CRM 4.0 Case Resolvement Issue

Further research looks like it's Smart Matching is to blame. I found some articles about turning it off or adding filters but it's all done through the registry which we'll touch if absolutely necessary but we want to stay away from that in case something bad happens. Is there a tool from Microsoft or elsewhere to fix or configure this?

Question for you Crossroads, - are you using tokens as well or did you turn them off ? ( we use c360 email to case as well )  You are right the smart matching picks it up prior to c360 catching it to convert it - so to c360 it will show as already linked to a CRM entity.  - we had this issue ourselves (using this for our Customer support department) so we started to encourage our customers to add the date to the subject of their emails, to make them more unique.

I have "Use Tracking Tokens" checked, so yes I am using tokens.  Is there any way around smart matching?  

This is what is happening.  Let's say a customer sends in an email to a CRM queue with the subject "TEST", c360 then turns this email into a case.  If a customer sends an email in again with the subject "TEST" its attaches itself the prior case instead of created a new case.  This happens even if you resolve the first case first.  Any ideas?  It would be hard to train all our customer to put the date in the subject.  Thats a good idea though.  I was hoping for another solution, or is that the only solution?  Thanks.

Ok Thanks.  Can you explain to me how to turn off smart matching.  

Smart matching is enabled by default.  If you want to disable it, you will
need to modify a registry.  See this KB article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/958084/EN-US/

If you are going to completely disable smart matching, you will need to review
this KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969946/
 
Hope that helps ..

If I just run the hotfix in the first link you said this will disable it, but you said to completely disable it follow the second link.  If I just run the hotfix on the first link will this disable it from here on out?

The second link is a tool to extract the tracking token provided by microsoft and contains some useful information if you are going to completly disable smart matching - also the tool would need to be installed prior to running the hotfix and setting the registry setting DisableSmartMatching registry key to 1 of the first link.

thanks, so lastly if I disable smart matching should this solve my problem?  What weird is we went from CRM update rollup 3 to update rollup 9 and thats when the problem started.  I can't go back a rollup because I'm using exchange 2010 with the email router.  

I am not sure what was changed in the intervening roll ups that caused it to get so parsniketty for you, but yest this SHOULD resove your issue since it seems to be a smart matching issue. If it doesn't, continue the thread here and I will see what I can find.

Is there a way I can verify that CRM is using smart matching?  I went to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSCRM on my CRM server and didn't see anything about smart matching.  Also if I completly disable smart matching, it can be reenabled correct?

By default it does use smart matching .. the hotfix adds the registry key that allows you to turn it off.  and yes it can be re-enabled by setting that key (DisableSmartMatching) to 0 at a later date.  without the hotfix you don't have access to that setting (turning "smart matching" on and off ) however the second link I gave you needs to be applied first (if I am remembering correctly) for the tool to pull the tokens.

Right now if I open a case in CRM and send an email to a customer from the case, when they reply the email automatically goes in the history of the case.  Disabling smart matching won't stop this correct?  Its the Tracking Tokens that do this correct?

That is correct because the sent email is tagged regarding that case - this is actually both smart matching and the token since their reply would have the same title just with the RE: prefix to the subject line. However it is also linked by the token as well.  

Thanks.