How to Set Up Email in Dynamics 365 Business Central

This article explains two methods of how to set up email in Dynamics 365 Business Central (D365 BC). The email setup allows users to use the built-in mail function to send documents such as sales orders and purchase invoices to vendors and customers. This saves the user time from downloading the documents, creating an email, and then attaching them.

Dynamics 365 Business Central has introduced new email setup capabilities which can be set up in addition to the traditional SMTP mail setup. The first method outlined in this article  is the newer method that connects through a shared mailbox in Microsoft 365 or the current user’s email. The new email setup can be done standalone from the SMTP method. The second method uses simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) mail set up. This method uses a generic email address as an alias to users which allows emails sent from Dynamics 365 to appear to be from an individual user.

New Email Set Up Method in Dynamics 365 Business Central

This setup can replace or aid the previous SMTP mail setup that is available in Dynamics 365 Business Central. If SMTP mail setup was not setup previously, it is recommended to setup email solely with the new method introduced by D365 BC.

Multiple email accounts, for individual users or shared emails, can be setup to send emails from within the system. In the steps outlined below, I will be showing how to set up email for a shared mailbox, as well as for an individual user.

Note: for shared email boxes, these typically require the organizations IT to allow email to be sent from this mailbox.

Users will need a Exchange Online license, the Office 365 E3 license to be able to use the email feature within D365 BC.

The user will select “New” to add additional email accounts and follow the process outlined by D365 BC:

Microsoft 365 – Shared Mailbox

Select Microsoft 365 if the mailbox is a shared mailbox not specific to any user:

Enter the corresponding account name and email address for the shared mailbox:

Current User

For individual users, choose current user:

Email accounts setup only applies to the company selected and will need to be set up for each company within an environment.

Email Accounts Page

After the email is set up for a shared mailbox or a current user, the user can send emails for various documents within the system.

In the Email Accounts Page, from the ‘Process’ drop-down menu, the user can compose an email:

From the same Email Accounts Page, from the ‘Navigate’ drop-down the user can check the email outbox for draft emails pending being sent:

In the Sent Emails section, the user can check previously sent emails, as well as resend or edit and send again:

In the Email Scenario Assignment, the user can assign an email address to be the default email sent in the system or for particular use cases. In the example below, for the email scenario “Customer Statement” I can assign either the Accounting email or the Current User email to be used.

SMTP Email Set Up in Dynamics 365 Business Central

The steps outlined below for SMTP email set up in D365 BC include set up using a generic alias email and the required steps to have the sent emails show from the individual user’s account.

Using a Generic Alias Email

For each user to be able to use SMTP, a generic email account from Microsoft 365 will be used as an alias account for each user to be able to send documents.

In D365 BC, search for “smtp mail setup” and fill in the information (this will only need to be done once):

Alternatively, navigate to Actions and click ‘Apply Microsoft 365 Server Settings’ to populate the fields.

The login credentials for the User ID and password should be for the generic email account. It is important to note that every user who accesses the page will see the same setup; thus, it only needs to be setup once, not by every user.

In Actions, the user can click ‘Test Email Setup’ to see if the generic email account receives an email.

Users should note that emails sent within the system will not be seen within one’s own Outlook email. Therefore, the user would not have a history of the email being sent. The user could mitigate by cc’ing themselves, at the time of the email being sent:

Emails Sent Showing from the Individual User’s Account

The below steps involve additional developer customization to get the emails to be sent showing from the individual user’s account.

After the initial set up is successful, navigate to the Microsoft 365 center (shown as Office 365 in the screenshot below). In the the user list, for each user set the generic email up as an alias in Microsoft 365 so that each user can send emails (beside their regular email user). This will allow users who have the alias to send emails from their own email address within Dynamics 365 Business Central:

Now choose Active Users to start adding the generic email account to each user that wishes to send emails within D365 BC:

We can see in the screenshot below that there are no email aliases for users at the moment, but we will be adding them.

Navigate to Mailbox permissions and click ‘Edit’:

In the Mailbox permissions window, in the ‘Send as’ row click ‘Edit’:

Click ‘Add permissions’ and then search for the generic email to add:

Choose the generic email previously created:

For specific mailboxes, they must also be enabled for authenticated SMTP setup. This will be done by internal IT. To do so, go to the Microsoft 365 admin center. Under Users, select Active users.

Choose the corresponding user in the list and click the user’s name. Then in the prompt pop-up, select Mail. Under Email Apps, select ‘Manage email apps’.

Now, check the ‘Authenticated SMTP’ option so that the email is permitted to send out emails:

To send a confirmation within a document, like in a sales order below for example, the user can simply go to ‘Process’ then click ‘Email Confirmation’ to review the details before finalizing and sending:

For more information about SMTP email set up, please see Microsoft’s article about Legacy SMTP Settings and the Email.

If you have any questions about setting up email in Dynamics 365 Business Central, please contact us!