Microsoft Dynamics™ CRM 4 For Dummies®

Chapter 15. Using Notes and Attachments

Almost every type of record in the Microsoft CRM system enables you to post notes and link attachments. Think of a note as information that you manually type into the system. For example, if you find out that your main contact at an account is about to leave, you probably want to document that and create an action plan. Meetings and phone calls deserve this kind of follow-up documentation as well. At our company, every meeting and phone call and almost every kind of activity is documented with notes so we have an audit trail of what we've promised or accomplished.

Attachments include a variety of files that are linked to individual records. These files may be the typical Word documents or Excel spreadsheets, or they may be PowerPoint presentations, digital photos, contracts, images of faxes, and so on — almost anything.

In this chapter, you find out how to create and maintain notes and attachments, processes that have been significantly streamlined in version 4.

Warning

With regard to relating notes and attachments to other records — you can't do it. Notes and attachments are assigned to the one record they're initially attached to — and that's it. Sorry.

Creating Notes

You can associate notes with any kind of existing record, whether it's an account, a contact, or a case, from the Customer Service area. All of these types of records include a Notes tab. For example, Figure 15-1 shows the Notes tab for a typical account record.

Figure 15.1. My notes ...