The Outlook add-in is being retired, here's what you need to know

[#1]

Unfortunately, Microsoft has announced that they will be retiring the Outlook add-in for Trello which they built and maintained. This add-in will be retired on December 15, 2022.

Our recommendation at Trello is that you pivot over to using our email to board feature native to Trello, which we support. Essentially, you can generate a unique email address for each of your boards, and from Outlook or any other email provider, you can send emails to this address and they'll turn into cards on your board. We have an extensive help doc about this feature at https://support.atlassian.com/trello/docs/creating-cards-by-email/

There are also a few Power-Ups that allow you to send emails to boards. You can search through our Power-Ups at https://trello.com/power-ups. You can also find partners that provide integration solutions between Trello and Outlook at https://trello.com/en/integrations.

Are you using a Power-Up already that has replaced the Outlook add-in for you? If so, we’d love to know what you’re using!

[Christl de Wet]

Thanks for sharing this information @Alex Waite I've seen a few posts about users having trouble with the add-in.

Users are welcome to look into our Email for Trello Power-Up which enables you to send and receive emails in Trello. Check out this video for a quick overview: Email for Trello

Feel free to pop over any questions to hello@sendboard.com or simply add the PowerUp to give it a try with the free trial.

[Stefan Sucker]

If you're looking for an alternative to the Trello add-in, take a look at Mailissa Transfer for Trello
https://mailissa.com/en/transfer/

[Daniel]

I've been using the Outlook add-in for Trello every day for years and it's really frustrating to know that it won't work after December 15... it has really been a good and easy workflow to get certain emails into a preferred board/list with a simple click.

I've been searching for a substitute since I found out about it and neither Sendboard or Mailissa does it for me.

[Stefan Sucker]

@Daniel What is the missing peace at our Mailissa solution. Would be great to get some infos so that we can improve our connector for Trello. You can also send me an email to stefan.sucker@axontic.com

[Daniel]

Hi @Stefan Sucker

Thanks for your reply. I installed and tested the Mailissa Transfer solution and concluded that it was too "complex" in terms of that I only need the Trello "connector and be able to push selected email/s to a "pre-defined" board and list.

I thought it was too many steps to do this - first you need to select the connector/service "Trello", then what to do with the email, then choose board, then list and finally be able to create the card... after I got an error (still created the card though).

Then the next email you want to create a card for, it seems you need to repeat the process again.

I tried looking at the Settings to be able to deactivate the unnecessary connectors - but couldn't find if that was even possible.

The Outlook add-in for Trello creates a card in like two clicks (it remembers which board, list etc. and you don't have to choose that again and again).

The Outlook add-in for Trello is also "free", and even though you have a "free" option I can't see that Trello is part of that alternative.

[Stefan Sucker]

Hi @Daniel 

thanks for your feedback. Here are a few pointers to your points:

"I tried looking at the Settings to be able to deactivate the unnecessary connectors - but couldn't find if that was even possible."
In the demo version it is not possible to deactivate individual connectors. In live operation you can deactivate all unused connectors. If you only have one active connector, this will also be opened directly.

- "too many steps to do a transfer"
After a first transfer with a connector, you can use the history or favorites function to repeat the same action for another email. So you don't have to select everything again.
But we want to further optimize the way of working here and are working on a simpler selection of the target board and list.

"after I got an error (still created the card though)."

There was an issue we've noticed with the transfer when a mail was really long or had multiple inline images. This was due to the limitation of the Trello card description to 16384 cases (Which is normally more than enough for text only mails). Therefore we will now remove the inline images and shorten the mail body if necessary.

"The Outlook add-in for Trello is also "free", and even though you have a "free" option I can't see that Trello is part of that alternative."
That's right. We are currently considering whether to integrate a connector into the free version.

Thank you again for your feedback. We are always interested in ideas and suggestions to improve our Mailissa solution.

Kind regards,

Stefan

[mimibar]

Well I’ve been using this trello add in for years! It helps me keep track of interview status and follow up in a boards when I’m job hunting. I’m so sad to say the least and disappointed in Microsoft. This is classic “embrace, extend and extinguish” Microsoft tactic. I’m sure they’ll try to move Trello’s user base to one of their products like Microsoft planner. They did something similar with Wunderlist for task management. First they bought it. Then they killed it (breaking their promise to the creators)and made everyone move to Microsoft To Do, which is far more inferior in capabilities.

**I would really advise and encourage Atlassian to build a supportive app/plug-in/browser extension/whatever works to keep their great app and their user base**

Personally, the Email-to-board feature is of no use to me, because most of my workflows are adding comments to existing cards, or updating the existing cards, all from an email on Outlook iOS app.

[Daniel]

@mimibar 100% agree.

It's kind of ruining my workflow I've been perfecting for years with my ~200 customers. I've been trying to find a suitable substitute since I found out that the add in would retire... but can't find any that work in a similar and easy way... it's really frustrating.

[Stephanie George]

I am very disappointed that Microsoft is doing away with the Trello add-in. It's so perfect and there is nothing Microsoft can offer that comes anywhere close to its usefulness! What are they, jealous? And no thank you to the idea of sending emails to my board so I can take five minutes and several steps to do what I currently do in 30 seconds with one step. BOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

[Bob White]

Stefan Sucker I'm interested in Mailissa for integration with Trello, but as mentioned by another it is not free.  For me, I don't mind paying something for a power up, after all it is not free for your company to develop.  But if I understand correctly, one must use the 5.50 per month option to get Trello integration, which is more than I pay for basic Trello.  If I used Mailissa for many connections and also used it for thousands of transactions, or even if I used it for a business team, I'm sure it has a payback.  For a solo user like me on Trello for my own project tracking, even a handful of power ups can make Trello expensive.  Maybe an annual fee for a low usage count single purpose Trello power up would be a future option?

[Mika von Essen]

Hi everybody, @Bob White @Daniel @Stephanie George @mimibar

I just wanted to let you know, that we will host a short Webinar on 17/11/2022 about our Outlook addin Mailissa with special examples from and for the Trello integration. We will show how you can configure and speed up your Mailissa experience to have a perfect integration of Trello and Outlook and create or update cards with ease.

You can register completely free under the following link:

Teams webinar registration form

If you have any further questions or feature requests for our product, feel free to message us under help@mailissa.com or reply in this post.

[Sara Hamberg]

I can only agree 100% with both @Daniel , mimbar etc. I also use the Jira-plugin so the process flows exactly the same depending on if I'm working with a team or on "my personal stuff" but at work. I've also used wunderlist before but stopped when it became Todo. It just doesn't cut it. And to email to get in on a board ?!?! It's like taking the UX back 10 years.  And why so sudden?! 

Also. For me paying is not an option because we do not have another option at work other than Jira ( which I love!) but I need something for the activities that only concerns me and I just won't pay more for a plugin ( which I'll have to pay on my own) just to use a function I've been using for so many years. Then I'd rather exploe other options and see what else I can get for the same penny. 

[Stephanie George]

@Mika von Essen To be blunt, I REALLY do not want to learn another Microsoft program (Mailissa) just to keep using the program I already have that is absolutely perfect all by itself (Trello). But I did consider signing up for the webinar, until I noticed it would be at 5 AM my time. Perhaps you could offer it at other times?

What I really want to know is, how can I bypass Microsoft completely and continue using Trello on my own, without any add-ins or extra subscriptions? 

[Mika von Essen]

@Stephanie George I can understand that you don't want to user and learn another program. Mailissa is highly customizable, so you could basically disable everything else and just use it as a Trello Add In.
We really tried to keep our integration as easy as possible, but of course we've tried to go a separate way than Trello themself, because nobody thought they would be retiring their Add In so soon.

Now with the Outlook plugin being retired we want to get your feedback what you are missing with our integration. We've already noted things like the pricing but we also want to look more into functionalities.

We will do more webinars in the future, but feel free to register for this one anyway, as I will send out the recording afterwards. If you want to have a separate meeting about Mailissa, you can sign up for free and choose a timeslot here:
Mailissa Meeting - Bookings 

[Mika von Essen]

We have now held the scheduled webinar for the Mailissa Trello Integration. For everyone interested about it, here is a link to the recording: https://mailissa.com/en/2022/11/21/connect-trello-with-microsoft-outlook/ 

[Katherine Green]

I am also incredibly disappointed that Trello doesn't have a better solution for this. Emailing to the board is just not acceptable. The entire reason I moved all of my work lists to Trello was because I could easily move items from email to Trello. Emailing to the board adds additional steps because now I need to go into Trello and make sure the item gets on the right list, with the right dates, info etc. I'm already paying for an upgraded Trello; I really can't stomach having ANOTHER fee to replace this add-in. It makes me think I need to look at options outside of Trello to replace this. I kept hoping Trello would offer their customers a better option as we got closer to the end, but alas it does not appear that is going to happen. So disappointing. I have loved using Trello, but the whole point was to save time and not lose track of information. 

[Jon DeWys]

My productivity will screech to a halt on 12/15 with the disabling of the Outlook-Trello link.  Like others, got spoiled with this very easy to use feature.  Ba Humbug.

[Sara Hamberg]

@Alex Waite have the discussions ever been about creating a new addin over at AT?...or is this the time were we should start moving all our stuff to microsoft 365 - a product the company already pays for...The upside of having a plugin and full integration to all microsoft products oversees the downside of it being slightly more complicated than Trello comparing it to NOT having a plugin at all. . Sad day really. 

[Ike]

you can also use MS  powerautomate template to pass on any flagged emails to trello. it works OK and you dont have to thinker with the template all that much.  But the trello addin is still working for me if attachments are deselected.  i agree that Trellos own addin to replace this one would be awesome.  

[Amy Frappier]

Lucky you! My outlook (work's enterprise version) ended access to Trello. Would you please share more details on your MS powerautomate template settings? It is new to me, so a guide to what works for you would be a huge help.

Also 100 agree that Trello should replace the Outlook email to Trello functionality. It was pretty much perfect.

[Ike]

if you go to power automate then go templates and just search for trello  and then select "Send a flagged email in Office 365 Outlook to a Trello board.  There are number of other ones as well but some dont work well

[Daniel]

Hi all,

My Outlook addin does still work and I thank the gods for that everyday... however I saw a new addin "Send to Trello" in available addins to install. I tried it and it works pretty well even if it's a bit rough round the edges as it is now.

Maybe a substitute in case of...

Over and out!

[Daniel]

So I've tested the new "Send to Trello" addin, and after a few suggestions/change requests, which was quickly implemented by the developer, I'd say that it's working very well. I will be using this addin to add emails (with attachments and such) to Trello from now on.