Introduction 

Office 365 is the online web version of Microsoft Office or MS Office as it is popularly known.

If you are using MS Office apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc., you will benefit from using Office 365. With Office 365, you will have the option of quickly saving all your documents on MS servers. You will be able to use documents, send emails, and share files from wherever you are located. 

Office 365 and Vtiger CRM

Is your contact or customer traveling? Is your sales team spread out in different cities? Are you worried about how you will coordinate with everyone?

No problem! Create, coordinate, and reach out to co-workers and customers from wherever you are by integrating Office 365 with Vtiger CRM. 

Here are some of the benefits of this integration: 

• Access emails, documents, and spreadsheets from different locations and different time zones - now you can share all your documents.
• Access all your contacts and calendars from Office 365 and Vtiger with 2-way sync - do not worry about losing contact information or missing events, meetings, and email.
• Leverage sales insights by identifying opportunities that are not progressing and take necessary actions to close the deal.
• Save communication history for contact by archiving Office 365 emails into Vtiger CRM - ensure you do not forget what you have discussed and have speaking points ready for your next meeting.
• Get automated reminders to follow up on idle contacts that will help you generate new business and build your network.
• Get reminders about meetings, emails, and campaigns and never miss meetings with contacts.

To know more about Office 365 + Vtiger CRM, click here.

Feature Availability

Office 365 is also available in the Help Desk Starter and Help Desk Professional editions.

Integrating Office 365 with Vtiger CRM

Vtiger CRM integration with Office 365 helps you collaborate with your contacts, emails, and calendar instantly. 

Installing the Connector

Using the Vtiger connector for Office 365, you can now synchronize your Contacts and Calendars bi-directionally between Office 365 and Vtiger. 

Office 365 in Vtiger CRM is not available by default. To enable it, you must download the Office365 Connector extension from the Extension Store.

Follow these steps to install the Office365 Connector extension:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the screen.
3. Click Settings.
4. Go to Extensions.
5. Click Extension Store.
6. Install the Office365 Connector extension.
7. Click Launch to open the Office365 sync log.

Once the connector is installed, you can configure the sync settings in the CRM.

Configuring the Sync

Before you can sync your contacts, emails, and calendar between Office 365 and Vtiger, you need to configure sync settings in the CRM. You can configure these settings either from the Contacts or the Events module.

Follow these steps to configure the sync settings from the Contacts module:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials.
4. Select Contacts.
5. In the List View, click Sync on the top right.
6. If you are configuring for the first time, click Sign In and sign in using your Microsoft credentials, or Click Settings next to Office365 and Sync Log.
7. The Sync Settings window will appear once you are logged in to your Microsoft account. You will find three sections in the Sync Settings window.

• Contacts Sync Settings
• Emails Sync Settings
• Events Sync Settings

8. Edit the Contacts Sync Settings section for the following:
   1. Select which data must be synced from the Office365 Data drop-down.
   2. Select Sync Direction from the three options given in the drop-down.
   3. Click View to view mapped events.
      • Note: You cannot add custom fields to Contacts as the fields are mapped by default. You can only view the details.
   4. Click the Enable Contacts Sync toggle button.
9. Edit the Emails Sync Settings section for the following: 
   1. Select which data must be synced from the Office365 Data drop-down.
   2. Select Sync Direction from the drop-down.
   3. Click the Enable Emails Sync toggle button.
10. Edit the Events Sync Settings section for the following: 
    1. Select which data must be synced from the Office365 Data drop-down.
    2. Select Sync Direction from the three options given in the drop-down.
    3. Click View to view mapped events.
       • Note: You cannot add custom fields to Calendar as the fields are mapped by default. You can only view the details.
    4. Click the Enable Events Sync toggle button.
    5. Select the date from when the sync must happen in the Sync From field.
11. Click Save. 

Syncing the Records

After configuring the sync settings, you can begin the synchronization process in Vtiger CRM. This might take a few moments, depending on the number of contacts you have in your Microsoft and Vtiger CRM accounts.

You can sync the records either from the Contacts or Events modules.

Follow these steps to sync your records from the Contacts module:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Essentials.
4. Select Contacts.
5. In the List View, click Sync on the top right.
6. Click Sync Log next to Office365 and Settings.
7. Click Sync Now on the top right.

The Sync Log displays the list of Contacts, Emails, and Events synced between Vtiger and Office 365. You can click on the figures in blue to view generated records. You can also download the report as a .csv file for your reference.

Syncing Emails from Outlook

If you want all your customer emails from Office 365 to be linked to Contacts stored in Vtiger CRM, you must make simple changes in Outlook.

Follow these steps to sync emails:

1. Log in to Outlook.
2. Click on Toggle Left Pane.
3. Expand the Inbox folder.
4. Move the emails that need to be synced to vtcontacts folder. 

Now once you have moved all the emails to vtcontacts folder, log in to Vtiger CRM. Go to Contacts > Sync > Sync Log and click Sync Now button to sync the emails.
 

Limitations

Office 365 APIs have some limitations because of the bugs in their APIs.

• For Recurring Events that are created with no end date, Vtiger syncs events based on these conditions.
  • If End Date < 31-12-2100, then only 500 events will be synced.
  • If End Date > 31-12-2100, then based on the recurring condition events, will be synced until the year 2100.
• The Birthday field is not synced because the date returned from Office 365 is always one day more.
• Contacts sync does not support Group Level sync as Office 365 has a bug wherein all the newly added contacts go to the default contacts group instead of the group that was selected for sync.
• Field Mapping cannot be changed; it is fixed.

Vtiger for Outlook as an Add-in

Vtiger Outlook add-in offers you easy access to CRM data within your Outlook inbox. Through this add-in, you can get a 360-degree view of your contacts right in the Outlook inbox.

Vtiger Outlook add-in enables you to:

• Create a lead or a contact
• View contact related deals
• Add comments
• View and respond to specific contact-related cases
• Create follow-up meetings and view upcoming events
• Archive emails to a contact record

Installing the Vtiger Outlook add-in

You need to first install the Vtiger add-in for outlook before you start using it.

To install the Vtiger add-in, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Outlook inbox.
2. Click the App launcher on the top left corner of the screen.
3. Click All apps →  at the bottom.
4. Click Add-Ins. Microsoft AppSource apps screen will open.
5. Search and click on Vtiger for Outlook add-in.
6. Click Get it now.
7. Click Continue.
8. Once it's installed, click on Open in Outlook Web.

Once you have successfully added the Add-in, the Vtiger logo will appear in the emails.

Logging in to Vtiger Outlook add-in

Once you have installed the add-in, it will appear in the Outlook emails. When you click on the Vtiger for Outlook gadget, it will open the Vtiger CRM window.

Follow these steps to log in to add-in:

1. Log in to your Outlook.
2. Open an email.
3. Click the Vtiger for Outlook gadget on the top right of the email. The Vtiger CRM pop-up appears on the right.
4. Here you can do two things:
   • Sign Up if you don’t have Vtiger credentials

1. Click Sign Up. 
2. Enter the relevant details.
3. Click Save.

• Sign In if you have Vtiger credentials
  1. Click Get Started.
  2. Enter your Vtiger CRM credentials.
  3. Click Login.

Once you log in, you will get access to your CRM via the Vtiger add-in from your Outlook. You have to open an email and click the Vtiger add-in to view the details. 

Actions possible in the add-in

Now that you have installed and logged in to the add-in, let us see what you can do. 

With the Vtiger add-in installed on your Outlook, it will take a few clicks, and the world of your contacts is at your fingertips.  From Outlook, you will be able to create contacts, view contact details, and perform a host of other actions. 

Creating a Lead or Contact

When you click on an email, if no lead or contact records in your CRM account match the sender’s email address, you can create them by clicking the Create Lead or Create Contact button. Here we will explain how to create a contact. The same steps apply to creating a lead.

Follow these steps to create a contact:

1. Log in to your Outlook.
2. Open an email. 
3. Click the Vtiger for Outlook gadget on the top right of the email. The Vtiger CRM pop-up appears on the right.
4. Click the Create Contact button to create the record.
   • Note: During the contact creation, details such as contact names and email addresses are automatically pulled from the email. 
5. Click Save.

The contact will be saved in the CRM. 

Viewing a Lead or Contact

Once you create a lead or contact in your CRM from Gmail, you can view all their details. Here we have explained all the actions for Contacts. The same applies to Leads as well. 

You can also perform the following primary actions on the contact record:

• Click the Name of your Company to be redirected to the CRM.
• Click the Contact Name to open the contact record in the CRM.
• Click the Link icon to archive the email and attach the opened email to the related contact.
• Click the Edit icon to edit the record. You can edit the first name, last name, email ID, organization, assigned to, etc., of a contact.
• Click the Power icon to log out of your Vtiger CRM account. To log in again, open an email, and click Login.

Below the contact details, you can see several options, using which you can view essential information and perform the following actions on a contact: 

• Details - Click on ‘Details’ to view the contact information.
• Timeline - Click on ‘Timeline’ to list all the activities made on the record. You can view the recent updates made, such as added events, comments, etc.
• Activities Click on ‘Activities’ to view the recent activities made on the contact record. You can click + to add a calendar event with the contact.
• Emails - Click on ‘Emails’ to view all emails, including archived emails, related to a contact. You can view the entire content in the CRM by clicking on the Email icon.
• Quotes - Click on ‘Quotes’ to view quotes related to the contact.
• Invoices - Click on ‘Invoices’ to view invoices related to the contact.
• Potentials - Click on ‘Potentials’ to view all the opportunities related to the contact. Click on + to create an opportunity. You can view the details of the opportunity in the CRM by clicking it.
• Cases - Click on ‘Cases’ to view all the cases related to the contact. Click the + button to create a case. You can view the details of the case in the CRM by clicking it.
• Comments - Click on ‘Comments’ to view related comments and post a comment. 
• Settings - Click on ‘Settings’ to enable or disable the options mentioned above.