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Besides the Email Notifications sent from 5pm to user's email accounts, an email-to-5pm communication is also possible. Tasks, Messages and Progress Notes can be created and updated directly from emails.
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To create a Task from Email, you have to include in the To (or Cc, or Fwd) field this email:
task.yourdomain@5pmweb.com
(Replace "yourdomain" with the name of your domain: youdomain.5pmweb.com).
Note: When you select a parent Project, the Group dropdown disappears, since the parent project will define what group it will belong to.
The new Task will appear in your 5pm account within minutes (maximum delay - 10 mins).
Notice: If you just created your 5pm account, it may take up to 10 mins for the Email Integration feature to get activated.
Most of the time the delays will be smaller. |
The following rules will apply:
- Sender's email
 Task creator
The sender's email has to be associated with an existing user profile. This user will become the Task's creator.
- Recipient(s)' email(s)Task Team
You can also include other emails to the recipients list, besides task.yourdomain@5pmweb.com. You can include them into To, Cc and Fwd fields. The recipient(s) email(s) have to be associated with existing users profiles. These user(s) will be added to the Task Team.
- SubjectTask Name
The email's Subject will become Task Name. You can also include additional parameters in the Subject line to define the Task's parent project, deadline, and so on (read more about additional Subject line parameters).
Note: The Subject line is the unique line that identifies the Task. If you send another email with the same subject line, that email will be added to the existing task as a Message or Progress Note (read more in Creating Messages and Progress Notes from emails).
- Attachment(s)Files
Any files attached to your email will also be added to the newly created Task. Besides your email box file size limitations, the same 5pm files size limitations apply here as in the main 5pm interface.
File size limitation - you can upload files up to 30Mb each. The maximum total size of all the uploaded files is defined by your Plan - to check it, use "my account" link on the top.
- Email BodyTask Description
The email body text will become Task Description.
Additional Subject line parameters:
The Subject line can also include additional parameters in square brackets. Here is the syntax for a Subject line that includes all those parameters:
Email subject: Task Name [Project Name][start:25/05/07][deadline: 28/12/07][high][hide][on hold]
All the parameters are optional and can be included in any order, except the first one( [ProjectName]). Here is the full description of each:
Creating Tasks from Emails. Subject line parameters.
| [Project Name] |
This parameter should always follow first, right after the main subject (Task name). It should contain the full name or just the first letters/words of an existing project. When this parameter is present, the following will happen:
- A project with that name is being searched for. If it's located - the Task is added to that project.
- If the project with this full name is not located, a project that starts with those words is being searched for. The task is then added to the first located project that starts with those words (Example: You can enter "Email integration" to point to "Email integration testing" project). This way you don't have to remember the whole project name.
- If no project is found at the previous step, a Single Task is created.
Examples of usage:
- Subject: Update the logo [Website redesign]
creates "Update the logo" Task in the "Website redesign" project (assuming that a project with such name already exists).
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| [start: date] or [startdate: date] |
This parameter is used to define the Task's Start Date. The date following the "start:" (or, the alternative spelling "startdate:") keyword should follow these formatting rules:
Date format (in email subjects).
Dates should be in the mm/dd/yy or dd/mm/yy format, depending on the settings in the sender's 5pm account (you can switch between US and EU formats through the "settings" link on the top of 5pm window).
Alternative date formats are also accepted: mm-dd-yyyy and mm.dd.yyyy. You can also use 2 or 4-digits for the year - both will work.
Examples of valid dates: 01/01/08, 01/02/2008, 01.01.2008, 01-01-2008, 01-01-08...
If Start Date parameter is not passed, the Task is set to start on the day the email was sent.
Examples of usage:
- Subject: Update the logo [start: 01/25/08]
creates a Single Task called "Update the logo" with Start Date: Jan 25, 2008 (assuming you are working with US date format).
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| [end: date] or [deadline: date] or [enddate: date] |
This parameter is used to define the Task's Deadline ( "end:", "deadline:" and "enddate" are alternative formats). The same rules apply as with "Start Date" parameter. If the Deadline is not defined, it will be left empty in the newly created Task. |
| [hide] or [hidden] |
This keyword, when included in the subject line between square brackets, will hide the newly created Task from non-team members. |
| [notify task team], [notify task] or [NotifyTaskTeam] |
This keyword, when included in the subject line between square brackets, will send an email notification to the Task Team. |
| [notify project team] ,[notify project] or [NotifyProjectTeam] |
Same as "notify task team", but sends an email notification to parent Project Team. |
| [group: groupName] |
Indicates what group the task should belong to. If a group with such name is not found, the Task is not added to any groups. |
[Open]
[On Hold]
[Done] |
These keywords (one of them at a time) when included in the subject line between square brackets, will set the Task's Status as "Open", "On Hold" or "Done" respectively. |
[Low]
[Normal]
[High]
[Urgent] |
These keyword (one of them at a time) when included in the subject line between square brackets, will set the Task's Priority as "Low", "Normal", "High" or "Done" respectively. |
If you send other emails to task.yourdomain@5pmweb.com with the same subject, which you used to create a Task from email, instead of creating a new Task with the same name, the new emails will be added as Messages or Progress Notes to the existing Task. You can reply to the original email that created the Task, forward it and so on, but as long as you keep task.yourdomain@5pmweb.com in the receiver's list, those emails will also be adding Messages/Progress Notes to the original Task is 5pm.
The format for creating a Message is exactly the same as when creating a Task. To create a Progress Note, all you have to do is just add a new parameter ([ progress:]) at the end of the subject line (without modifying the rest of it) to indicate the completion % of the Task. You can also add another parameter - [ time:] - to report the time spent on the Task. Here is the full syntax for creating a Progress Note:
Subject: Original subject line [progress: 50%][time:4]
Creating Messages and Progress Notes from Emails
| [progress: 50%] or [percent: 50%] |
This parameter is mandatory if you want to add a Progress Note to an existing Task. If you skip it - a simple Message will be created.
Examples of usage:
- Subject: Re: Test email integration [progress: 95%]
adds a Progress Note to an existing task, called "Test email integration" with 95% completion.
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| [time: 50%], [HoursDone: 50%] or [hours: 5] |
You can also report the amount of hours with the Progress Note.
Examples of usage:
- Subject: Re: Test email integration [progress: 95%][hours: 10]
adds a Progress Note to an existing task, called "Test email integration" with 95% completion, and 10 hours spent on it.
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Any attachments from those emails will be added as Files to the Task.
5pm tasks can be viewed in different calendar applications by subscribing to its iCalendar feeds. You can use Apple iCal, Mozilla Sunbird, MS Outlook 2007 and any other calendars that support iCalendar format.
Tasks can be imported to your calendar software as tasks or events. Many Calendars support two type of items: Tasks and Events. Events are usually displayed on a Calendar, while the Tasks are usually displayed in a separate panel, sometimes called "To-Do's".
5pm can export Tasks in both formats, but we recommend using the Events (first two links). The links that export 5pm tasks as Events have the "event"word in their name.
You can subscribe to all the tasks, just the ones that you are part of (part of the Task Team) or tasks from a particular project. Here are where the links to those iCalendar feeds are located:
To find the iCalendar feed links for all the tasks ("All") or just the ones you are attached to as a team member ("My Stuff"), click "settings" on the top of the screen and open the "Edit settings" popup window. The tasks can be exported as tasks or as events (those have "(Events)" added to the link names).
To find the iCalendar feed links for the tasks inside a particular project, in the main view ("Projects"), select a project in the left panel, then switch to the "Info" tab in the right panel. The tasks can be exported as tasks or as events (those ones have "(Events)" added to the link names).
You can click on the respective iCalendar feed link and then subscribe to it using your calendar. You can also copy the link location (right-click on the link, then 'Copy Link Location" or "Copy Shortcut") and then paste this link into your calendar software subscribe dialog:
The iCalendar link doesn't require authentication when you import it into your calendar software. If you would like this link to be changed (for example after sharing it with someone else), you will have to change your 5pm login password - it will change all the iCalendar links.
Never share your iCalendar links (or RSS ones) with others - this will give them access to your 5pm data, using your profile.
Besides subscribing to an iCalendar feed, you can also simply import the iCalendar data into your calendar. In order to do that, you will save the 5pm iCalendar feed as an ICS file, then will import it through File/Import menu in your calendar application. Note that importing iCalendar data in this way is a one-time event and it will not automatically synchronize your calendar with 5pm in the future.
Importing a ICS calendar file or subscribing to an iCalendar feed is a pretty straightforward process. Here are the instruction on how to get your 5pm tasks into some popular calendar applications:
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Press "Subscribe" when prompted by iCal
Or you can just open iCal, go to Calendar/Subscribe menu and paste the iCalendar link you copied from 5pm.
- At this step you can give your new calendar a name, color, description and auto-refresh rate.
IMPORTANT: If you are importing your 5pm tasks as To Do items, make sure to unselect the "To Do items" checkbox (this one is a bit confusing, since on first glance it may look like selecting it will mark it for importing, but it actually does the opposite, since it's a "Remove" function) .
You are done. Here is how your iCal will look like (example):
5pm tasks imported into Apple iCal as Events:
5pm tasks imported into Apple iCal as To Do items:
At this point Google Calendar doesn't support tasks, only events. Make sure you use the "events" links.
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In Google Calendar, in the left column, click on the "Add" button and then select "Add by URL" from the dropdown menu.
Paste there the link you copied from 5pm:
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This is it. After the import is done you can rename your calendar..
Here is how your Google Calendar will look like (example):
5pm tasks imported as Events into Google Calendar:
Note that Google Calendar updates its external data on an un-regular basis. Usually within hours or less, sometimes up to 6 hours. The same applies to Google Reader (for RSS feeds). This is just how these free Google systems work. For RSS reader we would recommend using FeedDemon, for a calendar application - Mozilla Sunbird (free). Both allow instant data refreshing.
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Use File/Subscribe to Remote Calendar (or File/Import if you are just importing an ICS file) in Sunbird.
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Select "On the Network".
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Paste (using CTRL+V or right click and Paste) in the Location field the URL copied from 5pm
To copy the URL, use right click on the iCalendar link in 5pm, and then select "Copy Link Location" (Mozilla Firefox) or "Copy Shortcut" (Internet Explorer):
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Choose a name and color:
You are done. Here is how your Mozilla Sunbird will look like (example):
5pm tasks imported into Mozilla Sunbird as Events:
5pm tasks imported into Mozilla Sunbird as Tasks:
- Copy the iCalendar URL from 5pm screen - make sure you use the "...(Events)" link (right click + "Copy Shortcut" in Internet Explorer). Note: do not click the link. If you click the link, the calendar will be opened in Outlook as a Calendar Snapshot, which is not updated.
- In Outlook, on the Tools menu, click Account Settings.
- On the Internet Calendars tab, click New.
- Paste the iCalendar URL you copied on step 1.
- Click Add.
- In the Folder Name box, type the name of the calendar as you want it to appear in Outlook, and then click OK.
last updated:
January 24, 2010
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