The Link to Kinabase add-in brings Kinabase into Outlook. As your team reads an email, it shows matching contacts and organisations, lets them add the email as an activity

Activity
A logged event or note on a record — such as an email, phone call or meeting — that builds up a timeline of interactions over time.

on the people and related records they choose, and can create new records - all without leaving the inbox.

This guide is for System admins. It covers turning the add-in on and installing it in Outlook. Once it's ready, point your team to Using the Outlook add-in.

1. Check the prerequisites

Before you start, make sure:

Your organisation is connected to Microsoft 365. The add-in signs users in with their Microsoft 365 account. See Connecting to Microsoft 365.
You have a Contacts collection mapped in Email Integration, so the add-in can match email senders to records. An Organisations collection is optional. See Email Integration.
You're a System admin - turning the add-in on is an admin setting.

2. Turn on the add-in

1. Open Email Integration

Go to Settings → Integrations → Email Integration.

2. Allow users to use the add-in

Under Enable Outlook add-in, turn on Allow users to use Outlook add-in.

If Microsoft 365 isn't connected, this toggle is unavailable and you'll see a message: your organisation must have Microsoft 365 integration enabled to use this feature.

3. Install the add-in in Outlook

The add-in is installed from a manifest URL. Each user can add it to their own Outlook, or you can deploy it across your organisation.

The manifest URL is:

https://app.kinabase.com/plugins/outlook/manifest.xml

1. Open Get Add-ins

In Outlook, open Get Add-ins (in newer Outlook, this is under Apps → Get Add-ins).

2. Add from URL

Select My add-ins, then under Custom Add-ins select Add a custom add-in → Add from URL.

3. Enter the manifest URL

Paste the manifest URL above and confirm. Link to Kinabase is now installed and appears when reading an email.

Deploying to everyone in your organisation

If you're a Microsoft 365 administrator, you can deploy the add-in centrally instead of asking each person to install it:

In the Microsoft 365 admin centre, open the Integrated apps (or Add-ins) page.
Choose to upload a custom app and select I have a URL for the manifest file.
Enter https://app.kinabase.com/plugins/outlook/manifest.xml.
Assign it to Everyone, or to specific users.

Central deployments can take up to 24 hours to appear for all users.

Emails can show on records in collections other than Contacts and Organisations - for example, wherever your team already tracks the work the message is about.

Those collections appear in the add-in's Settings, under Suggested records, once they have a field linking to your contacts or companies and Activities turned on. People using the add-in only see collections they can read and add activities to.

Your Contacts and Organisations collections are matched as people and companies on the email. They are not listed as search targets under Choose records. See Activities and Using the Outlook add-in.

Next steps

The add-in is ready. Share the end-user guide with your team so they know how to sign in and add emails:

Read Using the Outlook add-in to sign in, add emails as activities, link related records, and create records from Outlook.

Need more help? Ask your System admin, or contact our support team via Help & Support.

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