E-mail Inbox

The E-mail Inbox is intended to be used as an office inbox, not for personal e-mails.  It will contain all e-mail messages downloaded from the mail server from the default e-mail address and only via the computer set to fetch new e-mails from the mail server in E-mail Setup.  To send e-mails, see Sending E-mail.

When downloaded, e-mails are copied to the database, but remain on the mail server.  If you delete an e-mail from the database, it will not download again. 

EHR: EHR providers who want to receive confidential patient information from another provider can do so using Direct Messaging.  Both sending and and receiving provider must use a certified EHR software and have trusted security certificates installed.

To access the E-mail Inbox, in the Manage module, click Email Inbox.

Bold messages indicate unread messages.  If an e-mail message is sent in Plain Text format, only text will show in the preview and message body.  If sent in Rich Text/HTML format, you may see html tags.  Received e-mails are not automatically attached to patients based on e-mail addresses.  See Feature Request #360.

Double click an e-mail to view it. Incoming e-mails can be viewed or deleted, but cannot be edited. To reply, you must create a new e-mail.  Any attachments will be visible in the Attach area in the upper right corner.  Double click at attachment to open it.  It will open in the Windows default program for the file type.  If the attachment is an .xml or properly formated CCD file, it will open in the Summary of Care window.

EHR:  When an e-mail sent using Direct Messaging is downloaded, and a patient's CCD is attached, the program will attempt to automatically match the patient with an entry in the database using LastName, FirstName and Birthdate.  If an exact match is found, the e-mail is attached to the patient, and the patient name will list in the Patient column. If an exact match is not found, then no attachment is made, and the Patient column will be empty.

Setup: Click to enter e-mail settings. See E-mail Setup.

Computer Name Where New E-mail is Fetched: The name of the one computer that is set in E-mail Setup as the one to download incoming e-mails from the mail server.

This Computer Name: The name of the current computer. If this name matches the Computer Name Where New Email is Fetched, then you can download new e-mails from the mail server to the inbox. If this name does not match, then you can only view messages already in the inbox.

Change Pat: Click to select a patient to attach to the e-mail message.

Mark Unread/Read: Mark the selected messages as read (not bold) or read (bold).

Refresh: Click to connect to the mail server and download new e-mails. This is only possible if you are working from the computer where new e-mail can be fetched (Computer Name Where New E-mail is Fetched and This Computer Name must be the same).  E-mails are copied to the database and remain on the mail server. 

Troubleshooting
Problem: Error retrieving email messages:  The stream used to retrieve responses from was closed. 
Solution: Check your incoming e-mail settings in E-mail Setup.

Problem:  Error retrieving email messages: The handshake failed due to an unexpected packet format.
Solution: This error can happen if your e-mail address is not configured properly. Specifically, if your e-mail account uses SSL and you do not have the SSL option enabled, or if you have SSL enabled and your e-mail account does not use SSL.  See E-mail Setup.

Problem:  E-mail preview and message showing in HTML code.
Solution:  This means the e-mail was sent using Rich Text/HTML format instead of Plain Text.

Problem:  A received e-mail sent using Direct messaging is still encrypted. 
Solution: This happens when decryption fails.  Usually decryption happens automatically when the message is received. However, if the e-mail is from an address with a security certificate that is not "trusted", your private decryption key is not installed on the local computer, or the encryption is not in the correct format, decryption fails. To add a certificate to your "trusted" list, refer to your Windows documentation.  Also see Direct Messaging. Encrypted messages are still available in the inbox so you can Decrypt at a later date.  Simply reopen the message, then click Decrypt.