Salesforce Outlook Integration – A Step By Step Guide

Salesforce and Outlook Integration has gone through various stages of evolution and has various parallel options, which can sometimes be very confusing (it definitely was for me). So this blog post is an attempt to lay the land to understand the whole spectrum of Salesforce Outlook Integration. Understand what are the various options and what do they do. This is followed by a step-by-step guide on how to use one of these features called “Outlook Integration”

Outlook Integration

Highlights

1. Replaces earlier products “Salesforce for Outlook” & “Lightning for Outlook”
2. Allows users to manually sync emails & calendar events with Salesforce
3. Create records in Salesforce from Salesforce side panel in Outlook
4. Manage Salesforce tasks
5. Create emails using Salesforce templates

Reference URLs

1. Trailhead Module – Outlook Integration
2. Outlook Integration Implementation Guide (PDF)
3. Salesforce Email Integration Security Guide  (PDF)
4. Outlook Integration System Requirements
5. Turn On the Outlook Integration in Salesforce
6. Add the Salesforce Add-In from the Microsoft Exchange Admin Center
7. Customize the Email Integration Pane for Outlook and Gmail
8. Use the Outlook and Gmail Integrations

Lightning Sync

Starting in Winter ’21, Lightning Sync won’t be available to new Salesforce customers. Please click here for more information

Highlights

1. Keeps Contacts and Events in sync between your Microsoft® Exchange server and Salesforce without installing & maintaining software manually on PC
2. Choose whether both contacts and events sync, or whether only contacts or only events sync
3. Decide which direction your items sync: between Salesforce and your Microsoft Exchange server, or just one way
4. Requires Exchange Service Account or OAuth 2.0 connection
5. Lightning Sync does not support hybrid Exchange server
   deployments that include both Exchange Online and on-premises Exchange servers.

Reference URLs

1. Lightning Sync
2. Set Up a Microsoft Exchange Service Account to Sync with Salesforce
3. Help Sales Reps Sync Contacts and Events with Lightning Sync
4. Tell Reps How to Prevent Certain Microsoft® Outlook Calendar Events from Syncing to Salesforce

Einstein Activity Capture

Highlights

1. First 100 licenses are free.
2. Bundled with Sales Cloud Einstein License
3. Automatically captures Email and Events from your Microsoft or Google account and adds them to the activity timeline of related Salesforce records
4. Syncs emails & events between Salesforce and your Microsoft or Google account
5. Requires server side configuration

Reference URLs

1. Einstein Activity Capture 
2. Set Up Einstein Activity Capture

Einstein Automated Contacts

Highlights

1. Searches new contacts and Opportunity Contact roles to add to Salesforce from Email and Event Activity
2. Einstein suggests the new data upon or adds it Salesforce automatically
3. Requires paid licenses
4. Requires server side configuration

Reference URLs

1. Einstein Automated Contacts

Salesforce Inbox

Highlights

1. Bundled with Sales Cloud Einstein License
2. Provides additional functionality in Salesforce side panel in Outlook and also available as a separate mobile app on iOS & Android
3. Additional functionality includes
   1. Relate emails to custom records directly from related records list
   2. Automate meeting scheduling
   3. Schedule emails to send later
   4. Track when emails are opened and links are clicked

Reference URLs

1. Salesforce Inbox
2. Salesforce Inbox Features

Send Through Office 365

Highlights

1. Emails sent from within Salesforce by users manually will be sent through Office 365. Does not apply to emails sent automatically through automation tools 
2. Admins can enable it in the Salesforce Org from Setup -> Send through External Email Services
3. Once enabled, end users can choose whether to send through Office 365 or Salesforce by navigating to Settings -> Email -> My Email Settings
4. No configuration required on Email Server

Reference URLs

1. Set Up Send Email from Salesforce with Gmail™ or Office 365™

Email To Salesforce

Highlights

1. Log emails as activities on lead and contact records in salesforce.com
2. Users can send email from any email account. They just need to Blind carbon copy (BCC) the “Email to Salesforce address” 
3. No configuration required on Email Server

Reference URLs

1. My Blog Post – How to Configure & Use Email To Salesforce
2. How Does Email to Salesforce Work?
3. Set Up Email to Salesforce

Email Relay

1. Any emails sent out from Salesforce (manually or automatically) will be routed through your email server
2. Prevents the appearance of email spoofing by Salesforce
3. Requires server side configuration

Highlights

1. Send Email Through Email Relay
2. Considerations for Setting Up Email Relay
3. Email Relay best practices
4. Set Up Email Relay

Now that you have a basic idea of what each option does, Let’s dive right in to learn how to set up & use Salesforce Outlook Integration in under 30 minutes

NOTE: Certain sections of the guide will appear as locked in the free preview. You can download the unlocked version of the guide in PDF format by subscribing to our “All Access” Pass through the link below.

References & Useful URLs

1. Which Email Integration Product Is Right for My Company?
2. Salesforce and Microsoft Outlook integration products
3. Salesforce Email Integration Security Guide  (PDF)
4. Outlook Integration does not load in Outlook Web Access