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How to log emails to a contact timeline with BCC or forwarding address
How to log emails to a contact timeline with BCC or forwarding address

Record any emails outside of Givebutter to a contact’s timeline by using your unique Givebutter BCC address or forwarding address.

Alyssa avatar
Written by Alyssa
Updated over a week ago

About logging external emails ✉️

If you send an email to a contact outside of Givebutter, you can easily log that email on the contact's timeline in your Givebutter dashboard! Similarly, you can log any emails that you receive from contacts/donors.

Emails logged to a contact using the BCC address or forwarding address are automatically associated with the contact record with a matching email.

If the email recipient is not associated with an existing Givebutter contact, a new contact is created automatically.

The email content and any included attachments are logged in the contact's timeline as an event.

example timeline event

BCC vs. forwarding address 🤔

Before you get started, decide if you're going to use a BCC address or a forwarding address. The BCC address can be added to any emails you are sending to someone that you want to log into the receiver's contact record.

For example, if you are sending an email to [email protected], and you want to record it in her contact timeline, you would use the BCC address provided and add it to the email in the BCC address line before you send your email to Jane.

The forwarding address should be used when you receive an email from someone, and you want to log that email to the sender's contact record.

If Jane sends you an email from [email protected], and you want to log that email to Jane's contact timeline, you would forward the email to the forwarding address provided.

Finding your BCC and forwarding addresses 🔍

  • Log into your Givebutter dashboard.

  • In the Track tab in the left side panel, click on Contacts.

  • Select the Actions button in the upper right corner of the Contacts page, and select Log Email.

log email
  • A pop-up window will display your BBC address and forwarding address. These are unique to your account, and they are not editable.

bcc and forward

Using the BCC address 📤

When you send an email from your email provider, add the BCC address to the BCC line of the email. The sender's email must be a user (admin or editor) on the account. The email content will be automatically recorded to the contact of the email receiver's timeline.

example bcc email

If logging in the middle of an email chain, the entire chain you're replying to will be recorded whenever you BCC the address provided.

Using the forwarding address 📥

First, make sure the forwarding feature is supported by your email provider. To use the forwarding address, your email must meet the following criteria:

  • You're forwarding the latest reply email (not other parts of the email chain).

  • The forwarded message header generated by your email client must be present.

  • The email address you're using to forward the email must be a user (admin or editor) on the account.

  • Your email server must allow external forwarding.

If your forwarded email meets the above requirements but is still not logging into Givebutter, your email client may be incompatible with Givebutter's forwarding feature.

Compatible email providers for forwarding 📬

Givebutter’s forwarding feature is compatible with the following email providers:

  • Apple Mail

  • Gmail

  • Outlook Desktop 2010-2019

  • Outlook.com

  • Samsung Mail

  • Windows Live Mail

  • Yahoo! Mail

If your email client is not compatible with the forwarding feature, you will not be able to forward an email to record it in Givebutter.

You can utilize both BCC and forwarding addresses in one email chain! You can forward every email you receive to the provided forwarding address, or use the BCC address on any emails you're sending out.

Alternatively, you can wait until the email chain is over, and then forward the final email you receive, or BCC the final email you send. The entire chain will be recorded in the timeline as one event.


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