Using the Outlook Salesforce Integration

Using the Salesforce Outlook Integration

The Salesforce Outlook Integration is a plugin that adds a special icon to the Outlook menus that allows access to Salesforce when using Outlook.  It is available to any users of the ILR Salesforce org upon request. To acquire the plugin, submit a request to Administrative Applications or contact a Salesforce administrator.

The Salesforce Outlook Integration provides several features:

• View and edit select fields of any record in Salesforce from within Outlook that you have access to, including detail and related records, Tasks and Activities
• Create new Leads, Contacts, Accounts, Opportunities, and Tasks
• Attach an existing email in Outlook to any record in Salesforce
• Log a new outgoing email from Outlook to any record in Salesforce

Each feature will be discussed in detail below.

Access Salesforce from the Outlook desktop application

To connect to Salesforce from inside the Outlook desktop application, click on the blue Salesforce cloud icon in the ribbon bar:

Access Salesforce from the web-based Outlook application in Office365

To connect to Salesforce from the Office365 Outlook application, click on any email message, then click the “…” on the selected message’s toolbar and choose Salesforce.  Once the panel is opened it will work identically to the desktop application, described in detail below.

Verifying Identity

Each time to open Outlook you’ll be prompted to click the “Verify your identity” button.  Once you've done this, a panel will appear on the right-hand side of Outlook that will allow you to interact with Salesforce.  By default, it will look like this:

 

View and edit Salesforce records from Outlook

To view/edit Salesforce records, search for the record using the search bar at the top of the Salesforce panel in Outlook.  Records matching the search will appear below the search bar:

Note that found records may be of any type, so verify that the record is indeed the type you are looking for.  In this example 2 records match the search criteria, one being a Contact and the other a Lead.

Click the desired record and scroll down to see all of its fields.  You can edit fields that have a gray pencil icon next to the field (not all fields are available for editing in Outlook).

Click the gray pencil icon next to a field to edit it.  If you do not have access to edit a record in Salesforce, you will not be able to edit it in Outlook.

Create Records in Salesforce

To create Salesforce records from Outlook, click the “+” icon at the top of the Salesforce panel:

Next, select the type of record you would like to create.  (Note: not all types of records are available.)  A form will appear within Outlook that you can fill out.  A subset of all fields are available to modify in Outlook.  To edit all fields you must log into Salesforce and find the record there.

Attach an existing email in Outlook to a record in Salesforce

1. Select the desired email in Outlook.
2. Click the “Log an Email” button.

3. Choose the desired Salesforce record to which to attach the email. Note that you can click the drop-down menu next to the search bar to select a specific type of record to find.
4. Review the checked boxes next to the records to make sure you are choosing only the desired ones (the Outlook Integration will automatically select all matching records).  Remember that an excellent way to filter records is by email address, since it is usually unique.
5. Attachments are automatically saved with the text of the email.  If this is not desired, uncheck attachments at the bottom of the panel.
6. Click the “Save” button at the bottom of the panel:

Log a new outgoing email to a record in Salesforce

1. Create a new email as usual in Outlook.
2. Within the new email window, click the blue Salesforce cloud link on the ribbon bar.  Remember, do this from INSIDE the new message.
3. Click “Log Email on Send”.
4. Search for the record to which you wish to attach this email. If more than one record matches the filter search, be sure to deselect undesired records.  Remember that an excellent way to filter records is by email address, since it is usually unique.
5. Click the “Save” button.  A Bcc address will be added to the outgoing email, which will attach a copy of the email to the selected record in Salesforce when it’s sent.

Attached emails show up as “Activity History” associated with Leads and Contacts in Salesforce:

 

If you have difficulty accessing the information contained in this document or any document in this knowledgebase, please contact us at access-ilr@cornell.edu and we will assist you.