FastLinkIt for Outlook

The FastLinkIt add-in for Microsoft Outlook adds three buttons to the email compose ribbon — Insert short link, Insert payment link, and Insert booking link — plus a Settings pane for connecting the add-in to your account.

It works in Outlook on the web, new Outlook for Windows, Outlook for Mac, Outlook for iOS, and Outlook for Android. The same code runs on every client because the add-in is built on Microsoft's web-based Office.js platform.

Phase 1. This release covers manual insertion via the ribbon. Phase 2 ships an OnMessageSend event handler that auto-shortens external links in your message body when you click Send.

Installation (sideload)

The AppSource public listing is in progress. For now, sideload the manifest directly into your Outlook client.

Outlook on the web

1. Sign in at https://outlook.office.com/mail/ (work / school) or https://outlook.live.com/mail/ (consumer).
2. Click the gear icon → View all Outlook settings → General → Manage add-ins → My add-ins.
3. Under Custom add-ins, click + Add a custom add-in → Add from URL.
4. Paste https://flnk.it/outlook/manifest.xml and click OK → Install.
5. Open a new email — the FastLinkIt group should appear on the compose ribbon.

New Outlook for Windows

1. Open the new Outlook for Windows (not the legacy desktop client).
2. Click Get Add-ins in the Home tab → My add-ins → + Add a custom add-in → Add from URL.
3. Paste the manifest URL and install.

Outlook for Mac

Same as Outlook on the web — the Manage add-ins dialog is reachable from the Tools → Get Add-ins menu.

Microsoft 365 admin (organisation-wide)

Best for rolling out to a team or a whole tenant.

1. Microsoft 365 admin center → Settings → Integrated apps → Upload custom apps.
2. Choose Office add-in → Provide link to manifest file.
3. Paste https://flnk.it/outlook/manifest.xml.
4. Pick your assignment scope (entire org / specific groups / specific users) and Deploy.
5. The add-in lights up automatically for assigned users within ~6 hours.

First-run setup

1. Open a new email → click Settings in the FastLinkIt ribbon group.
2. Paste an API key from your FastLinkIt account at Account → API Keys.
3. Click Test connection — you should see “Connected — welcome back, your-email!”.
4. Pick a default currency for payment links. Click Save.

The key is stored in Office.context.roamingSettings, which is encrypted at rest by Microsoft and roams with your mailbox across devices. There are no local cookies and no OAuth dance — sign in once, and the add-in follows you to every Outlook client signed into the same mailbox.

Required API key scopes

When you generate the API key, tick the scopes the add-in needs:

A fully unscoped key (no boxes ticked) gives the add-in everything it needs and is fine for a personal account. For team / organisation accounts, prefer scoped keys so a leaked key has minimal blast radius.

Insert short link

Click Short link in the compose ribbon to open the pane. Fill in:

• Destination URL — the long URL you want shortened.
• Short code — auto-generated (you can edit). The pane retries with a fresh code on a 409 conflict.
• Title (optional) — what the inserted hyperlink will display in the email body.
• Tags (optional) — comma-separated, used for filtering in your dashboard later.
• Add UTM parameters (collapsible) — utm_source / utm_medium / utm_campaign for campaign attribution.

Click Create & insert and the pane drops <a href="https://flnk.it/abc123">Title</a> at your cursor position.

Plan-aware error handling. If you've hit your monthly link limit, the pane shows an upgrade banner with a one-click link to /pricing. The email itself never gets blocked — you can still send it without the short link.

See Creating Links and Link Statistics for what happens to the link after it's created.

Insert payment link

Click Payment in the ribbon. Two tabs:

Pick a product

• Search your existing PaymentProducts (live filter as you type).
• Click a product card to select it (highlighted).
• The customer email pre-fills from the email's To: field.
• Choose a style: Button card (rich HTML CTA with product name + price + button) or Plain link (simple hyperlink).
• Click Create & insert — the pane creates a Stripe / PayPal checkout session via POST /api/payment/checkout and inserts the styled HTML at your cursor.

Quick checkout

Same as above but no product needed — just type:

• Amount — decimal price.
• Currency — defaults from your add-in settings.
• Description — what the customer will see at checkout.

The pane calls POST /api/payment/checkout/quick and inserts the styled CTA. Useful for one-off invoices, custom quotes, or quick licence renewals.

Connect a payment provider first

The pane refuses to render the form until you have at least one of these connected:

• An active Stripe Connect account.
• An active PayPal merchant account.

If neither is connected, the pane shows a one-click link to /payments/providers where you can connect either provider in a couple of minutes. Once connected, reopen the Payment pane and the form unlocks.

See Payments Overview and Transactions for what happens after the customer pays.

Insert booking link

Click Booking in the ribbon. The pane lists every active planner on your account.

Each row shows the planner's title, short code, and active/inactive badge. Pick a style at the top of the pane:

• Plain link — <a href="https://flnk.it/discovery-call">Discovery call</a>.
• Rich card — full HTML card with title, description, and a styled “Book a slot” button.

Click Insert this planner on the row you want and the pane drops the HTML at your cursor.

Plan gate. Booking pages are a Professional / Unlimited feature. On Free / Starter / Basic plans the pane shows a friendly upsell banner with a link to /pricing instead of the planner list.

Settings pane

The Settings pane is reachable from the ribbon's Settings button at any time.

API key

Paste an fli_… key from /Account/Manage/ApiKeys. Test connection verifies it works and shows your account email + plan.

Server URL (advanced)

Defaults to https://flnk.it. Override only when testing against a private FastLinkIt deployment (e.g. a development host).

Account info

After a successful connection, the pane shows:

• Email — your FastLinkIt account email.
• Plan — your current plan name as a coloured pill.
• Links this month — links used vs. your monthly limit (e.g. “12 / 100”).

Defaults

• Default currency — used to pre-select the currency in the Quick checkout tab.

Disconnect

Clears the API key and cached account info from roamingSettings. The next launch routes straight to the API-key prompt.

Auto-shorten on send (coming in Phase 2)

This toggle is currently disabled. When Phase 2 ships, enabling it will let the add-in automatically replace every external link in your outgoing email body with a tracked short URL when you click Send.

Localization

The add-in is fully localized in English, Italian, and Spanish. The interface language matches your Outlook display language (Office.context.displayLanguage). If your Outlook is in a different language, the add-in falls back to English.

The ribbon button labels, supertips, and tooltips are also localized via the manifest's <bt:Override Locale="…"/> blocks.

Troubleshooting

Diagnostic logs

Press F12 in Outlook on the web (or use Inspect element in the new Outlook for Windows) to open DevTools. The add-in logs to console.warn and console.error for any non-trivial failures.

What gets created on FastLinkIt

Everything you insert via the add-in shows up in your dashboard tagged with the source outlook-addin:

• Short links → Dashboard and Link Statistics.
• Payment checkouts → Transactions.
• Booking links → standard public planner URLs (no extra row created — the pane just inserts a link).

You can filter the dashboard / transactions list by Source = Outlook to see exactly what came from this integration.

Privacy & data

The add-in only sends data outbound — it never reads your email body or attachments. Office.js is sandboxed: even though the add-in has ReadWriteItem permission, it only reads the To: field (to pre-fill the customer email on the Payment pane) and writes at the cursor position via setSelectedDataAsync.

The API key is stored in Microsoft's encrypted roaming settings — there is no FastLinkIt-side cookie, session, or token tied to the Outlook account.

Related

• REST API — the underlying API the add-in calls.
• Browser Extension — same idea, different surface.
• WordPress Plugin — auto-shorten links in WordPress posts.
• Other CMS Plugins — Joomla, Drupal, Ghost, Shopify, Wix.
• Stripe Connect — required for the Payment pane.
• Event Booking — required for the Booking pane.