Strata for Outlook (add-in)

Strata for Outlook is a task-pane add-in that runs Strata inside Outlook — a narrow side panel next to the email you're reading or writing. Its headline capability is reading the entire email thread (not just the open message) and letting you summarize it, draft a reply, extract action items, or act on the message without leaving Outlook.

This is a separate feature from the Outlook extension. The extension connects your mailbox to the main Strata web app's chat AI; the add-in brings a focused Strata assistant into the Outlook window itself. The two complement each other — connecting the extension also unlocks the add-in's full-mailbox actions.

How it works

The add-in loads taskpane.html from app.strata.kronisys.com inside Outlook's task pane. When you open it on a message, it reads the open email and tries to load the whole conversation, then hands that to Strata as context invisibly. You then chat with Strata about the email — or your whole mailbox — in the pane's composer.

The pane itself is deliberately minimal: a Strata brand header, suggested starting points, the chat, and the composer. It does not render a card for the open email — the email and its thread still flow to the AI on every turn, so "summarize this", "flag this", or "move this to Finance" all work without the pane showing you the message you're already looking at in Outlook.

The pane detects whether you're reading a received message or composing a new one (or a reply) and adapts — the suggested starting points and the composer placeholder change to match.

Thread reading — three layers

Reading the full thread works for every user through a fallback chain:

1. Server-side Microsoft Graph (preferred) — if you've connected Outlook in the main Strata app, the pane calls GET /api/outlook/thread, which pulls the whole conversation via Graph (up to 50 messages, oldest first).
2. Office.js REST token (self-contained fallback) — if you haven't connected Outlook in Strata, the pane reads the conversation directly from the mailbox using the add-in's own token (the manifest grants ReadWriteMailbox).
3. Single open message — if neither thread path is available, Strata still has the open email as context.

Note

The context is loaded silently — the pane no longer displays a header card or thread viewer for the open email. If you want to know what Strata can see, just ask ("what email am I looking at?").

The thread Strata is handed has a character budget (about 22,000 characters total, with a single-message body cap), so very long conversations are truncated to fit the model's context.

Installing the add-in

The add-in is distributed as an Office manifest. There are two install paths.

Sideload for yourself (Outlook on the web)

1. Open Outlook on the web, go to Settings → Get Add-ins → My add-ins.
2. Under Custom add-ins, choose Add a custom add-in → Add from file….
3. Upload the manifest.xml.

New Outlook desktop reads the same setting from outlook.office.com, so a single sideload covers the whole stack for that user.

Org-wide rollout (admin)

1. Open the Microsoft 365 admin center → Settings → Integrated apps.
2. Choose Upload custom apps → Office Add-in and upload the manifest.xml.
3. Assign it to users or groups.

Warning

The add-in's GUID is stable and must never change once distributed — Microsoft 365 keys per-user trust off that id. Re-uploading a manifest with a new id is treated as a different add-in.

After install, a Strata button appears on the Outlook ribbon when you're reading a message and when you're composing one. Clicking it opens the pane.

Signing in

The pane authenticates against the same Strata account you use on the web (same origin, app.strata.kronisys.com). Sign-in adapts to the host:

• Outlook on the web / new Outlook — the Strata session cookie rides inside the pane's iframe, so you're typically already signed in.
• Desktop Outlook (including Outlook for Mac) — the cookie is blocked in the desktop WebView, so the pane signs you in through an Office dialog (or a window.open popup on hosts without the Dialog API) and uses a short-lived bearer token instead. If a token from a prior session is already stored locally, you will be signed in automatically; otherwise an interactive Microsoft sign-in is required.

Tip

If sign-in is blocked on classic Outlook for Mac, switch to New Outlook (the toggle in the top-right) or open Strata in Outlook on the web in Chrome — the pane reports the exact host, version, and capability when a sign-in path isn't available.

Connecting your mailbox

Out of the box the add-in can only see the email you currently have open. Connecting your mailbox unlocks full-inbox actions — search, flag, mark, archive, move, and send across every message, not just the open one.

A Connect your mailbox prompt appears in the pane when you're signed in but haven't connected Outlook. Click Connect mailbox to run the Microsoft OAuth flow. You can also connect, disconnect, and see connection status from the pane's menu and from the pane's Settings → Mailbox tab.

This is the same Outlook connection used by the main web app — connecting in either place connects both. See the Outlook extension for the permissions Strata requests and how tokens are stored.

What you can do in the pane

When reading a message

Suggested starting points adapt to whether the message has a thread:

• Summarize this entire thread (or Summarize this email for a single message)
• What action items do I owe?
• Draft a reply to the latest message
• Find related emails in my inbox (single message)

When Strata drafts a reply, it returns the body in a reply card, and the pane shows Reply and Reply all buttons. Clicking one opens a native Outlook reply form prefilled with the draft — you review and hit Send in Outlook. Strata never sends silently on your behalf from the pane.

When composing a message

• Continue what I started writing
• Make this more concise
• Make it more professional

When you ask Strata to write or revise, an Insert into email button appears. Clicking it inserts the text at your cursor in the message you're composing.

Acting on the open email

There are no dedicated action buttons on the open message — you act on it by asking Strata in chat. With your mailbox connected, say things like:

• "Flag this for follow-up."
• "Mark this unread."
• "Archive this."
• "Move this to the Finance folder." (Moving to a folder that doesn't exist creates it.)

Because the open email flows to the AI as context on every turn, "this" always resolves to the message you're looking at. The AI performs the change through Strata's verified server-side Graph tools and confirms what it did; all of these actions are reversible in Outlook. Beyond the open message, the same chat can create mail folders, set up inbox rules, schedule a send, save drafts, manage the out-of-office auto-reply, and create calendar events or tasks — Strata confirms specifics with you before anything that sends, deletes, or changes settings.

Attachments

The pane doesn't display attachment chips, but Strata is told the open message's attachment names on every turn. To read attachment contents, ask in chat ("what's in the attached invoice?") — Strata uses its read_outlook_attachment tool, which needs the mailbox connected.

Choosing a model

The pane has a model picker in the composer that draws live from Strata's Model Catalog — the same catalog the web app's picker uses. It lists every chat model your organization has enabled, so a newly launched model your admin turns on appears in the pane without an update. Your choice is remembered for new chats, and the pane's Settings → Model tab lets you set the default model new chats open with.

Governance is enforced server-side regardless of what the picker shows. Each turn flows through the same /api/chat endpoint as the web app, which independently checks your effective model access (the intersection of org, role, and per-user policy); if you request a model you're not permitted, Strata silently swaps it for one you are. See Models for how the catalog and access controls work.

Settings

The pane has its own Settings dialog (opened from the pane menu) with five tabs:

The pane's build marker is shown in the Settings footer, which makes a stale cached bundle visible at a glance.

Switching emails with the pane pinned

If you pin the pane and click a different email, Strata re-reads the new message and thread automatically — you don't need to reopen it.

What gets sent to Strata

Each turn, the pane builds the prompt from a short Outlook-specific preamble (telling Strata it's running in a narrow pane, to stay email-focused, and not to pitch databases or reference on-screen cards) plus the email context:

• Reading a single message — subject, sender, and body.
• Reading a thread — subject and the full thread, oldest first, within the character budget.
• Composing — subject, recipients, and the draft so far.
• A note listing any attachment names (so Strata knows to use its read tools if you ask about contents).

Chat itself flows through the same /api/chat streaming endpoint as the web app, so usage is tracked and governed the same way.

Troubleshooting

• The pane says it can't see the email, or tells you to connect Outlook just to read the open message. The open message is always provided as context; reading it never requires connecting Outlook. Connecting is only needed for actions across other emails (search, flag, move, send). If this persists, the open item may be a draft (compose mode) with no received content.
• Sign-in window is blocked. Allow pop-ups for Outlook and retry. On classic Outlook for Mac, switch to New Outlook or use Outlook on the web in Chrome.
• Sign-in spins and times out. The sign-in flow has a hard cap of about three minutes. Close the window and try Sign in again; the pane reports the host and version to help diagnose.
• A mailbox action (flag, move, archive, send) fails with a reconnect message. Your mailbox session expired (a 401). Reconnect the mailbox from the pane's Settings → Mailbox tab or in Strata Settings.
• The pane warns that the account you're viewing doesn't match your connected mailbox. The Outlook account of the open message differs from the mailbox you connected to Strata — common on multi-account profiles. Connect the account you're viewing, or switch to the Outlook profile whose mailbox is already connected.
• An action times out. Inbox actions and thread reads have server-side timeouts and per-user rate limits. Slow down and retry; Strata falls back to single-message context if a thread read times out.
• A stale build in Outlook for Mac. The desktop WebView caches aggressively. The pane shows its build marker in Settings so a stale cache is visible; reload the pane to pick up the latest.

Related

• Outlook extension — connect your mailbox so the web chat AI (and the add-in's full-inbox actions) can search, read, draft, and send email.
• Models — the model catalog the pane's picker draws from.
• Extensions overview — how connecting an extension changes what the AI can do.
• Microsoft Teams — another way to reach Strata outside the web app.