Connect Microsoft 365

Who this page is for: a practice that has created its workspace and is ready to receive new referral email through Microsoft 365.

What you do

1. Choose the inbox. Enter the primary address of the shared or individual inbox reception already checks. It does not need to be called referrals@.
2. Choose I can approve Microsoft 365 access if you manage Microsoft 365 and Exchange for the practice. Otherwise choose Another administrator will approve and copy the 10-minute link for IT. Finish later saves the inbox without asking Microsoft for access; new referrals stay off.
3. Return to Refera. The Connections page updates while Refera completes the mailbox and delivery checks. You can close the page; Refera records the result and notifies the practice if action is needed.

The Microsoft administrator sessions end after setup. Refera stores no staff password or ongoing administrator permission.

What Refera checks

Before new referrals appear, Refera confirms that:

• Microsoft allows read-only access to the inbox the practice chose;
• another inbox stays blocked;
• a test email with no patient information reaches Refera; and
• the practice account and safety checks are ready.

When the checks pass, Refera records the inbox as ready. New referrals start only when all practice setup checks permit it. A Microsoft approval screen by itself never means the inbox is connected.

Details for IT and security review

Ongoing access uses certificate-backed, mailbox-scoped Application Mail.Read for the chosen inbox. Versioned, Object-Locked source storage is deployed in AWS Sydney. Real referrals stay off until source integrity, authenticated retrieval, restore, export and practice-isolation checks pass.

If the inbox is not ready

Choose Not yet, help me plan it and save the workspace. No Microsoft permission is requested and new referrals remain off. Return to Settings > Connections after the practice or its IT provider creates or confirms the inbox.

After connection

Only new mail received from the activation time is captured; Refera does not import the existing inbox. Staff can then invite the reception team, claim follow-up work and record bookings made in the practice’s existing booking system.

Disconnecting stops new referrals immediately and starts a separately checked Microsoft access-removal process. Refera does not call the connection revoked until Microsoft proves the old mailbox access is denied.

Related

• Microsoft 365 mailbox - permissions, scope and troubleshooting.
• Team accounts and roles - invite reception staff.
• Continuity and the queue - what happens during an interruption.