Office 365 history import and sync [legacy]
⚠️ This legacy behavior applies to some Front companies with a start date before Aug 16, 2023. See this article for the latest sync behavior.
Overview
When you connect an Office 365 individual inbox or shared inbox to Front, you will have the option to import your history and Front will maintain a two-way sync of statuses with Office 365 whenever possible. The cases where status syncing will stop are explained here, which is to be expected since Front and Office 365 have different features, and thus why you are using Front. Continue reading to understand the details of how history import and syncing work between Front and Office 365.
For the same information on Gmail channels, see here. Note that SMTP forwarding channels will not have history import and syncing.
Office 365 history import
History import | Shared inbox | Individual inbox |
| Optionally import 50K most recent messages upon adding inbox | Optionally import 50K most recent messages upon adding inbox |
| Conversations archived by default and found in the Archived tab of shared inbox. | Conversation read/unread and open/archived status mirrored in Front. |
Individual inboxes | Status in Office 365 | Status in Front |
| Read in Inbox | Read in Inbox |
| Unread in Inbox | Unread in Inbox |
| Open in Inbox | Open in Inbox |
| Archived in Inbox | Archived in Inbox |
| Flagged in Inbox | N/A |
Folders | Location in Office 365 | Location in Front |
| Inbox | Inbox |
| Drafts | Does not sync |
| Deleted folder | Not imported initially, but will sync post-connection |
| Junk folder | Not imported initially, but will sync post-connection |
| Outlook folders | Imported as private or shared tags |
Office 365 sync
Action in Front | Sync | Effect in Office 365 |
Conversation is read or unread | ✅ | Email is read or unread* |
New message received in Inbox | ✅ | New message received in Inbox |
Message is sent | ✅ | Email appears in Sent |
New draft is started | ❌ | Does not sync |
Conversation is trashed | ✅ | Email moves to Trash |
Conversation or Message is permanently deleted | ❌ | Does not sync |
Conversation is archived | ✅ | Email moves to Archive |
Conversation is unarchived | ✅ | Email moves to Inbox |
Conversation is marked as spam | ✅ | Email moves to Spam |
Conversation is snoozed | ✅ | Email moves to Archive |
Snooze expires | ✅ | Email moves to Inbox |
Tag is added or removed | ❌ | Does not sync |
Tag is created or deleted | ❌ | Does not sync |
Move conversation | ❌ | Move will break status sync |
Assign and comment | ❌ | Does not sync |
Delete inbox | ❌ | Does not sync |
Mass archive inbox | ✅ | Emails move to Archive |
*See the FAQ Why isn't the read status syncing? for exceptions.
FAQ
How do Office 365 folders sync to Front exactly?
When you connect an Office 365 channel, Front will try to fetch as many folders as we can from Office 365 and create them as tags in Front.
For individual (personal) inboxes:
Front will add up to 500 tags to your sidebar, retaining the original nesting structure. If you already have other tags added, then Front will add as many more as possible up to 500.
Front will add tags to your sidebar regardless of whether there is content in the tag.
Tags that are created but not added to your sidebar are accessible through the tag menu.
Folders that couldn't be translated into tags will fall into the normal workflow in which a Front tag is created when a message belonging to the Office 365 folder comes into Front.
Why isn't the read status syncing?
Read status will only sync for individual (personal) Office 365 channels, and for shared conversations when marked as read by the assignee. We use this behavior for shared inbox conversations since many teammates may read a conversation before the assignee, and we wait to sync read status until the teammate handling the conversation reads it.
How long does it take for an import to complete?
Import times vary based on the inbox’s number of messages, message contents, and attachments. It may take up to 72 hours to finish an import.
What order is my history imported?
Messages are imported from newest to oldest.
What happens when emails are sent from outside of Front?
When an email is sent from outside of Front after your account is connected, it will sync into your Front inbox as archived.
Anything else I should know?
See this FAQ section for common questions that apply to both the Gmail and Office 365 import and sync.