Connecting Microsoft 365
A walk through the setup wizard that connects Footer365 to your Microsoft 365 organisation, stage by stage, including choosing how signatures are added and what to do if a stage shows an error.
The setup wizard connects Footer365 to your Microsoft 365 organisation. You approve access in Microsoft, choose how Footer365 adds signatures, and Footer365 does the rest. With mail flow you approve in Microsoft twice, and Footer365 does the Exchange Online work itself. With the Outlook add-in only, nothing in Exchange is changed. Most organisations are through the first stages in a few minutes.
You need a Microsoft 365 Global Administrator for stage 1, and for stage 3 if you choose mail flow. The setup link is emailed to the technical contact named at signup. Anyone else in your organisation who has it can pass it on.
Opening the wizard
Open the setup link from the email "Action needed: connect (your organisation) to Footer365". The page is headed Connect Footer365 to Microsoft 365 and shows your organisation's name.
If a reseller added your organisation and shows its own name and logo, the setup link it sends you shows its logo at the top of the wizard and its name in the browser tab, in place of Footer365's. Everything the wizard says, and every approval screen in Microsoft, is unchanged. Working with a reseller
If you are already using the portal, you can reopen the wizard at any time from Getting started by selecting Connection status.
Stage 1: Grant directory access
This lets Footer365 read your users and groups so signatures carry each person's own details. The same approval includes the Exchange permission that mail flow uses, but that permission can change nothing in Exchange until the Exchange Administrator role is granted in stage 3, which only happens if you choose mail flow.
- Optionally, expand What permissions is this? to see each permission and why it is needed.
- Select Continue to Microsoft.
- Sign in as a Global Administrator if asked, check the permissions on Microsoft's screen, and select Accept.
- You are returned to the wizard. You may be asked to sign in with your Microsoft account again at this point: from here on the wizard is only shown to people who can use your Footer365 portal, or to a Global Administrator.
When it is done, stage 1 says "Directory access granted." What each permission is for
Accepting the agreements, if you have not already
If you signed up for Footer365 yourself, you accepted the agreements at signup and this part is skipped.
If your organisation was added by a reseller or by Footer365, stage 3 is first headed Accept the agreements, and stage 2 waits until they are accepted. Microsoft 365 is connected at this point, but Footer365 does not read your directory, set anything up or open the portal to anyone until a Global Administrator accepts the agreements your organisation will use the service under.
- Open each document from the list and read it. Each opens at the version you would be accepting.
- Tick the box confirming you accept them on behalf of your organisation.
- Select Agree and continue.
Only a Global Administrator of your organisation can accept, and Footer365 checks with Microsoft that you are one. If a reseller added your organisation, accepting also accepts them as your reseller. A copy of what was accepted is emailed to you and to your account contacts. Signing up explains the record that is kept. Once the agreements are accepted, stage 2 opens.
While the agreements are waiting, anyone who opens the Footer365 portal is brought back to the wizard.
Stage 2: Choose how Footer365 adds signatures
Choose one of the two ways, then select Continue:
- Outlook add-in and mail flow, marked Recommended. Every message is signed, from any device or app. It needs the Exchange Administrator role, two connectors and two transport rules, which stages 3 and 4 set up.
- Outlook add-in only. Nothing in Exchange is changed, and no Exchange role is granted. Only mail written in Outlook with the add-in is signed: phones' own mail apps and other programs send without a signature. Stages 3 and 4 then show Not needed for add-in only.
The price is the same either way. Only a Super Admin of your Footer365 portal or a Global Administrator can make the choice. If a reseller added your organisation and suggested the Outlook add-in only, the stage opens with that option selected and names the reseller, but the choice is yours.
Once you have chosen, the stage says which way your organisation uses, and the wizard does not ask again. A Super Admin can change it later from Getting started in the portal. Using the Outlook add-in only compares the two in detail.
Stage 3: Grant the Exchange Administrator role
Only for mail flow. Footer365 needs the Exchange Administrator role to create its connectors and mail flow rules. It cannot give itself that role, so you grant it. Select Continue to Microsoft; Microsoft may ask you to approve once more.
This stage has its own guide, including how to assign the role yourself in the Microsoft Entra admin centre: Granting the Exchange Administrator role.
Stage 4: Set up mail flow
Only for mail flow, and there is nothing to do here. Once the role is in place, Footer365 configures Exchange Online for you and ticks off each item as it goes:
- Creating the inbound connector
- Creating the outbound connector
- Creating the transport rule for external emails
- Creating the transport rule for internal emails
This usually takes a minute or two. You can leave the page open and it updates by itself. When it finishes, the stage says "Mail flow is live." What is created in Exchange
Both transport rules are wanted, but Exchange Online sometimes refuses the one for internal emails after the rest has gone through. Footer365 does not hold the rest back: mail flow goes live and your email to other organisations is signed. The stage then says Your outbound email is being signed while Footer365 keeps trying to create the rule, and Email between your own people is not signed yet, with Try again, once it has stopped for now. The wizard does not show You're all set until both rules are in place. If email between your own people is not signed
Stage 5: Deploy the Outlook add-in
The add-in puts each person's signature in the message while they write. Follow the steps shown, then select I have deployed the add-in, or select I will do this later to skip it for now. Deploying the Outlook add-in
- With mail flow, the stage opens once mail flow is live. The add-in is optional and can be deployed later.
- With the Outlook add-in only, the stage opens as soon as you have made that choice, and the add-in is what adds every signature: anyone who does not have it sends their mail without one.
Stage 6: Everyone's own Outlook signatures
Decide whether people keep the signatures they have made for themselves in Outlook.
- With mail flow, the stage opens once mail flow is live. Choose Let my people keep their own signatures or Turn their own signatures off. Turning them off clears the signatures people have already saved, so read Keeping or turning off Outlook signatures first.
- With the Outlook add-in only, Footer365 does not turn them off for you. The stage is marked Optional, and Turn them off with Exchange PowerShell shows the steps to do it yourself, with a check to run afterwards. Nothing waits on it. Using the Outlook add-in only
Stage 7: Letting your reseller help you
This stage only appears if a reseller looks after your Footer365 account. It completes by itself once mail flow is live, or once you have chosen the Outlook add-in only, and simply shows whether your reseller can open your portal to help you, with a switch to change it. You can change it later on the Reseller access card under Account, then Settings, in the customer portal, which the stage links to. If your reseller works through a distributor, the stage names the distributor as well: it can open your portal too, under the same switch. Working with a reseller
Finishing
The wizard shows You're all set when:
- with mail flow, mail flow is live with both transport rules in place, you have confirmed the add-in is deployed and the signature question is answered;
- with the Outlook add-in only, you have confirmed the add-in is deployed.
Select Go to the Footer365 portal to design your signature.
Signatures are not added until you have a template and a signature rule. The Getting started page in the portal walks you through both.
If something goes wrong
| Message | What it means and what to do |
|---|---|
| "Microsoft reported that the last step was cancelled or did not complete. You can try it again below." | The Microsoft screen was cancelled or declined. Select Continue to Microsoft again and choose Accept. |
| "Microsoft has not yet confirmed the access you granted. This usually settles within a minute. Please wait a moment, then use the button below again." | Microsoft takes a short while to register a new approval. Wait a minute, then select Continue to Microsoft again. |
| "For your security we could not verify that request. Please start the connection again using the button below." | The approval was not started from this browser, or took too long. Start stage 1 again from the button, in the same browser. |
| That did not complete, in stage 2 | The choice could not be recorded, for example because someone at your organisation has already made it. The message under it says why. A Super Admin can change an earlier choice from Getting started. |
| Setup didn't finish | Footer365 could not finish setting up mail flow. Select Try again. If it keeps happening, see Setup did not finish or contact support. |
| Email between your own people is not signed yet | Mail flow is live and your email to other organisations is signed, but Exchange refused the transport rule for email between your own people. Footer365 keeps trying by itself, and Try again tries now. If it keeps happening, see Setup did not finish or contact support. |
Changing anything in the wizard after stage 1 needs a Global Administrator, or a portal user whose role can manage settings. Choosing how Footer365 adds signatures, in stage 2, needs a Global Administrator or a Super Admin. Anyone else is refused.
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