you leave the User ID field empty and then choose the Email View Policy action, the policy that you define applies to all users.

Set Up Reusable Email Texts and Layouts for Sales and Purchase Documents

You can use reports to include key information from sales and purchase documents in texts for emails. This procedure describes how to set up the Sales - Invoice report for posted sales invoices, but the process is similar for other reports.

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon, enter Report Selections Sales, and then choose the related link.

  2. On the Report Selection - Sales page, in the Usage field, select Invoice.

  3. On a new line, in the Report ID field, select, for example, standard report 1306.

  4. Select the Use for Email Body check box.

  5. Choose the Email Body Layout Description field, and then select a layout from the list.

    Report layouts define the style and the content of the text in the email. This includes texts such as a greeting or instructions that precede the document information. If your organization has many layouts, you can choose Select from full list to access all available report layouts.

  6. To view or edit the layout that the email text is based on, select the layout on the Custom Report Layouts page, and then choose the Update Layout action.

  7. If you want to let customers use a payment service, such as PayPal, you'll need to set up the service. Afterward, the PayPal information and link are inserted in the email text. For more information, see Enable Customer Payments Through PayPal.

  8. Choose the OK button.

Now, when you choose, for example, the Send action on the Posted Sales Invoice page, the email body will contain the document information of report 1306 preceded by styled standard text according to the report layout that you selected in step 5.

Use a Substitute Sender Address on Outbound Email Messages

If you are using the legacy SMTP settings, you can use the Send As or Send on Behalf capabilities from Microsoft Exchange to change the sender address on outbound messages. Business Central will use the SMTP account to authenticate to Exchange, but will either substitute the sender address with the one you specify, or amend it with "on behalf of."

The following are examples of how Send As and Send on Behalf are used in Business Central:

  • When you send documents such as purchase or sales orders to vendors and customers, you might want them to appear to come from a noreply@yourcompanyname.com address.
  • When your workflow sends an approval request by email using the email address of the requestor.

[!Note] You can only use one account to substitute sender addresses. That is, you cannot have one substitute address for purchasing processes, and another for sales processes.

To set up the substitute sender address for all outbound email messages

  1. In the Exchange admin center for your Microsoft 365 account, find the mailbox to use as the substitute address, and then copy or make a note of the address. If you need a new address, go to your Microsoft 365 admin center to create a new user and set up their mailbox.
  2. In Business Central choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon, enter SMTP Email Setup, and then choose the related link.
  3. In the Send As field, enter the substitute address.
  4. Copy or make a note of the address in the User ID field.
  5. In the Exchange admin center, find the mailbox to use as the substitute address, and then enter the address from the User ID field in the Send As field. For more information, see Use the EAC to assign permissions to individual mailboxes.

To use the substitute address in approval workflows

  1. In Business Central choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon, enter SMTP Email Setup, and then choose the related link.
  2. Copy or make a note of the address in the User ID field.
  3. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon, enter Approval User Setup, and then choose the related link.
  4. In the Exchange admin center, find the mailboxes for each user listed in the Approval User Setup page, and in the Send As field enter the address from the User ID field of the SMTP Email Setup page in Business Central. For more information, see Manage permissions for recipients.
  5. In Business Central choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon, enter SMTP Email Setup, and then choose the related link.
  6. To enable substitution, turn on the Allow Sender Substitution toggle.

[!Note] Business Central will determine which address to display in the following order:

1. The address specified in the E-Mail field on the Approval User Setup page for messages in a workflow.
2. The address specified in the Send As field in the SMTP Email Setup page.
3. The address specified in the User ID field in the SMTP Email Setup page.

Set Up Document Sending Profiles

You can save time by setting up a preferred method of sending sales documents for each of your customers. If you do, you won't have to select a sending option, such as whether to send the document by email or as an electronic document, every time you send a document. For more information, see Set Up Document Sending Profiles.

Optional: Set Up Email Logging in Exchange Online

Get more out of the communications between salespeople and your existing or potential customers by tracking email exchanges, and then turning them into actionable opportunities. For more information, see Track Email Message Exchanges Between Salespeople and Contacts.

Setting Up Email for Business Central On-Premises

Business Central to the app registration. The following sections describe how.

Create an App Registration for Business Central in Azure Portal

The steps to register Business Central in Azure portal are described in Register an application in Azure Active Directory. The settings that are specific to the email capabilities are the delegated permissions that you grant to your app registration. The following table lists the minimum permissions.

API / Permission Name Type Description
Microsoft Graph / User.Read Delegated Sign in and read user profile.
Microsoft Graph / Mail.ReadWrite Delegated Compose email messages.
Microsoft Graph / Mail.Send Delegated Send email messages.
Microsoft Graph / offline_access Delegated Maintain data access consent.

If you are using a legacy SMTP setup or the SMTP connector and want to use OAuth for authentication, the permissions are slightly different. The following table lists the permissions.

API / Permission Name Type Description
Microsoft Graph / offline_access Delegated Maintain data access consent.
Microsoft Graph / openid Delegated Sign users in.
Microsoft Graph / User.Read Delegated Sign in and read user profile.
Microsoft Graph / SMTP.Send Delegated Send emails from mailboxes using SMTP AUTH.
Office 365 Exchange Online / User.Read Delegated Sign in and read user profile.

When you create your app registration, note the following information. You'll need it to connect Business Central to your app registration.

  • Application (client) ID
  • Redirect URI (optional)
  • Client secret

For general guidelines for registering an app, see Quickstart: Register an application with the Microsoft identity platform.

[!NOTE] If you have trouble using the legacy SMTP setup to send email after you connect Business Central to your app registration, it might be because SMTP AUTH is not enabled for your tenant. We recommend that you use the Microsoft 365 and Current User email connectors instead, because they use Microsoft Graph Mail APIs. However, if you must use the SMTP setup you can enable SMTP AUTH. For more information, see Enable or disable authenticated client SMTP submission (SMTP AUTH) in Exchange Online.

Connect Business Central to Your App Registration

After you register your application in Azure portal, in Business Central to it.

  1. In Business Central, choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature. icon, enter Email Application AAD Registration, and then choose the related link.
  2. Fill in the fields as necessary. Hover over a field to read a short description.

[!TIP] Alternatively, if you are connecting for the first time, you can run the Set up email assisted setup guide. The guide will require the information for connecting to your app registration.

See Also

Shared mailboxes in Exchange Online
Work with Business Central
Setting Up Business Central
Send Documents by Email
Customizing Business Central Using Extensions
Use Business Central as Your Business Inbox in Outlook
Getting Business Central on My Mobile Device Getting Business Central on My Mobile Device Analyzing Email Telemetry (administration content)

--- author: edupont04

ms.topic: include ms.date: 12/20/2021 ms.author: edupont

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