Using the Email Assistant day to day

Select an email in Outlook, then click Parfitt Cresswell Email Assistant in the ribbon (Classic Outlook) or in the Apps menu at the top of the message (New Outlook and Outlook on the web).

Click the pin icon at the top of the panel the first time you open it. Pinning keeps the panel open and makes it follow whichever email you click, so you never have to reopen it.

You are signed in automatically with your Microsoft account. The session lasts 12 hours; the ⚙ icon in the panel header shows sign-in and DocMan diagnostics if something looks wrong.

The panel tries to work out the matter for you, in this order:

• a [DM Ref: …] tag in the subject, or the hidden reference the add-in stamps on emails you have sent;
• the sender's (or recipient's) email address matched against clients and prospects.

If exactly one record matches, it is selected for you and shown at the top of the Assign-to-Matter card. If there are several — or none — pick from the suggestions, or use the search box and scroll the alphabetical list.

Press Change to override an automatic choice. For anything that is not client work, use the full-width green NCT0011 — Non-client time button at the top of the list.

Start and end times are filled in for you: the start runs on from the end of your last Visual Time entry, and the end follows the current clock. As soon as you type or nudge either time yourself, the clock stops and your values stay exactly as you left them.

• Units are calculated from the start-to-end span in 6-minute units, and can be overtyped if you need a different figure.
• Non-client time (NCT0011) is recorded in plain minutes instead of units.
• Billable / non-billable. Switch to non-billable and choose a write-off reason from the standard list.
• Fee earner. Defaults to you; use the picker to record time for someone else. Your choice is remembered next time.
• Narrative defaults to “Email in/out – subject”. Edit it freely before saving.

Times are written in UK local time and are GMT/BST aware.

Press Save to DocMan. The add-in files, into the matter's DocMan emails folder on SharePoint:

• the original Outlook .msg file;
• a formatted PDF of the email — date and time, filer, recipients, attachment list, and the email's own bold and coloured formatting.

Afterwards you see a green summary card confirming the matter, the SharePoint path and the time entry, and the email is tagged with a green Saved to DocMan Outlook category. The summary reappears whenever you come back to that email, with Reassign and Save again options.

Every attachment is listed with its real name and type, and is given a suggested SharePoint folder — learned from where similar files have been filed before and refined with AI.

Change any folder from the live folder list for that matter or prospect, or mark an attachment as ignored if it should not be filed (signatures, logos, and so on).

1. Press Send in Outlook as normal.
2. Outlook asks you to assign the email to a matter before it is sent.
3. Click Assign to Matter — the assistant opens.
4. Assign the matter or prospect, check the time, then choose Save to DocMan and Send.

The email is sent, stamped with its reference for future replies, and filed from Sent Items once Outlook has finished sending. If the assistant shows “Assigned. Now press Send in Outlook.”, just press Send again — it goes straight through.

If you are allowed to send without filing, Outlook also offers Send Anyway, which sends without saving to DocMan.

Attendance-note emails are recognised automatically. You can request a different level of detail, or ask for the parties to be reversed, giving a reason.

While a rerun is pending the panel locks filing and shows an audit notice with the level and the reason. The notice survives closing Outlook and stays until you confirm you are happy with the note.

• Actions. Tick the actions the add-in finds on an attendance note, or add a task or calendar entry by hand. On save they are created in your own Outlook To Do and Calendar with the due date you chose.
• Reminders. Set a reminder on an email — including one you are sending — and a copy lands back in your Inbox at that time. The saved card shows the reminder and lets you cancel it.
• Snooze / hide. Push an email out of sight until a date you pick.

Every upload is logged with its time entry and is listed on the filing history page, with the matter, SharePoint path, fee earner and record ids. It is searchable and can be exported to CSV.

• The panel shows the wrong email. Pin the panel — unpinned, it only reads the message it was opened on.
• No matter suggestions. The address is not on a client or prospect record. Use the search box, or NCT0011 for non-client work.
• Sign-in or DocMan errors. Open the ⚙ icon in the panel header for diagnostics, then close and reopen Outlook.
• Times look frozen. That is deliberate once you have edited a time. Select a different email to start a fresh span.
• The panel looks out of date. Compare the build number in the panel header with the home page; software updates arrive automatically without reinstalling.